the external world of matter, which it can transform
into a world of thought.

It is the lower or vegetative brain that may still exist and keep life
intact when the functions of the cerebrum are destroyed. We can say,
then, of the brain as a whole that it is the organ of the mind, the
_sine qua non_ of the mind, the apparatus for the registration of sense
impressions. The senses themselves are the rudiments of mind, are the
means by which stimuli alighting on sense organs enter consciousness;
for the nerves of special sense immediately carry the impetus to the
brain, where it is recognized as the "not me," the _something_
definitely affecting the _me_, and demanding reaction from the _me_.

The functions of the cerebrum we find grouping themselves in three
classes: _intellect_, _emotion_, and _volition_, more simply, thinking,
feeling, and willing; and we find no mental activity of the normal or
abnormal mind which will not fall into one of these groupings. This
does not mean that one part of the brain thinks, another part wills,
another part feels; for in the performance of any one of these functions
the mind acts as a whole. Our thinking or our willing may be permeated
with feeling, but the entire mind is simply reacting simultaneously upon
various stimuli.

CHAPTER V

THE NORMAL MIND

Mind, we found, is born in the form of consciousness when the outside
world impresses itself upon the brain-cells by way of the senses. This
consciousness, observation and experiment prove, is first a feeling one,
later a feeling-thinking-willing one. The mind, then, is really the
activity of the brain as it feels, as it thinks, as it wills. We express
this in descriptive terms when we speak of mind as the _flow of
consciousness_, the sum of all mental associations, conscious and
unconscious. For mind is never a final thing. Looking within at our own
mental processes we find that always our thought is just becoming
something else. We reach a conclusion, but it is not a resting place,
only a starting place for another. My thought was _that_ a moment ago,
but while it was _that_ it was becoming _this_, and even now it is
becoming something else.

Thinking is mind. Feeling is mind. Willing is mind. But for the sake of
clearness we speak of feeling, thinking, and willing as being functions
of mind. Mind acts by using these powers. But to what end does it act?
What purpose does it serve? For these functions are not the reason