Our mind is a world. Our mind is literally made of the objects that surround our body. I think it's very reassuring - because we are no longer prisoners of our body, we are no longer prisoners of our brain - but we are the external world, we are a universe, we are the world we have an experience of. So when we see a color, we are made of that color. When we see a rainbow, we are made of that rainbow. The world makes us, in a very strong and literal sense.

Philosopher Riccardo Manzotti explores the idea that consciousness itself exists as part of the physical world all around us, and explains how this Spread Mind theory casts new light on our perceptions, experiences and dreams, and holds the potential to awaken us to the reality that we exist not behind our eyes, but in front of them.

Riccardo is author of The Spread Mind: Why Consciousness and the World Are One from OR Books.