page 39
        The best philosophic and scientific minds since the days of Descartes have struggled with the question of the mind/brain dualism. Descartes in his Meditations (1642) concluded, “by the divine power the mind can exist without the body, and the body without the mind.” Dualism was congenial to the philosophy and science of Descartes’ time, appealing as it did to the materialistic explanation of the universe while remaining solely pious. In one form or another, it has persisted into the late twentieth century. Almost three hundred twenty-five years after Descartes’ powerful statement, a solitary American thinker sitting in the Far East struggling with a new concept he had named Pleneurethics reached the revolutionary conclusion that Descartes on this point was wrong. That thinker was Richard Collier. His conclusion was essential to his assertion relative to the unity of the body, brain, and mind. Collier wrote: “Pleneurethics is the system of thought which relates all affairs to the neural system. The brain is the central part of the neural system; hence, the brain is the axial point around which Pleneurethics is structured. All human affairs, internal and external, are interpreted in terms of their impact upon cerebellar resources” (emphasis added). Thirty years later Edward O. Wilson (Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge) wrote: “Virtually all contemporary scientists and philosophers expert on the subject agree that the mind, which comprises consciousness and rational process, is the brain at work” (p.98).
        Collier in Pleneurethics: A New Concept of Healing, Volume VI, Second Edition, wrote: “In Pleneurethics it is postulated that the individual is divided generally into three types of special tissue: body, brain, and mind. The somatic body and the mentality (mind) are linked together by the brain with its neural extensions and diverse capabilities for transliterating between the two different tissues and the external
 page 40
environment. The somatic body simply supports the neural system, so that the brain is responsible and responsive to the mind” (p.90).
        The human brain is the most complex object known in the universe. It is a helmet-shaped mass of gray and white tissue about the size of a grapefruit, one to two quarts in volume, and weighing on the average three pounds. Its surface is wrinkled and its consistency is custard-like, firm enough to keep its shape but soft enough to be scoped out with a spoon.
        The true meaning of the brain is hidden in its microscopic detail. Its fluffy mass is an intricately wired system of about a hundred million nerve cells, each a few millionths of a meter wide and connected to other nerve cells by hundreds or thousands of endings. There is still much about the brain which is not known. The fact that it is centered between the body and the mind is now clear. Both the body and the mind are dependent upon the brain.
        The structure of the brain controls the scope of the mind, and the energy of the brain provides the vigor of thought. The brain frames the range of the mind, supplying it with new data and responding to its command. The brain is employed by the mind. The mind is not a total master, for the mind is neither omnipotent nor omniscient, but it must rely on the brain for connection to the internal world of somatic need and on the external world of air, water, and money. The brain is not self-sustaining, for it rests in a flexible matrix furnished by the somatic body. The brain receives sensations and tensions for interpretation by the mind, and it transmits meaningful impulses as ordered by the mind.
        The brain is, indeed, the central engine of the human being. Living creatures are constructed of materials that constitute their content. They receive input, and they produce output.
        In the more complicated living engines such as the human species, there are several organic systems, all of which are integrated to make the complete individual in human form. It is here that the chances of structural distortion of an interlocking nature are greater than in less complicated devices or life forms. The human is the most important engine in nature. The human is more than an ordinary engine; it has considerable control over itself.

The Pleneurethical pentifacet with its field of parallel lines in five directions stands for a human creature of nature or engine. The first facet represents input into the pentifacet. Parallel lines are drawn toward the opposite facet which represents the structural aspect of any device of nature or man.
 page 41

        If the structure is proper, fine parallel lines will be reflected to another facet which stands for the function. From there the lines are again reflected to the facet which represents the content of any device. If the content is proper, output will be achieved.
        Lines from the output facet are reflected back to the original facet—this feedback is present in all devises. It is necessary for central and monitoring of operation.

        The Pleneurethical Star emerges automatically if the pentifacet is proper and if all lines have been correctly reflected. Thus the star is not drawn in or constructed. It arises automatically as a result of perfection in the devise. The circle around the pentifacet symbolizes Pleneurethics at work in the world. As observed in the operation of mechanical engines, engines can be overloaded. The brain can also be overloaded.
 page 42
        The brain accumulates tensions that distort brain tissue when tension is excessive. The brain receives these tensions in several different ways. Each way presents its load of tension, and each way reinforces the tension already accumulated through other ways.
        Brain tension reduces cerebellar energy resources and diminishes the capacity of the brain to entertain further tension without a breakdown of structure. Excessive brain tension also impairs its ability to report faithfully to the mind and to react meaningfully to commands of the mind.
        Light to moderate amounts of normal tension is necessary and desirable for proper brain activity. Normal brain tensions are received by way of ordinary sensory receptors. The mind, when it is active, installs perceptible amounts of acute transitory tension.
        Abnormal brain tension is a chronic disturbance imposed on the brain by way of direct mechanical disturbances to the central neural system. Brain and spinal cord nerve tracts may be traumatically assaulted by structural distortions of various areas of a damaged bioductory system. Whereas light to moderate levels of tension received through normal avenues are beneficial, even light levels of abnormal cerebellar tension from chronic bioductory disturbance is pathological. Chronic mental instability and organic illness result from chronic brain tension and trauma.
        The brain must not be called upon to accumulate tension indefinitely without some attempt being made to reduce the level of accumulation. If successive groups of tension reinforce each other without relief, the cerebellar system soon will be distorted excessively and, as a consequence, will break down. There must be, therefore, some way for the brain, body, and mind to reduce the accumulation of tension (neural energy utilization) in the brain.
        Tensions received by the brain through normal ways are quite readily processed. But the cerebellar tension chronically imposed on the brain cannot be processed away by normal relaxing methods, tranquilizing drugs, or mental therapy. Ordinarily, the level of acute brain tension is reduced consciously by correct mental solution of the frustrating mental situation, mental rationalization, forgetting, forgiving, or interposing fresh and novel experiences. Brain tension, if of an acute nature, is also normally reduced during sleep. This is done by a physio-neural process reflecting into the mentality, where it is interpreted
 page 43
by the mind in terms of dream sequences based on past episodes of the day or days before. Brain tension is also reduced through pleasing body experiences, massages, warm baths, and light exercise.
        The brain and its mind act upon the world through neural extensions. The world is modified by the manner in which the neural system responds to commands of consciousness. The energy of the neural system is of preeminent significance, and, when it collapses so also does the mind, breath, heartbeat, and movements of the skeleton.
        The neural system in itself knows nothing. It simply reacts to stimuli elaborated by the mind or received from the outside world. It merely brings reports centripetal for interpretation and evaluation by consciousness. It responds to a command of the mind. Interpretation, by consciousness, of neural report, is based upon the development of this capability through experience, trial and error, postulate, confirmation of postulate, and reconfirmation until the very end.
        The consciousness knows its external environment through the capability of the neural system. If the neural system is structurally sound and well supported physically and nutritionally, plus being adequately stimulated with abundant living experiences, the consciousness will know a normal world.
        However, if the neural system is not well supported and is not structurally sound and well fed, the brain will not provide faithful representations to the consciousness. The consciousness will only know a distorted and abnormal world.
        From the beginning of embryonic life until the final pediatric breath is drawn, the neural system must direct the acquisition of suitable material substance and integration of it into the living being. Without proper processing and consolidation of material in the physical structure, the body will soon be forfeited along with the individual’s earthly consciousness. Neurological capability is not unlimited; it can—and does—fail from overload.
        After years of elaborating the complex theory of operative Pleneurethics together with an exposition of its background, the basic definition of chronic illness has held firm. It is still a result of central neural insufficiency that is the cause of chronic disease with a method of restoring sufficiency to promote the basic ingredient necessary to sustain health and wellbeing.
 page 44
        To refine the definition one more step, it may be asked where this neural insufficiency is located. The answer is simple—in the brain. What are the causes of neural insufficiency in the brain? The causes are any trauma from a distorted bioduct from a conflicting stress caused by a malstructured intellect or from a toxin.
        Hence, the definition now becomes: Pleneurethics is a study of neural insufficiency in the brain from trauma caused by a distorted bioduct and, by conflicting stress from malstructured intellect or by toxin.
        What else does Pleneurethics do with respect to chronic illness? It restores central neural sufficiency by reversing the cause of the neural insufficiency and stress accumulations so as to cure the disease. Pleneurethics strongly contends that restoration cannot take place through the prescription and use of drugs. Prescription drugs can control or make bearable, but they cannot correct, the senses of chronic illness. The correction must be structural. As a result, the insufficiency is corrected by bioductory torsion, by restructuring the intellect, and by removing the source of the toxin. So, the second part of the definition is: Pleneurethics restores neural insufficiency of the brain by reversing the cause of neural insufficiency and stress accumulation by correcting bioductory torsion, by restructuring the intellect, and by removing the source of the toxin.
        In the last analysis, the conscious mind perceives the world through interpretations of presentations offered by the brain. Should the brain be chronically distorted by trauma, these presentations will be distorted, and the mind will eventually be affected. Abnormal behavior will result.
        To be specific, the key to corrective therapy for chronic mental instability, especially instability that results in abnormal or unacceptable behavior is to reduce physically the brain instability that causes it. The therapeutic approach is physical—not mental, not chemical.
        In the context of the Mind/Body Problem, where the brain plays a central role, the solution is difficult because there still is not an adequate science of the brain on the mind. “Adequate” here means an account of the brain that gives causal explanations of consciousness in all its forms and varieties. At the same time, there has been considerable, exciting work that began in the mid-1970s and continues to this day. An answer may be at hand; however, Richard Collier did his work before the mid-1970s. He was not privy to the vast work of the last twenty plus years. Nonetheless, his work stands the test of more recent research. The controlling component in Collier’s work is the commitment to studying chronic illness. His practical focus is not philosophical, neurological, psychological, or spiritual. He attempted to unite the knowledge available from all of these approaches.*
 page 45

 page 46
        Collier perceived the unity of the body, brain, and mind. His concern—chronic illness—is manifested in the soma (body), but the causes are structural, and they relate to the brain and, through the brain, to the mind. The latter (the mind) is the brain at work. The mind cannot exist without the brain. But, as the case of Karen Ann Quinlan illustrates, the brain can exist without the mind. It is the structure of the brain that furnishes the power for heat of thought. The mind is insulated from the body and from the outer environment by the central neural system. The mind knows only the range of perceptions to which the brain and its peripheral extensions are selectively sensitive. The mind can only exert its influence over the body through receptive brain centers and functional motor extensions. The brain, including its entire neural system, is all—everything.
        The neural system is axially located in the unity of body, brain, and mind. The mind is on one side and the somatic body on the other with the neural system in between.
        The neural system is the pivot around which the remainder is biologically balanced. The brain limits the mind in its association with its earthly environment. The structure of the brain determines the array of senses and their span of sensitivity in the vibratory spectrum. Thus, the structure of the brain allows sensory receptors and motor nerves in the fingers and toes of the human, but it denies such sensory and motor capability to animals. A person hears and sees a different range of vibrations interpreted as tone and color than do animals. In this and other ways, the human brain is structured markedly different from that of animals.
 page 47
        The mind is structured according to brain anatomy. The intellectual portion of the mind is associated with the most recent development of the brain—the forebrain. The infrallectual sector of the mind is the oldest aspect of the brain sector. The ultrallectual portion of the mind seems perhaps more closely associated with the older portions of the brain than the newer; hence, it is often over-shadowed by an overriding intellect.
        The mind derives comfort and stable wellbeing from sensing the presence of large amounts of available neural energy in a stable, central neurological system. The mind is immensely satisfied in the knowledge that it has abundant resources of unused and undisturbed neural energy at its command. The mind is confident, optimistic, and enthusiastic when seeming limitless quantities of vital energy is immediately available. With the mind all things within the realm of human feasibility are possible.
        Conversely, when neural capacity in the central neural system is chronically disturbed and diminished, the mind is given to instability and abnormalcy. It has difficulty in discriminating fact from fantasy and, as a consequence, is given to anger, poor concentration, and shortness of attention. Memory is weak; judgment is poor. Bad dreams abound.
        All things are known relative to the neural system. The mind operates in accord with the structure and functional capability of the neural system. The mind cannot meaningfully exist without a neural system to transliterate data acquired from sensory receptors or to receive its orders for issuance to the soma.
        If the structure of the neural system, especially the central portion, is distorted, the mind will likewise be affected. The brain, deteriorating under impact of cephalward neuralosis, definitely creates an insurmountable problem for the mind whether it is that of a child or an adult.
        Since the only reality for the mind is obtained by reference to its neural system, the pathological neural system will, due to its structural distortion, also distort mind action in a hyper-excited manner at first, followed by apathy. However, a mind under such circumstances may not know that its standard has shifted.
        Since the only inner mental reality comes by way of the brain, a mind distorted by chronic brain instability will have no easy way of
 page 48 
evaluating the precise degree to which it has been altered. The shift is often gradual and natural, and the sufferer seldom realizes the extent of his cerebellar trauma with its resulting mind imbalance until the person commits some horrible, inexcusable act.
        Human mentality is not absolute and independent, although it feels itself so. An untraumatized brain, spinal cord, and peripheral neural system establish proper neurological environment for a feeling by the mind that it is absolutely free. However, once stressful chemical or physical vectors assaults the neural system, the mind is captured and grounded from its free flight in an untraumatized neural system.
        The mechanical reality of the world is the neural system. However, after the infancy and simple reflexes stage terminates, the structure, function, and content of the mind become more and more the apparent reality. Things then become relative to the mind in addition to their relationship with the neural system.
        In Pleneurethics, the capability for a mentality to transform itself suddenly is advocated. From the very moment action commences, it is based on a desire to be good, ethical, and righteous. The shift in desire may come about slowly as progressive experience prepares for the ultimate decision, or it may seemingly come instantaneously with very little prefatory work being actually exerted. However, even after such spontaneous restructuring of basic mental desire has been achieved, tremendous amounts of mental work will be required to rearrange the polarity of previously acquired and semi-permanently catalogued mental content. Moreover, the chronically depressed and degeneratively distorted mentality can never resurrect itself through mind action alone. It can revise its manner of assessing its depressing plight; but it can never by mind action alone correct the distorted bioduct causing the chronic neuro-mental instability syndrome.
        The mind seldom tires. It is the brain that becomes exhausted. The mind does not break, but usually it is the chronically ill brain that has its tissue breakdown. Thus, it is more correct to say “brain breakdown” than mental breakdown or nervous breakdown.
        When the brain breaks down, of course, the behavior of the individual becomes even more unpredictable. An attendant mind sickness is inevitably accompanied by various chronic illness symptoms in the soma.
 page 49
        It cannot be postulated that the brain stores memories. Once the current is drawn from a charged condenser, it is depleted. But, when information is drawn from the memory of the mind, the channel for its acquisition is strengthened rather than weakened, and the trace of memory is not erased, but instead it is accentuated.
        It is doubtful that the brain itself holds ideas or bits and pieces of experience available for recall. The brain, together with its peripheral sensors, seems more an organ capable of acquiring data and transmitting it into a storage capacity, which, although not the brain, is receptive to and integral with it.
        The neural system seems a device structured to receive data from outside its confines as palpitated by its peripheral sensors and transmits this information to a central storage facility. From this central facility, information may be retrieved by the mind and transmitted to a functioning brain capable of forwarding meaningful commands. These commands are sent by way of motor nerves to achieve a desired result in the soma and from there to manipulate the external environment.
        Brain function, in placing or withdrawing information from storage, is work that requires metabolic energy. Many units of energy in terms of watts are required to push a radio frequency signal into the ether and to receive and amplify it at a distant point. So it is that many units of neural effort are required to operate the consciousness.
        The mind is difficult to explain. Consciousness must be explained in relation to the mind which is shaped by the brain. In Pleneurethics “consciousness” is defined as: A product of brain function perceived by the region of the mind associated with it as life. That definition is not totally adequate, but it is adequate enough for the purpose of Pleneurethics. Consciousness exists, but it presently resists adequate definition.
        There is no doubt that humans are conscious, but the adaptive value of being conscious is not as yet well understood. Perhaps the most thoughtful (and argumentative) philosopher of mind and therefore consciousness is John Searle. (See his book The Rediscovery of the Mind.)
        While Searle’s operating definition of “consciousness” is still subject to debate, it does provide considerable insight:
 page 50
        What I mean by “consciousness” can best be illustrated by examples. When I wake up from a dreamless sleep, I enter a state of consciousness, a state that continues as long as I am awake. When I go to sleep or am put under a general anesthetic or die, my conscious states cease. If during sleep I have dreams, I become conscious, though dream forms a consciousness in general are of a much lower level of intensity and vividness than ordinary waking consciousness. Consciousness can vary in degree even during our waking hours, as, for example, when we move from being wide awake and alert to sleepy or drowsy, or simply bored and inattentive. ... Consciousness is an on/off switch: a system is either conscious or not. But once conscious, the system is a rheostat: there are different degrees of consciousness (p. 83).^*