The Mind

The brain is a very powerful

thing.

Human beings use their brains, or minds, to

build skyscrapers,

and make airplanes,

and write millions of books.

But what is the mind?What does it do?

The most basic thing the mind does is to see,

hear,

touch,

taste,

and smell.

Those are calledthe five senses, or perception.

Perception is something the mind

does.

But the mind does not just perceive.

It also forms concepts, remembers, imagines,

and reasons.

When we see many things that are all alike, we get an idea, or concept.

These are all the same kind of animal. What are they?

They are all kittens!So we get the idea of kittens.

We see many different things all of the same color. What color?

Red! We getthe concept of red.

The drums make a lot of noise. What do we call it?

Loud!So we getthe idea of loudness.

Can you think of something

that happened yesterday?

Your mind is remembering

what happened.

Do you remember whatyou had for breakfast?

Do you remember your name?

Sometimes, you can think up

things you have never seen

before.

No one has ever seena horse with wings.

Your mind imagines it.

Can you think up, or imagine,a dog with antlers?

Did you imagine something like

this?

Everyone imagines

differently!

Now look at this picture. Can you guess how many dots there are?

There are 20 dots. If you didn’t count, your mind made a guess!

Guessing, or estimating, is another thing the mind can do.

Look.Fido is smaller

than Rover.

Fido Rover

But Rover is smaller than Rex!

Rover Rex

Now think: who is bigger,Fido or Rex?

Rex is bigger.

Fido Rex

How did you know? Your mind used reasoning.

Rex is bigger than Rover, and Rover is bigger than Fido. So Rex is bigger than Fido!

To reason isto think things out, to draw conclusions.

To go on the ride, a child must be four

feet tall.

This child is not four feet

tall.

She is still small.

So can she go on the

ride?

No! We used reasoning to answer the question.

The more you use perception,memory, imagination, and

reasoning, the more you learn!

When youlearn,

you get knowledge.

When you have a lot of knowledge, then you are educated.

If you use your knowledge to make good choices, then you are wise.

The End