Mind is not a product of the brain!
Human beings are socially conditioned to believe that each mind is confined within the skull of its owner. An alternative view of Mind is presented in the above diagram.
Mental Healing
If Mind is not restricted to the brain, the possibility arises that it could have an effect on other physical bodies. The ample evidence for mental healing is reviewed in the book. Healing powers may not depend on any particular religious belief, but it may be unreasonable to expect that healing is always miraculous, dramatic, and complete. Just as with medical and surgical treatments, mental healing is often gradual, temporary, and incomplete.
Near-death Experiences (NDE)
It is well known in science that a technological advance often precedes the rapid acquisition of knowledge in the relevant field. The study of the mind received a boost with the invention of the cardiac defibrillator machine - Thoracic surgeon Claude S. Beck of the University Hospitals in Cleveland, U.S.A., was the first person to save a human life with the use of a defibrillator in 1947. Once the use of this machine became widespread, many people who would previously have died of cardiac arrest could now have their hearts re-started. A significant proportion of these people began to report near-death experiences (NDE's) which had occurred in the period of unconsciousness before they were resuscitated. These experiences had been written about since ancient times, but now their scientific study became more feasible because they occurred much more frequently. The term "near-death experience" was coined by Raymond Moody in 1975. The startling findings of these studies have been dismissed by physicalists as the mere imaginings of diseased minds; philosophers in general have ignored the findings in their theoretical outpourings.
Other intelligent beings in the Universe
Astronomers tell us that there are likely to be thousands of planets on solar systems scattered across the Universe with the conditions suitable for the evolution of life. Why is it that most human beings on planet Earth are not able to communicate with these beings? Is it possible that Earth has been physically "quarantined" to protect other worlds from the contagion of violence which is endemic here?
The Smart Mind hypothesis includes the possibility that, although physical communication with other intelligent beings in the Universe seems impossible, the minds of such beings may form a communicating network spread across vast distances. From the historical point of view the angelic visions of Emanuel Swedenborg and the communication with Spiritual Beings described by Rudolf Steiner may be instances of this phenomenon. A close study of the paintings on the walls of caves at 300 sites in South-Western Europe suggests the possibility that our prehistoric ancestors have been communicating with these strange beings for 30,000 years. A belief in the existence of "spiritual" beings has persisted in mainstream religion with references to "devas", "angels", and "demons". "Demons" are referred to in both Eastern and Western religions.
Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)
People who have experimented with the psychedelic drug DMT have had very strange experiences. They often report meeting "alien beings" who may be hostile or friendly. Although conventional wisdom is to dismiss these experiences as hallucinations, experimenters like the psychiatrist Rick Strassman have been forced to consider the possibility that these beings are "real". Can Smart Mind take us into realms which are denied to so-called normal consciousness?