John Desmond Bernal Quotes

There is no such thing as a disembodied mind. The mind is implanted in the brain, and the brain is implanted in the body.

There is something fundamentally fascinating about the mechanics, I guess, of the human body and where consciousness and mind exist, and what you can do with the mechanics of the body while keeping those intact, and where those two cross over.

The computer model will be replaced by an organic model, in which the brain-mind is embodied - part of a whole, dynamic, living organism: one driven by emotional forces, not only cognitive ones.

The mind shapes the body, and the body shapes the mind.

A mind is so closely shaped by the body and destined to serve it that only one mind could possibly arise in it. No body, never mind.

The mind's first step to self-awareness must be through the body.

Every mental state is also physical.

Science is empirical, all about physical senses that tell us about the world. But physical senses are not the only senses we have. Nobody has ever seen a thought. Nobody has ever seen a feeling. And yet thoughts and feelings are where we live our lives most immediately, and science cannot connect with that.

The biology of mind bridges the sciences - concerned with the natural world - and the humanities - concerned with the meaning of human experience.

Our minds influence the key activity of the brain, which then influences everything; perception, cognition, thoughts and feelings, personal relationships; they're all a projection of you.

To me, body and mind are different aspects of specific biological processes.

There are still so many questions to answer about the workings of the human body and, most mysterious of all, it is influenced by our state of mind.

We should realize in a vivid and revolutionary sense that we are not in our bodies but our bodies are in us.

I have to admit that 'Psychology Today' was one of the first magazines I started reading, back when I was 13 or 14, because I was the kind of kid that was curious about the mysterious human mind - I hoped to learn about telekenisis, multiple personalities, psychosis, and various other cool and terrible things that happened inside people's heads.

Why do people believe that there are dangerous implications of the idea that the mind is a product of the brain, that the brain is organized in part by the genome, and that the genome was shaped by natural selection?

We are the miracle of force and matter making itself over into imagination and will. Incredible. The Life Force experimenting with forms. You for one. Me for another. The Universe has shouted itself alive. We are one of the shouts.

Great ideas originate in the muscles.

If man was the relative of animals, then animals were the relatives of man, and in degrees bearers of that inwardness of which man, the most advanced of their kin, is conscious in himself.

The genetic you and the neural you aren't alternatives to the conscious you. They are its foundations.

What I find fascinating is the idea that we all have a physical brain, but we also have this mental part, and we have to figure out how they work together.

A mountain of evidence shows that our bodies are pushing, shaping, even leading our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. That the body affects the mind is, it's fair to say, incontestable. And it's doing so in ways that either facilitate or impede our ability to bring our authentic best selves to our biggest challenges.

I had to find the interconnection of my brain together with my physiology.

We are not humans because we've invented a different type of brain cell, a different type of brain chemical. We are the same basic building blocks as even a fruit fly.

My mind can never know my body, although it has become quite friendly with my legs.