Your Brain On Reason

“We are led to conclude that the human being, at this stage of evolution, is a biological robot (biot) automatically responding to genetic template and childhood imprinting.” - Timothy Leary in Info-Psychology (1987)

The human mind is a machine. Albeit a very complex machine that, when combined with the human body, is capable of amazing feats. If you doubt the machine nature of the mind then you probably have just not yet learned how easy your thoughts are to manipulate.
The brain is biological, yes; not mechanical or electronic. But biology is as much a system of cause and effect as any of the other machine types. So to deny the machine nature of our brain is to deny the very principle of cause and effect.
Our brain is the epitome of reason. Its primary purpose is not to determine us, but to serve us. Its function is to give us the ability to manipulate our experience. We call it “reasoning”, but that is a misleading term. It implies that the mind has the ability to understand. But it does not. The mind can only process finite information. Understanding requires consciousness, and consciousness requires the comprehension of infinity. So when we “reason” we are not understanding at all. We are merely manipulating our understanding to suit ourselves.
This is why there are so many different “understandings” in the world. Because people mistake reason for understanding. We worship cause and effect as though it were a god. Or, at least some “law” of the universe set down by a god. But cause and effect is an invention of reason. And reason is the latest in a long line of false gods. We have turned to such gods for thousands of years (at least) in our dellusional attempts to control forces in the world that we can not understand.
As our understanding changes, so the nature of our gods change. Any student of modern religion knows this to be true, but only a few realize the religious nature of the modern state. Our government is a religion of the false god of reason. The Christian Bible even warns us of the dire consequences of such false belief systems. So does the Koran, Tora, Buddhist sutras, and many other writings from those who genuinely understand. Unfortunately these writings have been left to the interpretation of those who still bow to reason. But fortunately the writings themselves have been preserved. So, they might yet serve their intended purpose to “guide and instruct”, but not, “speak for God”. Any real god must be able to speak for itself, or it is only the product of someone's imagination, and reason.