Quote Originally Posted by Aly_G
But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from.
I think its very true... we even say "its too good to be true"... but i never heard anybody saying "its too bad to be true"... cause we actually think only bad things can be real, and the good ones are unreal... why does is so?
Whenever i tell people that is possible to live a happy and painless life, they think im a dreamer, and that i live in a world of fantasy. (Well... most of time im stoned, but it is not the issue here )
But its all in our mind... to be suffering or to be happy is much a matter of choice. One can choose a path that will make one happy, or one can choose a path that will make one suffer. The effort to choose is the same. But most people chooses the suffering path.
I wonder what Buddha would say about it...

Quote Originally Posted by 40oz
Is it real? Do people really have a soul? I am beginning to think the correct answer to that is no. What we consider to be our soul, our "I" , is really just a relation and collection of ideas. This relation of ideas produces an identity so that easy transition between other thoughts and ideas can be had. Basically your soul (identity) is discovered by your memory of past cause and effect relations.

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If you read down this far I am proud of you, and if you understand what I was trying to say, well then I love you.
Well... i did read, and did understand... and i love you too lol!
Anyway... after done some reading, i concluded my own concept of "soul" is very different from most peoples concept, which is what youve described.
So, i agree completly that the "usual" description of soul, which is what you described, is not real indeed, but as you said its only a relation of ideas.
What i call "soul", and maybe its what you call "mind", is the immaterial, non-physical "thing" that is "behind" the brain, recieving data from it, the same way the brain recieves data from the sensory organs.
It is not the "I", as it is a product of the brain, like you explained. Its something else. Its very hard to describe...
Some time ago i noticed that my mind was in fact two. One of them was the usual "I" we all have. The another one was what i could call my "true" consciousness, as it could percieve what i called "I" from outside... like if the "I" were a robot that my consciousness could control and interact with it, but without being involved in it... i noticed it when i was stoned, and felt like i was a bit "higher" than my body (actually higher, maybe one feet or so), and that i was not my body, and i was not my thougts. I was something else, which could observe my actions and thoughts... and this "thing" is what i call "soul".
Also, during some experiences with weed + (some unmentionable inhalant) for some instants i could only percieve the world, without being an "I"... like... i would see my room, i would hear the noises outside... but only to percieve. I didnt know i was a person, i didnt remembered anything, in fact i hadnt any thoughts... i only percieved the world around me. I hadnt any notion of time also... the only thing that existed was the present moment. There was not an "I" which were conscious that it was percieving. There was only perception. I think during this experiences i noticed clearly what was my "soul", and how it existed apart from thoughts and from the "I", and yet percieved the world.
Im sure what ive wrote is at least very confusing... but its the best description i can give.

Another thing... you mentioned the babies perception. I would like just to add that the perception of the world as we usually do (seeing the world in terms of solid objects) is a learned skill. A baby can percieve the world in inconcievable ways to us, as their brains were not conditioned to percieve the world the way we adults do. Through the socialization process, the child learns to percieve the world as we adults do, and when its old enough it forgets how was to percieve the world in another ways and thinks (like everybody else) the the way it percieves the world is THE only way to do it. But it is not. Through mind alterations like meditation, or use of psychedelics, we can percieve the world in other ways than the usual, and it shows the arbitrary-ness of our everyday worlds perception.

Quote Originally Posted by 40oz
So is it so bad that we don't have a "soul" or some kind of invisible entity that represents our individuality? I don't think so. In fact, this whole idea just further extends my beliefs to the idea of everything being one single collective conscience. By one conscience I mean that we (all living things, not just humans) share one common bond, and that is the bond of life, of consciousness. This single consciousness is manifested in different ways in different organisms. In essence; I am you and you are me and we are everything. The only difference between one manifestation to another is the impressions that have been made on specific manifestations' brains due to our environments. We are all one consciousness experiencing itself in many many different ways.
Well... i already did read many ideas like yours... up to now i cant say if i believe or not in it. It makes sense, but i have not any personal experience which enable me to agree or disagree with it.
If my plans were sucessfull, maybe at 4/19 i will have an answer to it. (Im almost sure you know what i mean )

Quote Originally Posted by 40oz
But what is physical energy if there is no mind to perceive it? To feel it? It's just energy.
Yes... and yet it moves the universe. Or rather, it is the universe. I believe we humans are not the only conscious beings. I believe there were another ones before us, and there will be other after us. And i also believe the universe itself exists with or without us. So, i believe the energy exists independently of we were aware of it. Or even its the energy which enables us to be aware of anything, including energy itself.
Coelho Reviewed by Coelho on . Why I think our brains are so powerful The brain is an incredible thing, I think everybody agrees. The most fascinating part to me is how we are able to do complex tasks 100.0000% correctly in times of sudden danger with absolutely no time to prepare. I started longboarding just over a year ago. I'm pretty good at it, but I can't do anything crazy. When I'm about to fall, however I can do the craziest shit ever. It's like I wouldn't have thought in my wildest dreams that I could do the things that I do. Ex. I'm going down Rating: 5