Consciousness as a Physical Phenomonon

Because of the highly subjective and ephemeral nature of conscious qualia, debate has raged for millenia about the true nature of the conscious mind. Because of the difficulty of reducing the mind and its experiences to physical phenomona, mind-body dualism is still quite popular in many circles. Most notably the circles of religion, where it provides the only supporting evidence for the soul.

Mind-body dualism, however, is entirely false. Everything in the universe is composed of matter and energy, including your mind. Your mind is nothing more than a complex process (or electro-chemical reaction, if you don't find that terminology too dehumanizing) carried out by the mechinations of your brain.

http://bostonreview.net/BR31.3/byrne.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_mind