Chapter 2: The Brain the Tool

          “Do you know what just happened, Frank?” the Inspiring One asked.

I nodded.

“Verbalize it in your mind, Frank, so you can share it with others,”the Inspiring One said, “Even with me.”

“What if I don't want to?” I asked, feeling I might be wrong about remembering it was light when I had been distracted.

“Its okay, Frank. I am not going to judge you. I know what happened already. I just want you to share it with me,” the Inspiring One explained.

“I was distracted by waiting for you to show me something. Then it was really dark. But I remembered it was light at least it was the last moment before it was dark,” I said, “How's that?”

The Inspiring One didn't say anything for some time then it said, “Do you trust your brain, Frank?”

“I-I,” I said, “Don't know! Should I?”

“No Frank,” the Inspiring One warned, “The brain is just a tool to help you understand what it interprets for you to see in your mind's eye as they say.”

“You mean it might not have been light that I saw at all?” I stated, “I'm not surprised.”

“You remembered it as being light when you were not paying attention to what you were seeing, Frank,” the Inspiring One said, “But that is only the way your brain interpreted it and processed it after the fact. You really didn't see anything literally. I mean, it was over with by the time you remembered it as being light.”

“Cool,” I said, “How did you know?”

“I didn't, Frank,” the Inspiring One said, “That's why I asked.”

“What does it look like when I'm not imagining it to be dark then?” I asked.

“That's a good question, Frank,” the Inspiring One said encouragingly, “You don't know?”

“What?” I asked.

“When you remembered waiting and not really thinking anything and your brain was tricked into seeing that memory as had it been light,” Frank said, “But how did you know it had been light?”

“I didn't, did I?” I asked.

“I just have to go by what I've been told by the first one to notice the phenomenon as far as I know,” the Inspiring One said, “But I believe him.”

“You actually know the first one to notice what you just showed me?” I asked, amazed it was true.

“You have to either believe him or you can doubt him,” the Inspiring One said, “It sounds like you would believe him, Frank Li? This is very important, Frank. Do you believe him or not?”

“I-?” I said, “I'm not sure?”

“How could you remember it, if it wasn't there?” the Inspiring One asked seeming very concerned.

I didn't know what to say so I didn't say anything.

“Well, when your eyes see light, you remember it the same way, don't you?” the Inspiring One seemed to be leading me and I didn't like it.

“I don't know,” I said unable to hide my displeasure, “I guess, but my brain is tricked into believing the light I see then is still there for a tiny bit of time.”

“Exactly!” the Inspiring One said.

I was surprised.

“Your mind is affected the same way by anticipation as it is by physical light, am I correct?” the Inspiring One concluded for me.

“I see what you mean,” I said, “I think? It had to be light in my mind's eye the same as it was in my physical eye. They match up!”

“Aha!”the Inspiring One said, “Which one was first then, the one you saw when your brain was tricked by not paying attention to what you saw or the physical light?”

“Let's see,” I said not realizing I was deep in thought, “When I was born I was blind I suppose like every baby ever born. And if my mind had been working when I was in the womb I must have been tricked into thinking at some point. But I don't remember what it was like.”

“Think about it, Frank,” the Inspiring One demanded, “Does it take less effort to imagine darkness or to just to remember the light you remembered seeing it in your mind's eye immediately upon imagining it was dark the same as your brain immediately remembers physical light when you close your eyes? You said that they were the same.”

“Well,” I said with a sigh, “They are not quite the same, but they are both remembered as light though each are slightly different. The light I remembered after being distracted was clear light and the light I remember when I first close my eyes is no more that of a flash of light. But they are very nearly the same. So,” I sighed again, “I guess they are the same. And, it is more automatic to remember something than to imagine it. So the first light I saw was seen in my mind as my brain was tricked by something I thought, even in the womb. But I'm still not convinced.”

“Well,”the Inspiring One said as if almost frustrated, “Have you ever tried to imagine something you have never seen before?”

“Yeah,” I said, “But I fell asleep and dreamed something else before I accomplished it.”

“Really!” the Inspiring One said with surprise, “Then you admit, it is very much more difficult to imagine something you never saw before, if it even can be done, than it is to remember something. What does that tell you?”

“The light I remembered in my mind's eye had to be there or at least my brain was tricked by whatever was there when I was distracted before the physical light, for I would have to have opened my eyes to have seen physical light. But I was blind in the womb. It had to be for I was born blind like everyone else.” Then I became excited for at last I understood, “The same phenomenon that caused me to see light in my mind, had to be there before I saw physical light much later. But how can that be? I always thought the one was real and the other-?”

“Imagined?”the Inspiring One asked.

I said nothing but I was thinking the Inspiring One had been right. I was not imagining it. I was remembering it. Light is light whether remembered in the mind or perceived by the eye.

“Would we even know what light was if we had never known what it was without having seen it in our minds' eyes beforehand?” I asked the Inspiring One.

“My God!” I verbalized in my mind to the Inspiring One realizing it might be true.

“Perhaps,” the Inspiring One said, “We will be getting to that later if you want.”

Then I opened my eyes to find my mom must have went home to rest and there was no one there in my hospital room but me, but after I been distracted by that a while, I remembered what I had seen while I was distracted with my eyes open in the light as exactly the same as what I remembered it when doing the same thing with my eyes closed. It didn't matter apparently whether I was in the relative darkness or in the light. I would remember it the same. And I also realized that when my brain was tricked by the light in the room it was more permanent. But the light in my mind's eye had to have been there before the physical light was or it would have mattered whether I had my eyes open or not.

“What just happened?” I asked the Inspiring One.

“Your brain sometimes tricks itself, Frank Li,” the Inspiring One said, “It tries to differentiate between the light you see with your physical eyes from the light you that exists in your mind only. But light is light, it is not just a metaphor what went on in your mind. The brain is tricked in the same way by the two very different things, remembered light and perceived physical light, they are the same thing. How else would they trick the brain in the same way. Perhaps even the physically blind can remember the light that has always been? Do you know anyone who is or at least was blind from birth?”

I had to admit I had not, but I imagined they remembered the same as I did, if there brains were like mine.

“Now that you have taught me to remember the light that is always there, I understand that the light that can be turned off and on is the same light that I remembered without ever seeing it with my own eyes. It has to have always been there and so long as my brain can be distracted, it will always be there for me to remember it.”

“Very good, Frank,” the Inspiring One said, “Now open your eyes, but don't tell anyone what you know, not just yet.”