Brain vs. Mind

It’s (the brain) full of claims and reasons. “You’re a little depressed because of all the stress at work,” it says. (It never says “you’re a little depressed because your serotonin level has dropped.”)
Sometimes it’s interpretations are not credible, such as when you cut your finger and it start yelling “you’re gonna die!” Sometimes it’s claims are unlikely, as when it says, “Twenty five chocolate chip cookies would be the perfect dinner.”
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The point is, the brain talks to itself, and by talking to itself changes its perceptions. To make a new version of the not-entirely-false model, imagine the first interpreter as a foreign correspondent, reporting from the world. The world in this case means everything out- or inside our bodies, including serotonin levels in the brain. The second interpreter is a news analyst, who writes op-ed pieces. They read each other’s work. One needs data, the other needs an overview; they influence each other. They get dialogues going.

INTERPRETER ONE: Pain in the left foot, back of heel.
INTERPRETER TWO: I believe that’s because the shoe is too tight.
INTERPRETER ONE: Checked that. Took off the shoe. Foot still hurts.
INTERPRETER TWO: Did you look at it?
INTERPRETER ONE: Looking. It’s red.
INTERPRETER TWO: No blood?
INTERPRETER ONE: Nope.
INTERPRETER TWO: Forget about it.
INTERPRETER ONE: Okay.

Mental illness seems to be a communication problem between interpreters one and two.

An exemplary piece of confusion.

INTERPRETER ONE: There’s a tiger in the corner.
INTERPRETER TWO: No, that’s not a tiger- that’s a bureau.
INTERPRETER ONE: It’s a tiger, it’s a tiger!
INTERPRETER TWO: Don’t be ridiculous. Let’s go look at it.

Then all the dendrites and neurons and serotonin levels and interpreters collect themselves and trot over to the corner.
If you are not crazy, the second interpreter’s assertion, that this is a bureau, will be acceptable to the first interpreter. If you are crazy, the first interpreter’s viewpoint, the tiger theory, will prevail.
The trouble here is that the first interpreter actually sees a tiger. The messages sent between neurons are incorrect somehow. The chemicals triggered are the wrong chemicals, or the impulses are going to the wrong connections. Apparently, this happens often, but the second interpreter jumps in to straighten things out.

Dreams Into Nightmares

Looking forward to the culmination of childhood dreams
Dreams turn into reality, but reality is twisted
Distortion comes unwelcome but it comes nonetheless
The days turn into weeks of tirelessly working
Weeks into months and years and time flies but you aren’t having fun

Exhausted.
The fatigue comes later, much later
When the dreams are unrecognizable and your heart beat slows
When recognition dawns and the curtain is drawn
The culmination of dreams that were never dreams
Never dreams, always nightmares

When this crazy stampede of people pass over and away
When staring eyes pierce into the insecurities of your sad, sad soul
Your dreams are of the light, your nightmares are of darkness
Its the thought that counts but you worked towards a goal that was never there

Your dreams become nightmares
And its unreachable, you are denied access to the one true desire of your heart
You change paths because its never too late
When dreams turn into reality and reality is a nightmare
Your are the dream, you live in the nightmare
The culmination of your twisted reality