Your consiousness is nothing but a mix of chemicals. Drugs prove this point (although it has been proven many other ways) because taking a drug messes with that balance of chemicals and in turn changes your perception of what's around you and your ability to control your actions. There is no great force at work, when you die the chemicals loose that balance, your blood stops pumping and you are gone. What's left is a corpse that used to be You. End of story. This is not a belief, but the truth. It is based solely in fact, unlike any spiritual or religious belief. Discuss?
That is an assumption based on concluding that the physical brain is the sum total and the root of consciousness. Whereas if the physical brain is merely the receiver of consciousness, the expresser of it, then it being affected by introducing something that changes things chemically proves nothing other than it has been affected. One can't conclude that because the receiver of consciousness has been affected, the originator of consciousness has been too.
Some creative terminology there. One can easily realize the human mind is both the origin of our consciousness and the only place it resides. It cannot leave, as it IS the mind. Your brain is your consciousness. Any other explanation would be of a relgious or "spiritual" nature, and therefore illogical.
This is the religious and spiritual section after all. We can only say the brain appears to be the root of consciousness. There are some neuroscientists who have evidence that when someone appears to have no brain activity as a result of deep coma, yet reveals what has come to be called an NDE when they come back which shouldn't be possible if there was no brain activity at the time. But that's not really what I want to use to make my point as it is not something I have direct experience of. As I understand it, there are 3 aspects to consciousness. The physical mind perceives through the physical brain. The physical brain receives from the higher mind which conceives and sends, making the connection between what some call the Soul or spirit, and the egoic mind which is the most dense aspect of physical consciousness. The majority of what we call consciousness is unknown and mostly hidden from our usual experience, but makes itself known through insight and intuition, and the more we let go of the idea of promoting the egoic mind as all that is, the more access we have to our higher consciousness, which is actually connected to all that is in a very real and profound way.
I believe our brains are receivers for this focused experience; it's the way for the massive ocean of consciousness that is the universe to experience itself as a drop from that ocean. I see death as that drop simply dissolving back into the ocean. This doesn't mean annihilation of consciousness, just a merging. Death is just a cleansing of the slate, and allows for new expression.
thats like saying a car is just fuel, doesnt make any sense. The chemicals in our brain are the fuel, its not consciousness itself.
Too many assumptions and generalizations, Op. What drives the chemical reactions? What makes us conscious rather than mere chemically infused jelly? What about the electrical activity in our brains? Your idea completely overlooks that aspect. It seems to me that your real intent is to make the sweeping claim that concepts and theories of the metaphysical are purely illogical, but on that you're simply wrong, even if our minds are purely physical. lol
You can have consciousness without thought, but you can't have thought without consciousness. I don't think things like this can be proved scientifically, they have to be experienced yourself. Only when you have disidentified from the mind, and felt your true timeless inner self can you know that you are not your mind and that your essence cannot cease to exist. It is one thing to believe something, but a whole other to know truth for yourself, to experience it. I am curious to as how you know it is a FACT that when your body dies, you cease to exist. For you to say it is fact, surely there is some evidence you have. I am not saying what I 'believe' is fact, I am saying it is truth to me. As far as I know, energy cannot cease to exist. It can only create different forms.
Energy in the form of raw materials in your body that are transformed into something else when you die. Either through decomposition when you're buried, or through cremation,or the like. But you won't be aware of this. The energy will live on but not your consciousness.
I suppose right now there are some people who are alive that are made of the same atoms that made up Abraham Lincoln. Some people could also have some of Hitler's atoms. maybe that influences some people's behavior? Perhaps if someone has some of ghandi's atoms they will be more peaceful and people with hitler's atoms will be more prone to violence lol
Neat concept, but illogical. Atoms are atoms. There's no positive or negative connotations attached to then.
I know. But with energy, who knows? Anything would be speculation because I'm sure there's tons we don't know about energy and atoms. Maybe some crazy religious people of today have the same atoms/energy as some religious nuts that lived in the Middle Ages. Maybe some non-believers today have the same atoms/energy of non-believers from centuries ago. Maybe those atoms/energy influence the brain somehow. But yeah, all speculation. Untested and unproven hypotheses.
happen to have a link to that? Just curious , since I'm a skeptical that someone can even live with no brain activity.
^No, but I've come across several NS explaining that in certain cases, where the brain is in such a deep coma state, there cannot be the brain activity required to experience anything, let alone something as complex and rich as the NDE. Obviously not all experiencers of an NDE are in that state, so I draw no conclusions from it, but if NS say things that indicate the NDE might indeed be 'outside' the brain, it's certainly not something that can be dismissed quite so easily.
It's possible as the brain becomes more active and the person awake from the coma , time perception is messed up and NDE is generated during the transition to consiousness. Would have to be tested though.
Dear chemicals, In these posts there is a pattern of referring to a 'you', 'your', or 'our' separate from consciousness... what is that exactly? Whose brain? Whose consciousness? Furthermore 'your' initial premise is wrong, or at least not complete... if consciousness is just the brain and the brain is just chemicals, then 'logically' chemicals are just strings of elements, which are just clusters of atoms, which are essentially empty space. So what is consciousness, really?