Human body is best of God’s creation—endowed with most powerful of material manifestation called BRAIN. It is extremely difficult to fathom depths and domain of this highly especialised organ in man’s constitution. It is a thousand times more effective thangenerally perceived. The more we desired to know about it the more it baffled us. And not without reason. Because brain is a treasure trove of miracles. With apt use of it man can draw upon forces of nature and help others.
Extremely complex constitution of human brain makes for mind’s infinite play field. Many a psychologists though, differ on ‘What is mind?’ Some take a societal view of it, some give credence to ‘conscious mind’ while still others believe that it is ‘subconscious mind’ that really matters.
“You can’t grow wise without knowledge. And yet, paradoxically, you may go nuts with loads of knowledge.”
—Jeuses S Ross
All thinkers thus believe mind is seat of cognitive faculty that enable us to align, accommodate, gear up, mull at subconscious level, discriminate and analyse. Yet mind has no physical form. It can be felt only in its functional domain.
Testing of mind through multifarious examinations was practiced in Indian society since time immemorial. Our ancient literature is full of riddles and teasers to test common sense. But the first ever scientific study of I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) in modern times was conducted in Europe in 19th century. In this context, name of German psychologist Wount ranks foremost. He, in 1879, established a laboratory to test man’s sense perception, body functions and mental ability. This lab was a milestone on frontiers of cerebral research. A general principle propounded by Wount held that the keener a man’s sense perception—the greater his intellectual ability.
Some time later on, in 1901, new grounds were broken by another scientist named Weschsler. He opined that gizmos and laboratory equipments couldn’t declare a man wise or otherwise. He advocated school examinations to test a child’s mind, instead of laboratory techniques.
Relationship between mind and intellect
Though generally believed to be one and the same, mind and intellect are infact poles apart. Mind is in-born whereas intellect is acquired later in life. A gifted individual denied learning environment may not be as intelligent as an individual born basal but groomed in hard work and cerebral environment. Nevertheless, it is to mind that man should attend first. Thereafter he can focus on intellect.
First succeed in one field. Then go on to next. As goes a saying, “Mind one, rest all fall in place. Mind all in one go—and you end up loosing all.”
