Tuesday, February 23, 2010
thought of the day.402
“We” are clearly more than our bodies. If we lose our limbs for instance, “we” are not diminished in any mental capacity. So it is natural to think “we” (our mind) is in control of our body. “We” decide this or that and the body obeys the command. It is sobering to realize it is just the opposite. The non-thinking body actually controls us (the mind). For example, when we made breakfast this morning it was not because our mind “told” our body to do so but because our body (low blood sugar) “told” our mind to do so. “We” (our mind) simply thought we were calling the shots. If we are cold or hot it is our body that demands to be warmed or cooled before our mind is conscious of it. Even during the process of reasoning, brain functions precede “our” formulating a thought. It seems the body is the master and “we” the slave.
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2 comments:
What do you mean by the first sentence - "we" are clearly more than our bodies? There's nothing more to us than strictly physical atoms and cells. There isn't even really anything you can seperate to our mind telling our body or our body telling our mind, because our mind is our body. We don't have any say in what we do (free will), either.
Trying to get a handle on what “we” are is very difficult. To answer your question, I would say it seems that if we had the technology, we could transfer the map of connections in your brain to another person’s brain (after wiping their brain clean of course) and “you” would know inhabit another body. So though “we” are dependent on our bodies, “we” (our mind that arises from it-or our consciousness) is clearly not made up of atoms and cells. So in this sense we are “more” than our bodies. It is as if “we” don’t “exist” at all. Not physically.
I will agree with you on the free will. That is my point. It seems it is an illusion. There is no “me” that is outside and unconnected from my body and the body is always a half step ahead of the mind.
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