Do you ever wonder about who and what ‘we’ are? I do. Moreover, what makes me ‘me.' What makes you, ‘you?'

The more spiritually minded perceive our consciousness, our ‘we’-ness as an extension of or an entity separate from, our physical beings – our soul if you like. Others see this soul as a gateway to a supernatural existence, perhaps life after death. The question then is - what makes us ‘us?’ You may be surprised by the answer.

First I need to define what 'we' is: it is our conscious self. Our self-aware, unique personality. By using a process of elimination, we can illustrate what exactly makes up our unique selves.

How do we do that? The same way that medical researchers work out the finer mechanisms of how we function; though observing the consequences of injury to the cells and organs. In this case, the brain.

Our brain weights 3 pounds, is comprised 75% water and 10% fatty tissue. It represents 2% of our body weight, contains 100 billion neurons and consumes in excess of 20% of our oxygen when resting.

Standing in front of you, my ability to know that I am present is provided by a number of sensory inputs - senses - which, when combined with my thought and emotional processes, make up my consciousnesses - 'me.' These senses are sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell.

Damage to any part of my brain will change ‘me’ – from subtle nuances of my personality to my very existence as a conscious being. Let me demonstrate what I mean.

A hard impact to the right place on my head can make me become instantly unconscious. How hard that impact is will determine just how deeply unconscious I am and when I may wake up; if ever. By damaging my brain, my state of awareness - of consciousness - is instantly switched off. I am no longer me; I may never again be.

Let’s delve a bit further. An impact over the right or left eye damages the front part of my brain - my frontal lobe - the seat of my personality among other things. This damage can leave me a changed person – from a delightful, charming (some would say witty) man into a nasty jerk; and fairly quickly too. (My wife reminds me that it doesn’t require an impact for this to happen to me; bless her for pointing this out.)

When a lobotomy is performed – the act of insertion of an implement behind the eye and wiggling it around – my personality is also changed. I will be left - again permanently – in a new state of consciousness, unrecognizable as the person you previously knew. ‘I’ will now be anything from lethargic to vegetative depending on how vigorous the surgeon was with his implement.

Our body is not an integral part of our consciences. Let’s, for a moment, examine what happens in the event of a back injury (my back in this case) – the severing my spinal chord right at the base of the skull.

Assuming I don’t die right away, I now no longer have any sensory perceptions from my body – none whatsoever. No touch, feeling, pain, motor skills, nada. Indeed my most basic functions such as breathing will need a machine to keep me alive. This does not however deprive me of my ‘me-ness’ as a visit with a patient with Lou Gehrig’s Disease will show; take Stephen Hawking as an example. Sufferers, who lose control of their body over time, are very much ‘themselves’ as their brain continues to function well.

Let’s see what else can happen to 'us' when damage is done to other places in the brain.

An impact to the back of the head can destroy our ability to see by damaging the occipital lobe. Maybe for good. An impact or blow to any part of the top our heads can deprive us of a number of functions including our ability to hear; think, reason, speak, to make sense when we speak, to be aware of or understand our surroundings. It can destroy our memories, our sense of smell, taste, our sex drive. It can interfere with our ability to move and control our bodies. This effect can occur by chemical means also through the use of alcohol or drugs.

Similarly, putting physical damage to our brain aside, we cannot live in isolation without social interaction - our brain can't cope. Our identity is socially created. It’s through relationships with others that we understand who we are and our place - personally, socially and professionally -  in the world.

Evidence clearly demonstrates that we’re living closer to the answer of our existence than we think. As such it negates the concept of our consciousness - our 'we'-ness - as a separate entity from our brain. It's not.

We know this because we can change components of our 'selves' through physical or chemical means. 'We’ are very much hardwired into our brain; ‘we’ are our brain.

These conclusions do not, nor are they meant to, interfere with faith in G-d. The brain is the most amazing 3 pounds of matter in existence. Its capabilities are infinite in the abstract; a whole world – a lifetime of living - for a person.

It is indeed a miracle of creation or evolution.
 

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