So I got distracted today in kickboxing
because I started thinking about the universe, and the existence, or
absence, of God.
I get annoyed with atheists. Some of
them have this attitude like, if you would just use your brain, you
would see that there is no God.
It depends how you define God. I say,
the essence of the universe is spiritual, not physical. The universe
is not physical space. You have to free your mind and realize that
physical space does not exist. Sort of like in a computer game. You
are a character, moving across some terrain, but that terrain doesn't
really exist. It is just data in a computer. What is the purpose of
this data? To create an experience for the user.
I remember my math teacher in high
school saying once: What is beyond the boundaries of the universe?
That should blow your mind. Well it used to. It does if you are
thinking like a human. But it really doesn't blow my mind. It is just
a subscript out of bounds error. It is an error of your brain to
think that space goes on and on.
But, if you realize that space doesn't
exist, that it is just data on a computer, like in a computer game,
it doesn't blow your mind anymore. At least, it doesn't mine.
So the universe is just data, like on a
hard drive, but that hard drive takes up space. Or does it? No, it
doesn't. I'm telling you, that hard drive doesn't take up space.
Do your thoughts take up space? Does
experience take up space? Does consciousness take up space?
It exists in the non-physical,
mental/spiritual realm. The realm of mind. There is mind, body,
spirit. Spirit is experience. Mind is a map, a map of concepts, which
explains how experiences relate to each other.
For example, there is the experience of
sadness. What does sadness in itself feel like? Does it have thoughts
associated with it? Well it does, but you can separate the thoughts
from the experience. So the mind, the map, would explain what kind of
situations would lead to you experiencing this emotion, sadness.
There are way more emotions than there
are words to explain them.
But anyway, back to the question of
God. I believe in God because I think the essence of the universe is
spiritual, and not physical. I believe that a physical world, with
the absence of awareness, and consciousness, is the equivalent of
nothing. What is something, if there is nothing to experience it?
Like the question of the tree falling in the forest.
One thing I wonder about atheists is,
do they really think? I mean really, do atheists think? Do they think
about things like consciousness. Because you think about it, and it
is like the most amazing thing ever, yet so simple. What is it? I
don't know. But I can't imagine a universe without it.
Whatever it is, it is the greatest
thing in the universe.
In our dense, physical state, we need
brains to experience.
Does consciousness ever stop? No,
consciousness never stops. You are always experiencing consciousness.
You take a drug and black out, or pass
out, and wake up later. Did consciousness stop? No, because time for
you is different.
Consciousness didn't stop. You jumped
forward in time, and your brain inserted a feeling of passage of
time. But that's all that is, a feeling.
I'm an atheist and think about consciousness. Even if you define it a spiritual, you have to admit it is dependent on the physical. If a brain is altered by drugs or trauma or age, the consciousness of that person is also altered. What do you think about that?
ReplyDeletePeople have had experiences where they have had consciousness when their brain was shut down. There was an example in the book The Scalpel and The Soul by Allan J Hamilton, where they had to do an operation an a woman and in order to do it, they had to basically completely shut down her brain, I don't know the specifics of it but she should not have been in any way conscious, and afterwards she could remember conversations that took place in the operating room when she was under, and they had audio recordings of the procedure so they could confirm that the stuff she remembered actually was said.
ReplyDeleteBut what I was more getting at was that awareness or self-awareness is so amazing, I can't imagine what a universe would be like without it. Like the question of if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it really make a sound? Does the universe really exist if no one is around to experience it?
My thinking on this is complex so it is hard to completely put it into words.
Do you at least admit that altering the physical brain can alter the mental (or spiritual as you are using the word) state? What do you make of that?
DeleteThe physical and the spiritual are linked.
ReplyDeleteWhen spiritual beings inhabit the body, they have take on a slower, denser state, which requires a brain.