non physical mind is conscious — EnPassant

What is the "non-physical mind"? Is it the sum of all the information stored in our brains, like the software is to the hardware of a computer?

My latest thoughts on this subject: Could it be that the source of the laws of nature also "decrees" that, when a life form reaches a certain state of mental complexity, it comes to have the power to investigate its own functioning and that of the Universe? Corresponding to Wallace's "unseen universe of Spirit"?

I've downloaded the complete Plato - what's the best part for me to read with my interests? Please don't say all of it!
Thanks

But to be really direct about it, the answer to that question doesn’t lie with evolutionary theory, in my opinion. Please note, I am not pushing any kind of creationist or ID bandwagon. But I don’t automatically assume that all human capabilities can be automatically explained in biological terms. In other word, at a certain point, we as a species began to transcend the biological. And how that happened is also a fascinating question, but it’s a meta-physical question by definition. — Wayfarer

- if not biological, then what? - spiritual? - see my quote below from A R Wallace

From: Alfred Russel Wallace: Darwinism Applied to Man (S724, Chapter 15: 1889) - thanks Wayfarer for the link - it may be that I have advanced my thinking considerably from reading him:

http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S724CH15.htm

We thus find that the Darwinian theory, even when carried out to its extreme logical conclusion, not only does not oppose, but lends a decided support to, a belief in the spiritual nature of man. It shows us how man's body may have been developed from that of a lower animal form under the law of natural selection; but it also teaches us that we possess intellectual and moral faculties which could not have been so developed, but must have had another origin; and for this origin we can only find an adequate cause in the unseen universe of Spirit. [my emphasis]

Posty McPostface - suggests I read Plato - do you have a specific reference please?

EnPassant:

We know deep things because the non physical mind is conscious. The brain is only a means for the mind to engage with the physical world. — EnPassant

What is the "non-physical mind"? Is there something besides neurons, axons and dendrites?

I obviously need to do a lot more reading on the subject. I'm still surprised that so many people just seem to accept humans' ability to learn about nature.

Thanks for your responses so far.

You mean, technology as the third arm after maths & physics? It follows from the first two - knowing about atoms and how they behave enabled us to invent the transistor, for example.

I've been reading "The Mind of God" by Paul Davies. It pretty much covers my area of interest though, of course, it doesn't answer the question of WHY we know so much. In Chapter 6, "The Mathematical Secret", he says "It is as though human thought is, instead, being guided towards some eternal external truth..."

and

"[w]hat is remarkable is that human beings are actually able to carry out this code-breaking operation, that the human mind has the necessary intellectual equipment for us to 'unlock the secrets of nature' and make a passable attempt at completing nature's 'cryptic crossword'."

I haven't finished the book yet. My next text will be

"New theories of everything : the quest for ultimate explanation" by John D. Barrow.

Most people seem to just accept that humans are so clever, or just don't think about it.

My current view is there is "something" at a higher level of "existence" than time and space. Whether it's "guiding us", and to what end, I can't imagine. Nor can we probably inquire into "it" in any meaningful way - we stand in relation to whatever "it" is as, say, ants to the earth they inhabit.

I've just joined the Forum. I am 69 years old and have a scientific/engineering background.
My reason for joining is to establish contact with others who are interested in what I consider the most important question one can ask:
"How (and why) did human beings come to be able to know so much about how the Universe works?"
I appreciate that asking "why" presupposes that there has to be a reason, which implies a higher level of existence. About that, I don't know at all. When I read about progress in mathematics or physics, I find it so amazing that our knowledge of such subjects can be so deep and complex. I appreciate that evolution happens very slowly, but I don't see how knowing a quark from a boson can help make it any more likely that I will survive to produce more offspring.
I hope there are others out there who have pondered this same issue, and perhaps have thoughts about it that they can contribute. There may well be existing discussions going on in the Forum, but I haven't been able to find any.

17 days later: Now wondering why I haven't had any responses???? Have I posted in the wrong place???

Thanks