Or, we use those terms metaphorically to help understand esoteric concepts. The mind is the moving average of the unbroken chain of electrochemical interactions between neurons. It's like a symphony of interconnected brain cells squirting neurotransmitters at each other to form a Rube Goldbergesque stimulus monster.

An orchestra is made of players and instruments and written music and all of the practice and training. The music they play is not one thing, but the combination of all things, yet we speak of the song as if it were an object.

It's the same with the mind. We think of it as a discrete, functioning machine, but really it is the product of a million tiny machines working together.