Michael Egnor Reads From His New Book The Immortal Mind

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Science, Philosophy, Astronomy, Society & Culture, Life Sciences

4 • 993 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this ID The Future, Dr. Michael Egnor reads the Introduction to his new book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul, now available from Worthy Books. In this reading, Dr. Egnor shares his journey from being a medical student who believed science could explain everything, including how consciousness emerges from the brain and whether we have a soul, to a neurosurgeon who questioned the conventional materialist view. He discusses how years of operating on and examining patients with brain damage led him to wonder how large parts of the brain could be removed without affecting a person's mind or their ability to think, reason, believe, and desire. His personal story, including a profound experience in a hospital chapel during a family crisis, became a turning point that challenged his atheism and led him to believe that the immaterial aspects of our minds are real and that nature is an open system, not a closed one. Source

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey everyone. A quick heads up before we get to today's episode. This fall, Discovery Institute
0:05.2	Academy will be offering both high school biology and high school chemistry for the coming school year.
0:11.6	These high-quality online courses are designed especially for homeschool students. They cover the
0:16.9	fundamentals of biology and chemistry and also introduce students to the powerful
0:21.2	evidence of intelligent design in nature. The courses include video lectures, readings, lab
0:27.3	activities, assignments, and more. They're designed to make it easy to teach science to your kids.
0:32.7	There are options with a live science teacher and an option that is completely self-paced.
0:37.8	Even if you don't have kids who can participate, can you help us get the word out to those who do?
0:42.5	For a limited time, parents who register their student can get $50 off tuition.
0:47.3	These courses are a wonderful way to raise up the next generation of scientists, scientists
0:52.2	who understand that we and our universe are intelligently designed.
0:56.0	For more information, visit Discovery Institute.
0:59.0	Dot Academy. That's Discovery Institute.com. ID, The Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
1:13.6	Hi, I'm Dr. Michael Egnor, and today I'd like to read to you the introduction to my new book, The Immortal Mind, a neurosurgeon's case for the existence of the soul, co-authored with Denise O'Leary.
1:28.7	You can learn more about it and get your copy at the immortal mind.org.
1:33.7	The introduction, neuroscience from the chapel floor.
1:37.4	When I was a medical student, I believed that science could explain everything.
1:41.8	I was sure that answers to the big questions, how does consciousness emerge
1:45.8	from the brain? Do we have a soul? Do we continue to exist after death? Would be found in the
1:51.6	laboratory and the operating room. And so I was surprised when late one night I found the answers
1:58.5	on the floor of a hospital chapel.
2:02.0	This book is the story of what I learned after I got off that chapel floor.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 22 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.