(This one's for oneblood, who has somehow managed to not notice me ranting about my beliefs before.)
I believe that I am a streaming consciousness. My streaming consciousness tells me that I am a human being. I believe that my streaming consciousness is connected to my body via my nervous system and my conciousness of my body and it's surroundings is created by my nervous system as multiple feedback loops from my extremities and my senses.
I believe that if there were no consciousness in the universe it would keep doing what it is doing and that processes in the universe were responsible for all life including mine.
Space, time or space-time, matter and energy or matter-energy are what we call existence(in general) and any space and/or matter exists in this existence, space, time and energy ALWAYS being present whether there is matter filling a particular space at a particular time or not.
I believe that there is no space with exactly no time passing and with exactly no energy passing through it.
I believe that the universe is OBJECTIVE REALITY, no being is 'thinking' this universe 'subjectively' into being or ever 'thought' this universe into existence.
I believe that I exist as part of this REALITY and I will continue to exist as a body until it decays, is eaten or is burned.
I believe that my streaming consciousness will continue to exist until it dies.
I believe that my brain is equipped to operate feedback loops, memorize and recall them and build a conscious identity, me, which includes all my internal feedback loops and all incoming senses, in the sense that I KNOW that I am hearing something, or seeing something etc.
This includes knowing when my nerves are misfiring in my ears(high pitched note) not from an external source, or when my feedback loop to my eyes is projecting a 'random' image on the back of my eyelids.
I believe that I learned to interact with my guardians and siblings experimenting with language etc. in several stages called 'growing up'.(write that down).
I believe that when we are very young we learn that we have some trivial choices.
I believe that we learn from our environment (parents etc.) that other people are devious and that we are easily tricked, if only by learning humor and how we can be surprised by 'disappearing' objects, words not meaning what we expect them to mean, being talked down to, being fooled in general, being misled and outright lied to.
We are given clues to be shy about the mysterious 'adult only' things like sex, drinking, drugs and taught to be disgusted by bodily functions and local taboos.
It is in this environment of mysterious taboos, mysterious purposes and mysterious meanings that we learn about the ideas of spirituality and religion.
.
13 comments:
Bravo.
I really liked this!
Nicely put.
I actually meant politically as well as philosophically.
1. So you think matter is contingent?
2. It seems that religion was proto-philosophy. All the 'ologies' rolled into one, not just an explanation of already set taboos.
3. Does the teaching of deception serve a purpose for the mind concerning inquiry, and not just for survival? (I don't have an answer I just want to know what you think)
"1. So you think matter is contingent?"
No, matter is equivalent to E/C(squared). What would matter be contingent on? If anything I was saying that the conscious mind is contingent on space-time and matter-energy.
"2. It seems that religion was proto-philosophy. All the 'ologies' rolled into one, not just an explanation of already set taboos."
Well, if you'd read what I wrote, you'll notice that as a child grows up they are exposed to the taboos of their parents, religion or no religion.
"3. Does the teaching of deception serve a purpose for the mind concerning inquiry, and not just for survival? (I don't have an answer I just want to know what you think)"
People don't deliberately go about 'teaching' deception to their children. The kids learn that they are being deceived and learn to deceive.
Come on, you know this. When do you imagine that any parents teach their kids to lie(to anyone, especially to themselves), cheat(them?) and steal(from them)?
What happened to "for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows"?
To be fair, although I agfree with virtually all your "beliefs" as stated, these are more perceptions of reality than "beliefs". Beliefs, generally, are not based upon reproducible sensory or experiential phenomena, but on mental conclusions arrived at as a result of those observed phenomena.
This might explain why we generally do not think of animals having "beliefs", since they apparently lack verbal thought processes that might allow them to "think" of these conclusions. Even a very intelligent dog who can learn or be trained to complex behavior patterns can only do this by reacting to certain stimuli or absence thereof. So, in the sense that I think beliefs are fairly complex mental conclusions, even though drawn from the types of sensory input you describe, I don't "believe" the things you cite, even though I agree with them completely.
"People don't deliberately go about 'teaching' deception to their children. The kids learn that they are being deceived and learn to deceive."
-----------------------------------
I'll get to your comment about me not reading your post in a sec.
I disagree with this completely. Yes parents teach their kids to be deceptive. What do you think kidding is? What are magic tricks? In every culture there is an acceptable, not just acceptable but demanded, level of deception. It comes in so many forms I'm almost at a loss as to what to put down.
Anyway, you didn't answer my question.
That's fair enough, Harvey.
Substitute a better word. I know that you know what I mean.
Deception is such an interesting topic. For some time I have been mulling over whether lying can be explained through the processes of sexual selection (one of evolution's big three) much in the way that peacock tails have evolved. It may be nonsense but it is interesting to consider.
"It is in this environment of mysterious taboos, mysterious purposes and mysterious meanings that we learn about the ideas of spirituality and religion."
-----------------------------------
I apologize. This was your conclusion about the total of your essay right?
I thought you meant:
Mysterious taboos, I shouldn't drop trou in front of grandma.
Mysterious purposes, why does dad always shave at night?
Mysterious meanings, so my uncle isn't actually seeing a man about a dog, he's going to the bathroom!
It seemed like you were just talking about religion coming from a child's familial awareness.
Hence the question.
-----------------------------------
"...space, time and energy ALWAYS being present whether there is matter filling a particular space at a particular time or not."
This is why I asked about your thoughts on matter.
But you were just extrapolating that objectively, the universe rolls on with or without a consciousness to observe it...right?
Well, I think that we're talking past each other with the deception thingy.
You could tell I'm talking about lying, cheating and stealing but I did mention in the post that even just being humorous, getting a smile or a giggle involves a form of deception.
Nevertheless you are willing to "disagree with this completely" in your words.
Sure joking around, "tinkling keys", "disappearing dollars and picking them out from behind little ears", word-play depending on the level of possible interplay is at least a distraction intended to amuse.
Not quite the same thing as, "Now go to bed and be a good kid, I'll be listening for noise!", then sneaking out to the bar.
Sending kids to Sunday School for a quiet 'kidless' afternoon! Which is basically saying, "I need time out from this life that I have no-one to blame for but myself!
Why have kids if you just wanted to work all week, spend evenings with the kids in bed, drink on Friday night and Saturday, then dispose of them on Sunday too?
Won't they either think that they've been gypped or think that that is how to live?
pboy, I'm going to throw out a metaphor,
Sometimes I think you're like Dr. Who, and you've just jumped into the Tardis and left me stranded in 1988 with a sea of people in pink polo shirts who are wondering why I look so non-80's like.
Hmm.. I tried to put myself in your metaphorical place there, oneblood.
Near as I can figure, I make you feel like you are out of place and time?
Hey, I feel like that all the time!
Weird, isn't it?
I believe,
you may be on to something here ;-)
Post a Comment