Spiritual Musings on a Chemical World
Showing posts with label pleasure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pleasure. Show all posts

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Subjectivity

Is the brain capable of understanding itself?

So I say, we are conscious beings, and I can't imagine a universe without consciousness. Is this because I am a conscious being? Maybe being a conscious being isn't all that great, it just seems great because I am a conscious being.

We have to look with a subjective eye. If we look at planets and say, that isn't ugly, or that isn't pretty, because it is all objective, what do we have? Is that how the universe is?

Subjectivity comes from human or animal experience, through pleasure and pain. So we say, something is good, because it brings us pleasure. But things that bring us pleasure, they just bring us pleasure because of our biological evolutionary development. We like the sun, because it allows us to see, and it is warm, and warm is nice, because when we are warm are body doesn't have to work as hard to keep the right temperature.

But we all evolve differently and grow up differently, so what we like all depends on the wonderful chemical dopamine.

If we didn't have consciousness, we wouldn't understand what fun or pain is. What does it mean to experience something, but not hate the experience? Or to like the experience? It comes down to free will. Given the choice between two experiences, we choose the fun experience. Understanding this comes down to choices.

Except that if you are not conscious, you cannot understand much of anything.

Is the universe objective?

What is the point of the universe?

The universe is about teaching. Through evolution, pleasure and pain evolved, and your connection to fellow souls is weakened. So, the point is to bring about unity, while still being separate. To go for the well-being of the many over the well-being of just you.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Free Will and the God Connection

So I wanted to talk some on free will. I used to like this page on facebook called The Flower of Life and Sacred Geometry. The reason I liked this page was because I liked the flower of life and sacred geometry. But then the page would post a bunch of crap and I unliked it because the stuff they posted was pissing me off.

So, one of the things they posted was about free will. What it said was, free will is just an illusion, because someone will always decide to do what they think will bring them the greatest amount of pleasure.

This partially true, partially false. It is true that you will only make decisions based on what will bring you the greatest amount of pleasure. That is, decisions regarding actions. But that's not where free will lies. Free will lies in the organization of the mind. So basically, to simplify what I am thinking, you choose what you think, how you think, and what outcome will bring you the most perceived pleasure is based on the way your mind is organized. The way that you chose to organize your mind.

So let's talk about choices and actions. When you make choices, you choose between two different things at a time. You break down each decision into a yes/no question. And then you answer a series of yes/no questions to arrive at your decision.

So say you were deciding between buying the shirt in red, blue, or yellow. First you would think, "Do I like the idea of owning this shirt in red?" And if the answer is yes, you would then ask, "Even though I like it in red, would I prefer it in blue?" If the answer is yes, then you would ask, "Would I like it even better in yellow than blue?"

You organize your mind. All action comes from God. God makes you do things.

Dopamine is what motivates your brain to act. Dopamine is also the pleasure brain chemical. Because it is pleasure that drives you to act. And all feelings of pleasure, on a spiritual level, come from God. So when you have more dopamine you have a stronger connection with God. I mean, in a certain sense. That doesn't mean that God loves you more. But what pleasure is on a spiritual level is connection with God.

So, what I was saying was, you think, God acts for you. Because God is what makes things happen on the physical plane.

I shall revisit this topic later.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Truth is Beauty (Why God Allows Suffering Revisited)

So I have been sitting here thinking some more on the pain/pleasure thing, about why God allows suffering.

God knows that pleasure in itself isn't good, and pain in itself isn't bad.

God knows that what is good is truth.

As humans, we experience pleasure and pain to represent good and bad. When something unhealthy happens, we experience pain, of some sort. When something healthy happens, we experience pleasure, of some sort.

However, these indications aren't always accurate. Some people experience more pleasure than they deserve. Others experience more pain than they deserve.

God knows that what is good in this world isn't pleasure, and what's bad in this world isn't pain. What is good in this world is beauty. Beauty is something much more complex than pleasure. Beauty is altruism, and strength of spirit.

When beauty corresponds with pleasure and wickedness corresponds with pain, that is truth. Pleasure corresponding with wickedness is what is bad.

So, the reason there is suffering in the world is because the world is made up of humans, and humans are wicked. Of course, pain isn't distributed equally, the wicked don't necessarily suffer on Earth and the righteous aren't necessarily free from suffering.

Earth is a chaotic mess. But from this mess, comes order. Through this mess, God sorts things out, selecting and holding on to the righteous souls and discarding the wicked souls.

You are only as good as the way you would treat your worst, most despised enemy.

What is good? Is justice good? Or is mercy good? Do you think some of the most vile, evil characters from throughout history should bask in love and warmth and happiness for all of eternity? Or do you think they should pay for all the pain they have caused?

The truth is, heaven is oneness with God. God is pure good. To allow the most wicked, vile souls into heaven defiles God.

Evil souls will cause pain. Allowing evil into heaven taints heaven, ruining the experience for everyone. That's why it's better, for the good of everyone, just to cast them out.

People have free will. And like I was previously explaining, this choice is not random, nor fixed, but originates from something mysterious. This mysterious thing is the soul that lies within each of us. God can not look at an idle soul and decide if it is wicked or not. He has to test it. That is where Earth comes into play. The soul demonstrates whether or not it is wicked based on its thoughts and deeds. Souls are highly unpredictable and may turn sour or straighten themselves out.

If things I say ever sound contradictory it is because I am trying to straighten out what I believe.