How can the brain — a piece of matter — love? Physics and chemistry explain the material world, but they can’t explain why it feels like something to be alive. This is the mystery of consciousness, according to these experts.

Everything you experience is filtered through your brain, and everyone’s brain is different. Neuroscientist Christof Koch explains how understanding this can deepen your connection to the world around you.

"The sense that we are a solid entity, an unchanging entity that exists someplace in our body and takes ownership of our body, and even ownership of our brain rather than being identical to our brain, that is where the illusion lies."