Consciousness is feeling. Thoughts are ways we maintain our homeostasis. A quick conversation with Mark Solms and Andrea Hiott on the topics of Mark's wonderful book The Hidden Spring.
Mark Solms is a South African psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist known for his discovery of the brain mechanisms of dreaming and his use of psychoanalytic methods in contemporary neuroscience. He is the Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital (Departments of Psychology and Neurology), President of the South African Psychoanalytical Association, and Research Chair of the International Psychoanalytical Association. He founded the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society in 2000 and is a Founding Editor of the journal Neuropsychoanalysis.
He has many other accomplishments and titles alongside these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Solms
🧠The Mysteries of the Mind: From Childhood Trauma to Neuroscience Insights
In this episode, Mark Solms discusses his deeply personal journey sparked by a childhood trauma that led to a fascination with the brain and consciousness. As a dedicated neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst, Mark shares how his brother's severe brain injury at a young age ignited a lifelong quest to understand the mind-body connection. Andrea and Mark explore reflections on mortality, the challenges within academia, and pivotal discoveries about the brainstem's role in consciousness. Why has been so hard to discuss dreams and feelings in science? Towards answering that, the conversation also touches on Freud's neuroscience roots, the subjective nature of the mind, and how feelings underpin our conscious experiences. This episode bridges historical perspectives with contemporary research, offering profound insights into the architecture of consciousness and the essence of human awareness.
#consciousness #rawfeeling #neuropsychiatry #freud #loveandphilosophy #hiddenspring #marksolms
00:00 Introduction and Setting the Stage
00:24 A Childhood Trauma: The Accident
01:46 The Aftermath: Brother's Transformation
02:43 Early Realizations: Mind-Body Connection
08:20 Existential Questions and Depression
15:59 Academic Pursuits: Neuroscience and Consciousness
23:18 Discovering Freud and Psychoanalysis
26:07 The Struggle with Subjective Experience in Academia
26:53 Personal Reflections on Pain and Guilt
28:37 The Embarrassment of Subjective Mind in Science
29:24 Behaviorism and the Exclusion of the Mind
32:31 The Cortex and Consciousness
34:58 The Brainstem's Role in Consciousness
47:01 Freud's Insights on Subjectivity and Drive Theory
50:42 Homeostasis and the Causal Power of Feelings
54:24 Concluding Thoughts on Consciousness and Science
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