dr. egnor cites the neurosurgeon dr. wilder penfield in the first chapter of his book. dr. penfield’s primary research and work concerned the treatment of epilepsy in awake patients. this he could do since the brain has no pain receptors. patients needed only local anesthesia for the scalp and coverings surrounding it. during the operation he would stimulate foci in the brain to find the region from which seizures arose which would be removed, sparing vital regions that controlled neurophysiological functions.

“penfield observed that the mind has an existence independent of the brain, and that the mind uses the brain to interact with the world, in a way analogous to the way a computer programmer uses a computer to accomplish tasks. . . . penfield was amazed that there were some thoughts he could evoke just by stimulating the patient’s brain (for instance, a memory), and there were other thoughts that he could not evoke by stimulating the patient’s brain (such as the patient’s capacity for reason and reflection). . . . there was a key exception to what penfield could stimulate in the brain. he was never able to stimulate abstract thought - that is, the sense of self, the capacity to reason, and the exercise of free will. . . . neither epilepsy nor neurosurgeons, it seems, could evoke abstract intellectual thought by stimulating the brain. . . . he concluded that abstract thought is a function of something other than or beyond the physical brain. he came to define the mind as the element in an individual ‘that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and especially reasons.’”

in his book, the mystery of the mind, dr. penfield stated “what a thrill it is, then, to discover that the scientist, too, can legitimately believe in the existence of the spirit. . . . the mind must be viewed as a basic element in itself . . . that is to say, it has a continuing existence. this seems to mean that the mind or human soul does not die with the body.”

dr. egnor states that “the immortal aspect of the human soul - that is, the mind that penfield observed while he was cutting into the brain - is unity. it has no parts, so it cannot be split or multiplied. . . . because the soul is not composed of separate parts, it cannot decompose, as a dead body does. like the abstractions it can uniquely comprehend, it is not mortal.”

Dr. egnor begins his book discussing split brain function. the two hemispheres of the brain are connected by a medial structure, the corpus callosum consisting of a “massive bundle of millions of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. . . . epileptic seizures, which are random uncontrolled electrical discharges in the brain, can jump from one side of the brain to the other through the fiber bundle, causing catastrophic convulsions each day. . . . seizures can often be treated successfully with medications, but sometimes that’s not enough. radical surgery is a last resort,” the cutting of the corpus callosum in half, separating the two hemispheres entirely. but dr. egnor goes on to state that “the corpus callosum doesn’t seem to have an irreplaceable neurological function in the brain. . . . even when the brain is split in half, many important aspects of the mind remain unified. thus, the mind is something that the brain isn’t. . . . what is most remarkable about the split-brain evidence is the unity of the mind despite splitting of the brain. . . . split-brain patients have split perception but unified consciousness. . . . it splits what we perceive with our eyes but not what we understand and reason about.”

i encourage those who are interested in delving deeper into this topic to obtain and read this book and selected references. what has been emphasized so far is that there is evidence that the mind is not the brain. dr. egnor cites the neurosurgeon, dr. wilder penfield, in his initial chapter, and this topic will be the focus of my next blog.

I stated not long ago that i had purchased the book by Dr. michael egnor and denyse o’leary, the immortal mind: a neurosurgeon’s case for the existence of the soul, worthy publishing, new york, nashville, 2025. as planned, i shall include selected excerpts from the book that apply to points i have made in my books and blogs from my own research extending well over a quarter of a century. where i may disagree with a given point made by these authors, i shall endeavor to explain the reason why. for the greatest part i have found no significant disagreements and highly recommend this book.

the mind of man, created as it was/is in the image of the mind of god, is an immaterial entity that interacts with the material, physical synaptic networks of the brain of man. the authors show that it is also immortal, created to be eternal, irreducible to the material brain.

i look forward to presenting my discussions of the excerpts taken from the text of this outstanding book. along the way i shall also emphasize the role of information instantiated within ALL that god has created, the manifestation of god’s creativity and purpose. we must be aware that our concept of the biblical god may be entirely too small.

so i invite you to read on, and i thank you for your interest in learning to know more about our god, our lord and savior.

My second book is entitled “the boundless love of god: a holy spirit story.” my wife and i attended a memorial service this past saturday at a church we formerly attended. it was in honor of a dear christian friend who lived near us and who became like a member of our own family, along with her parents, her husband and three children. one of the songs we sang at that service was “how deep the father’s love” written by stuart townend, if you have read my second book you will understand why i am posting this song on this blog. the thoughts expressed mirror my book so closely. i want to share it with you and hope you are blessed by it.

how deep the father’s love for us

how vast beyond all measure

that he should give his only son

to make a wretch his treasure

how great the pain of searing loss

the father turns his face away

as wounds which mar the chosen one

bring many sons to glory

behold the man upon the cross

my sin upon his shoulders

ashamed i hear my mocking voice

call out among the scoffers

it was my sin that held him there

until it was accomplished

his dying breath has brought me life

i know that it is finished

i will not boast in anything

no gifts, no power, no wisdom

but i will boast in jesus christ

his death and resurrection

why should i gain from his reward?

i cannot give an answer

but this i know with all my heart

his wounds have paid my ransom

dr. egnor continues:

“consciousness is not a spot, a lobe, or even a process in the brain. . . . the widely accepted recent theory that consciousness resides in the prefrontal cortex . . . has come under serious challenge. scientists at the allen brain institute reported on a multi-year study testing . . . the two leading materialistic theories of consciousness. . . . materialistic theories of the mind that each posit a different kind of brain socket (or cpu or whatever) for consciousness, although both theories posit that the prefrontal cortex [is] the region of the brain . . . essential to consciousness. [these research scientists report that] the prefrontal cortex supports neither theory. . . . you don’t need a prefrontal cortex, or any cortex at all, or even brain hemispheres, to be conscious. you need brain parts to do some mental things - to see, to move, to feel, to remember, etc., but consciousness is not made of meat. you need a soul . . . to be conscious. . . . consciousness is the ability conferred by our . . . soul to have experience [or an awareness] - the means, not the object, of our thoughts. . . . the search for consciousness in the . . . prefrontal cortex or anywhere in the brain is, and will always be, a fool’s errand.”

Dr. egnor describes a “spiritual soul” in this article. i have chosen to delete “spiritual” since in my writings, my books and blog posts, i differentiate between the human soul (mind, will, emotion, conscience) and the human spirit “breathed into man at his creation which is the means for personal communion with the holy spirit of the triune god the father and his son jesus christ. it is the portal through which communion occurs with the human soul.

i look forward to discussing elements of the book by egnor and o’leary, the immortal mind: a neurosurgeon’s case for the existence of the soul, due to be released june 3, 2025. it should provide compelling support for dualist interaction between the immaterial mind of god and of man and the material components of the brain’s neural synaptic networks.

i continue with the following excerpt:

“[egnor defines] consciousness in a simple way: it is the means by which we have experience. by ‘experience’ i mean the spectrum of the mental powers we use - moving, perceiving, remembering, emoting, imagining, understanding, judging, willing, etc. by ‘means’ i mean that consciousness is the instrument that enables experience. but it is not something that can be known itself.”

(I parenthetically add that the experience also involves an awareness, a cognitive function of the immaterial mind/soul.)

egnor continues:

“. . . consciousness is a power of our soul that is always invisible to us, because it is the instrument, not the object, or our knowledge. it is the means by which we experience, not what we experience. thus we can’t ‘find’ it in the brain.”

Dr. egnor has written a very challenging article entitled “Why much current consciousness research is a fool’s errand,” dated may 4, 2025 IN MIND MATTERS. I will be posting selected excerpts from this article in the blogs to come.

i begin with the following comment, “modern neuroscientists still search the brain for the center of consciousness. it is no longer understood as a socket because these neuroscientists are mostly mATERIALISTS AND THUS REJECT THE VERY EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL. Rather, they seek a sort of consciousness CPU, AS IF THE BRAIN WERE a meat computer. . . . the fundamental problem with the present-day neuroscience of consciousness is that neuroscientists struggle even to define the term. consciousness is not synonymous with AROUSAL - YOU CAN BE CONSCIOUS OF DREAMS WHILE ASLEEP AND THUS VERY UN-AROUSED. at least 40% of people in the deepest level of un-arousal (persistent vegetative state) are conscious, as shown by careful testing. this inability to even define consciousness with clarity is emblematic of the conceptual mess that modern neuroscience hAS BECOME. ENTIRE DISCIPLINES OF SCIENTISTS ARE FEVERISHLY STUDYING THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SOMETHING THEY CAN’T EVEN DEFINE.”

MORE TO COME. PLEASE STAY TUNED. THANK YOU.

i continue to search for articles that support the immateriality of the human mind. Michael egnor and denise o’leary have coauthored a book entitled the immortal mind. i plan to discuss their points in the future while awaiting its arrival at my doorstep. in the meantime, i wish to review the material presented by dr. egnor in an earlier blog post. this material is compelling for dualist interaction.

michael egnor has authored a review of gray matters: a biography of brain surgery, authored by theodore h. schwartz, (2024). dr. eGnor quotes dr. schwartz, “as a brain surgeon . . . i’ve severed the brain in two and watched in amazement as my patients wake up feeling like their complete and undivided selves.” (february 17, 2025) . . . after split brain surgery, patients wake up feeling completely unified, like just one person, despite the surgical disconnection of the two halves of their brain. . . . the split-brain patient’s sense of a unified self is real, not an illusion. . . . there is clear neuroscientific evidence for unified consciousness in patients with split-brains. . . . there remains a genuine unity to the human mind.”

dr. egnor cites neuroscientist justine sergent who “studied split-brain patientS and found that while some perceptual abilities are indeed split - for example, the right side of the visual field is seen via the left hemisphere and vice-versa - there remains a genuine unity to the human mind. sergent showed images of different objects to each of the two split hemispheres, and found that patients could compare the objects reasonably accurately, even though no part of the brain perceived both objects.” she went on to state, “. . . even when the two disconnected hemispheres receive different information, the commissurotomized brain works as a single and unified organism.” neuroscientist yair pinto and his colleagues “found the same thing.”

dr. egnor states that “sergent and pinto found that patients with split-brain surgery did have subtle perceptual disabilities associated with the split nature of their brains, but they nonetheless were capable of integrating the split information and remained one conscious individual,” [demonstrating cognitive perceptual integration].

egnor continued, “the normal sense that split-brain patients have that they are one person with one center of consciousness is not an illusion. they are, in fact, one person with one mind, even after splitting the brain hemispheres. this means that there is an aspect of the mind - ‘soul’ is perhaps a better word here - that is not split by the neurosurgeons’ scalpel. . . . each of us is a physical creature with a single spiritual soul, which is immaterial and cannot be split with a knife. this is not only the perennial teaching of the great religions, but the evidence of the best neuroscience.”

this discussion provides further, compelling evidence for dualist interaction between the immaterial HUMAN mind (and mind of god) and the material synaptic components of the human brain, A BIDIRECTIONAL INTERACTION DISCUSSED IN MY BOOKS AND BLOGS.

In addition to the bidirectional interaction between the immaterial mind of Man and Mind of God, his Holy Spirit, via the material components of the synaptic networks of the human brain, we are also learning that an awareness of the human mind and soul persists beyond the physical networks of the human brain as is the case of NDE and OBe. As the writings of Dr. EGnor state, the human mind and soul are not reducible to the human brain but exist, are active, beyond it! The human body and its brain are material and are not everlasting, but the mind/soul of Man are not temporal but persist beyond the earthly life of man. Is it possible that God is giving us clues, or progressive revelations, if you will, of the everlasting life to come?

in my writings i have endeavored to present compelling evidence for the immateriality of the human mind, created in the image of the mind of god, interactive in a causal sense with the material synaptic networks of the human brain. over a lifetime waveforms of electrochemical activity are instantiated within linguistic neural codes that are archived in memory, providing for a bidirectional personal communion between the mind of god and the mind and soul of man. my last blog post discussed this issue. in my next post i shall expand on this topic.