mind over matter
{{short description|Phrase used spiritual doctrines, parapsychology, and philosophy}}
{{about|the phrase|other uses}}
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"Mind over matter" is a phrase that has been used in several contexts, such as mind-centric spiritual doctrines, parapsychology, and philosophy.
Merriam Webster Dictionary defines mind as "the element or complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and especially reasons"{{cite web |title=mind |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mind |accessdate=25 May 2019 |website=/www.merriam-webster.com}} and mind over matter as able to; "a situation in which someone is able to control a physical condition, problem, etc., by using the mind".{{cite web |title=mind over matter |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mind%20over%20matter |website=/www.merriam-webster.com |accessdate=25 May 2019}}
Origin
The phrase "mind over matter" first appeared in 1863 in The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man by Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875) and was first used to refer to the increasing status and evolutionary growth of the minds of animals and man throughout Earth history.{{cite book|last1=Bartlett|first1=John|last2=Kaplan|first2=Justin|title=Bartlett's Familiar Quotations: A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature|date=2002|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|location=Boston|isbn=9780316084604|edition=17th|url=https://archive.org/details/bartlettsfamilia00bart}}{{Page needed|date=November 2015}} {{Quote|It may be said that, so far from having a materialistic tendency, the supposed introduction into the earth at successive geological periods of life — sensation, instinct, the intelligence of the higher mammalia bordering on reason, and lastly, the improvable reason of Man himself — presents us with a picture of the ever-increasing dominion of mind over matter.| Sir Charles Lyell, 1863}}
Another related saying, "the mind drives the mass" (Latin: {{lang|la|mens agitat molem}}), was coined almost two millennia earlier, in 19 B.C. by the poet Virgil in his work Aeneid, book 6, line 727.{{cite book|last1=Stevenson|first1=Burton|title=The Macmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases|date=1987|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-0026145008}}{{Page needed|date=November 2015}}
Parapsychology
In the field of parapsychology, the phrase has been used to describe paranormal phenomena such as psychokinesis.{{cite book|last1=Berger|first1=Arthur S.|last2=Berger|first2=Joyce|title=The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research|date=1991|publisher=Paragon House|location=New York|isbn=978-1557780430|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpa00berg/page/341 341]|edition=1st|quote=Psychokinesis (PK). The response of objects such as dice or the environment to a person's wishes is commonly labelled 'mind over matter'.|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpa00berg/page/341}}{{cite book|last1=Gilovich|first1=Thomas|title=How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life|date=1993|publisher=Free Press|location=New York|isbn=9780029117064|pages=160–175|edition=1st|quote=A panel commissioned by the United States National Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or ‘mind over matter’ exercises... Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist."}}
Mao Zedong
"Mind over matter" was also Mao Zedong's idea that rural peasants could be "proletarianized" so they could lead the revolution and China could move from feudalism to socialism through New Democracy. According to some, it departs from Leninism in that the revolutionaries are peasants, instead of the urban proletariat.{{cite journal|last1=Baum|first1=Richard D.|title="Red and Expert": The Politico-Ideological Foundations of China's Great Leap Forward|journal=Asian Survey|date=1 January 1964|volume=4|issue=9|pages=1048–1057|doi=10.2307/2642397|jstor=2642397}}
Controlling pain
The phrase also relates to the ability to control the perception of pain that one may or may not be experiencing.{{cite journal|last1=Wiech|first1=Katja|last2=Ploner|first2=Markus|last3=Tracey|first3=Irene|author3-link=Irene Tracey|title=Neurocognitive aspects of pain perception|journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences|date=1 August 2008|volume=12|issue=8|pages=306–313|doi=10.1016/j.tics.2008.05.005|pmid=18606561|s2cid=22358667 |issn=1364-6613}}
References
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{{Parapsychology|state=collapsed}}
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Category:Paranormal terminology
Category:Philosophical phrases