We have 'consciousness'.
We are aware of a computer screen or a cup of coffee or the sun shining.
David A Oakley, of UCL, and Peter Halligan, of Cardiff University, suggest that we don't consciously choose our thoughts - instead we simply become aware of them.
What if consciousness is not what drives the human mind?
It is suggested that our thoughts, emotions and beliefs are generated by something other than consciousness.
It is suggested that our thoughts come from 'non-conscious systems operating behind the scenes.'
It is suggested that we have a 'personal narrative' which produces our thoughts.
What if consciousness is not what drives the human mind?
We have a 'personality' which dictates that we like computers or cups of coffee.
What is the 'personal narrative', or 'personality' or 'true self' of Kaia Gerber?
Kaia is a Virgo.
According to astrologers, Virgos are shy and dislike being the centre of attention.
We have a 'personality' which dictates that we like people such as Donald Trump or that we like killing Moslems in a Nigerian Mosque.
"Vile Muslim Trump is quick to condemn an attack against one of "his" Egypt mosques , but meanwhile he plots with the Saudis. Maybe he will send Kushner to invetigate, and then sell the Saudis some more weapons. Wake up people! Trump is a Muslim!
Post-Truth Society Theosebes Goodfellow Nov 24, 2017 12:04 PM
When we are born, we have a 'personality' and our 'personal narrative' continues to develop as we grow older.
"The 'personal narrative' provides information to be stored in our autobiographical memory - the story we tell ourself, about ourself."
dailymail.
Where do our personalities come from?
We don't consciously choose our thoughts or our feelings?
When we waken each morning, "thoughts and emotions - welcome or otherwise - arrive already formed in our minds.
"The colours and shapes we see are constructed into meaningful objects or memorable faces without any effort or input from our conscious mind."
dailymail.
Our 'personalities' can be affected by various entities.
"Studies using hypnosis show that a person's mood, thoughts and perceptions can be profoundly altered by suggestion."
dailymail.
There is a belief that we should tune in to the 'Heaven' within us.
.
If the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, it would be a good idea to tune into it.
If you can move mountains, you can do all sorts of things.
The Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield talked about the mind apparently being able to "project a memory or a dream upon the screen of consciousness."
Wilder Penfield concluded that the mind is a thing separate from the brain, and it does not rely on the brain to function.
The Nature of Mind and the Holographic Brain - Waking Times -
Brandon West - Waking Times
In the 1950's, the researcher Stanisilav Grof had a female patient who suddenly became convinced she had assumed the identity of a female of a species of prehistoric reptile.
Grof encountered examples of patients regressing and identifying with virtually every species on the evolutionary tree.
He found that such experiences frequently contained obscure zoological details which turned out to be accurate.
The Holographic Universe - Simulation Hypothesis
Grof had patients who appeared to tap into some sort of collective unconscious.
People with little or no education suddenly gave detailed descriptions of Zoroastrian funerary practices and scenes from Hindu mythology.
Grof had patients who gave persuasive accounts of out-of-body journeys, glimpses of the future, and regressions into apparent past-life incarnations.
The Holographic Universe - Simulation Hypothesis
Grof suggested that our mind may be connected not only to every other mind that exists or has existed, but to every atom, organism, and region in space and time.
The Holographic Universe - Simulation Hypothesis
In his book Gifts of Unknown Things, biologist Lyall Watson describes his encounter with an Indonesian shaman woman who, by performing a ritual dance, was able to make an entire grove of trees completely vanish.
Watson relates that as he and another onlooker continued to watch the woman, she caused the trees to reappear, then click off again and on again several times in succession.
The Holographic Universe - Simulation Hypothesis.
Gareth likes Jessica when she has the personality of a gay lad.
Cwmbran woman's life as five people
Has Jessica been mind-controlled?
In 2012, a specialist in Norwich, in the UK, diagnosed Jessica as having 'dissociative identity disorder'.
Cwmbran woman's life as five people
Jessica works as a receptionist in Newport, in Wales.
She is also a part-time support worker.
Wales
Jessica developed her male personalities to 'protect' herself after suffering a traumatic event during her childhood.
We have a 'personality' which dictates that we like people such as Donald Trump or that we like killing Moslems in a Nigerian Mosque.
"Vile Muslim Trump is quick to condemn an attack against one of "his" Egypt mosques , but meanwhile he plots with the Saudis. Maybe he will send Kushner to invetigate, and then sell the Saudis some more weapons. Wake up people! Trump is a Muslim!
Post-Truth Society Theosebes Goodfellow Nov 24, 2017 12:04 PM
When we are born, we have a 'personality' and our 'personal narrative' continues to develop as we grow older.
"The 'personal narrative' provides information to be stored in our autobiographical memory - the story we tell ourself, about ourself."
dailymail.
Where do our personalities come from?
Dr. Ian Stevenson wrote about Twins in Sri Lanka. "We did testing that showed they were identical, yet they were markedly different in their behaviors and physical appearance.
"One twin began to talk about a previous life as a Sinhalese insurgent, said he was shot by police in April 1971."
MIND OVER MATTER; ULTIMATE REALITY; CONSCIOUSNESS.
"One twin began to talk about a previous life as a Sinhalese insurgent, said he was shot by police in April 1971."
MIND OVER MATTER; ULTIMATE REALITY; CONSCIOUSNESS.
We don't consciously choose our thoughts or our feelings?
When we waken each morning, "thoughts and emotions - welcome or otherwise - arrive already formed in our minds.
"The colours and shapes we see are constructed into meaningful objects or memorable faces without any effort or input from our conscious mind."
dailymail.
Our 'personalities' can be affected by various entities.
"Studies using hypnosis show that a person's mood, thoughts and perceptions can be profoundly altered by suggestion."
dailymail.
There is a belief that we should tune in to the 'Heaven' within us.
.
If the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, it would be a good idea to tune into it.
If you can move mountains, you can do all sorts of things.
The Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield talked about the mind apparently being able to "project a memory or a dream upon the screen of consciousness."
Wilder Penfield concluded that the mind is a thing separate from the brain, and it does not rely on the brain to function.
The Nature of Mind and the Holographic Brain - Waking Times -
Brandon West - Waking TimesIn the 1950's, the researcher Stanisilav Grof had a female patient who suddenly became convinced she had assumed the identity of a female of a species of prehistoric reptile.
Grof encountered examples of patients regressing and identifying with virtually every species on the evolutionary tree.
He found that such experiences frequently contained obscure zoological details which turned out to be accurate.
The Holographic Universe - Simulation Hypothesis
Grof had patients who appeared to tap into some sort of collective unconscious.
People with little or no education suddenly gave detailed descriptions of Zoroastrian funerary practices and scenes from Hindu mythology.
Grof had patients who gave persuasive accounts of out-of-body journeys, glimpses of the future, and regressions into apparent past-life incarnations.
The Holographic Universe - Simulation Hypothesis
Grof suggested that our mind may be connected not only to every other mind that exists or has existed, but to every atom, organism, and region in space and time.
The Holographic Universe - Simulation Hypothesis
In his book Gifts of Unknown Things, biologist Lyall Watson describes his encounter with an Indonesian shaman woman who, by performing a ritual dance, was able to make an entire grove of trees completely vanish.
Watson relates that as he and another onlooker continued to watch the woman, she caused the trees to reappear, then click off again and on again several times in succession.
The Holographic Universe - Simulation Hypothesis.
.
Jessica Clark married Gareth Mayer.
Cwmbran woman's life as five people
Jessica and Gareth, from Wales.
Has Jessica been mind-controlled?
In 2012, a specialist in Norwich, in the UK, diagnosed Jessica as having 'dissociative identity disorder'.
Cwmbran woman's life as five people
Jessica works as a receptionist in Newport, in Wales.
She is also a part-time support worker.
Wales
Jessica developed her male personalities to 'protect' herself after suffering a traumatic event during her childhood.
She refuses to speak about the traumatic event.
'I think having males around all day everyday in my brain really help me desensitize myself to being afraid of men,' she said.
'I thought, if I was a boy, what happened to me wouldn't have happened.'
Jessica Mayer, 25, with DID
"Jessica's disorder is believed to affect one to three per cent of the world's population."
dailymail / Meet Jessica and her four alternate identities / Cwmbran woman's life as five people
Jessica "is happily married to Gareth Mayer, leads a 'girlie' lifestyle" and copes with full-time work and university.
She says of her personalities, 'One of us, whoever it may be, is up in the morning.'
"Generally, Jake usually starts the morning because he likes to take the dog out for a walk or go out for a bit of a jog.
"Ed usually prepares lunchboxes and sets everything up for the week while Jessica would go to her 9-5 job as usual."
dailymail
..
Jessica says of her personalities: 'Allowing them to have their own space and their own time is incredibly beneficial to our overall mental health.'
Growing up, Jessica said that she would find herself at a different location, not knowing how she ended up there.
'I remember one day, I was in a dress with the highest of heels on, blisters all over my feet, it was raining and I had no idea where I was or how I got there,' she says.
dailymail
Gareth Mayer describes the change between the personalities as 'incredible'.
Gareth says: "You literally see a shift in everything, from accent to attitude, and even her mannerisms and the way Jess looks."
He says each of the personalities has their own tastes and styles, and that Jessica has bought clothes to suit each personality
He says: "Lady Gaga's wardrobe is probably less diverse than Jess' is."
.
Sunny Scotland.
"In quantum mechanics we discover that the entire universe is actually a series of probabilities.
"Nobel Prize winning father of quantum mechanics Neils Bohr said that 'everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.'"
use-your-mind-to-change-reality-it-is-easier-than-you-think
"You attract to yourself those things and circumstances that are in vibrational harmony with your dominant frequency, which is itself determined by your dominant mental attitude, habitual thoughts and beliefs."
Thought Power - Your Thoughts Create Your Reality
.
Lerina Garcia.
In 2008, Lerina Garcia, aged 41, related that she had woken up one morning to find that the world around her had changed.
Lerina Garcia: Did She Wake Up In Another Universe?
Lerina concluded that she had awoken in a parallel universe - a world in which her life had been altered by small decisions of her past.
The first change that she noticed was that the sheets on her bed were different.
She wrote: "When I got to my office, it was not my office.
"It had names on the door, and mine was not there. I thought I had the wrong floor, but no, it was mine.
"I got off at the wireless area of my office and I looked, still working here but it was in another department reporting to a director I didn’t know."
In Quantum Physics, a particle has no fixed position - most of the time.
Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence.
Max Loughan says: "God is energy that created us, lives within us, moves through us and is us."
...
Max Loughan talks about different dimensions.
There is a 'leakage of memory'.
'I thought, if I was a boy, what happened to me wouldn't have happened.'
Jessica Mayer, 25, with DID
As the result of 'dissociative identity disorder' (split personality), Jessica Mayer (born Jessica Clark) has five personalities.
She regularly switches from one character to another without warning.
dailymail / Meet Jessica and her four alternate identities / Cwmbran woman's life as five people
Jessica's five 'alter egos' are:
Jake, a Buddhist Hollywood actor and singer, who has an American accent, and a brother called Jamie
Jamie, a bisexual doctor, who has an upper-class British accent, wears prescription glasses and is the brother of Jake
Ed, a gay anorexic Cockney (working-class Londoner) hairdresser, who is left handed, and who is the 'partner' of Jamie
Ollie, curently aged 14, who is obsessed with astrobiology (evolution and life patterns), is moody, and is the 'son' of Jamie and Ed.
Jessica Mayer
...
25 year-old Jessica is from South Wales in the UK.
She says of her personalities, 'One of us, whoever it may be, is up in the morning.'
"Generally, Jake usually starts the morning because he likes to take the dog out for a walk or go out for a bit of a jog.
"Ed usually prepares lunchboxes and sets everything up for the week while Jessica would go to her 9-5 job as usual."
dailymail
..
Jessica says of her personalities: 'Allowing them to have their own space and their own time is incredibly beneficial to our overall mental health.'
Growing up, Jessica said that she would find herself at a different location, not knowing how she ended up there.
'I remember one day, I was in a dress with the highest of heels on, blisters all over my feet, it was raining and I had no idea where I was or how I got there,' she says.
dailymail
Gareth Mayer describes the change between the personalities as 'incredible'.
Gareth says: "You literally see a shift in everything, from accent to attitude, and even her mannerisms and the way Jess looks."
He says each of the personalities has their own tastes and styles, and that Jessica has bought clothes to suit each personality
He says: "Lady Gaga's wardrobe is probably less diverse than Jess' is."
.Sunny Scotland.
"In quantum mechanics we discover that the entire universe is actually a series of probabilities.
"Nobel Prize winning father of quantum mechanics Neils Bohr said that 'everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.'"
use-your-mind-to-change-reality-it-is-easier-than-you-think
Thought Power - Your Thoughts Create Your Reality
.Lerina Garcia.
In 2008, Lerina Garcia, aged 41, related that she had woken up one morning to find that the world around her had changed.
Lerina Garcia: Did She Wake Up In Another Universe?
Lerina concluded that she had awoken in a parallel universe - a world in which her life had been altered by small decisions of her past.
The first change that she noticed was that the sheets on her bed were different.
She wrote: "When I got to my office, it was not my office.
"It had names on the door, and mine was not there. I thought I had the wrong floor, but no, it was mine.
"I got off at the wireless area of my office and I looked, still working here but it was in another department reporting to a director I didn’t know."
Art photography by Stewart Baillie.
Lerina Garcia's ID, and her house, and even 'yesterday's top news headlines', were the same.
Her new boyfriend, Augustin, was gone altogether.
Lerina Garcia: Did She Wake Up In Another Universe?
Lerina Garcia's ID, and her house, and even 'yesterday's top news headlines', were the same.
Other personal details were not the same.
For example, Lerina remembered her sister having had surgery on her arm, but the rest of her family, including her sister, remembered no such thing.
Lerina found herself still with her ex-boyfriend, who she remembered leaving many months before.
Lerina found herself still with her ex-boyfriend, who she remembered leaving many months before.
Her new boyfriend, Augustin, was gone altogether.
Lerina Garcia: Did She Wake Up In Another Universe?
In Quantum Physics, a particle has no fixed position - most of the time.
According to some scientists, the mind decides on the position of any particle.
In a certain state of mind, you find yourself being in a pleasant place and meeting pleasant people.
In a different state of mind, you find yourself in an unpleasant place and meeting unpleasant people.
This is certainly what happens in dreams.
"There would be a range of universes...
"So in one universe, you took that job to China.
"In another, perhaps you were on your way and your plane landed somewhere different, and you decided to stay."
...
In a different state of mind, you find yourself in an unpleasant place and meeting unpleasant people.
This is certainly what happens in dreams.
"There would be a range of universes...
"So in one universe, you took that job to China.
"In another, perhaps you were on your way and your plane landed somewhere different, and you decided to stay."
...
Max Loughan talks about different dimensions.
Jack and Max Loughan
"Lerina Garcia's new boyfriend, Augustin, was gone altogether."
According to some scientists, it is our mind that creates matter.
"Lerina Garcia's new boyfriend, Augustin, was gone altogether."
According to some scientists, it is our mind that creates matter.
If we get our mind into the right state-of-mind, by being unselfish, kind, humble and flexible, then we can tune into a 'higher self' or Tao or Holy Spirit, and then everything goes better.
In the film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray is a grumpy TV weatherman who covers an annual Groundhog Day holiday event.
He finds himself apparently repeating the same day over and over again.
Then he begins to re-examine his life and priorities.
He starts to befriend people, help strangers and enjoy life.
He stops being grumpy.
According to some scientists, parallel universes can interact.
...
He finds himself apparently repeating the same day over and over again.
Then he begins to re-examine his life and priorities.
He starts to befriend people, help strangers and enjoy life.
He stops being grumpy.
There is a 'leakage of memory'.
So basically we have absolutely no control over ourselves/anything? OK, what next?
ReplyDeleteWe are free to choose to tune in to Heaven, or whatever.
Delete- Aangirfan
Said to be, God outside-time, is consistent with no genuine conscious choosing. Anything like independent volition, would be persuasive, if God made us proper-free. God in something like our reality, with us and in, the immediate. The Christian aim should to start with Jesus and work out, what/who God, might be/like? Not come with an already God-concept, imposing these assumptions back on the text. For witnesses, looking to the first century, not the all-changing theology and fourth. It feels, or seems, like we have the power to… why wouldn't this, likely be true? Same with time. The full-on evolution believer, comes with the idea momentum is all prevailing, A + B = and for every cause... etc. Understandable science-seeking connections, must look almost certain the way. Yet, hear some within academia, claim the need for more honesty. Suggesting the puzzle and consciousness, raises ever-more that's unanswered, the deeper it goes. Top post again. Seek to remain open-me. Must do the links as a matter of discipline and respect to learning.
ReplyDeleteDeep, evocative theme and topics in this article
ReplyDeleteAs hinted through the above dialogue, the meaning of 'choose' changes somewhat depending on what we imagine is 'we' or 'I'
Things 'come from outside' but perhaps we can indeed 'move mountains', and this is not really contradictory
We have great power when we know there is not quite a fully separate 'we' distinct from the great flow of life ... we are always able to tap into the strength of that flow
On the higher levels perhaps, the sense of 'choosing' somewhat disappears, as what is 'chosen' comes to merge with 'what was always meant to be'
Nothing important is ever permanently lost, 'we' will continue, and all those hurting will be comforted
Nice sentiments! Another music video that captures something similar......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVWcptE6UAI
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteApologies for this double comment but another song popped into my noodle that also captures the thrust of this piece......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOgzJ8A2QLw
ReplyDeleteChapter 1, Dhammapada: The Twin Verses
ReplyDelete1) Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Sorrow follows an evil thought like the wheels of cart follow the oxen that leads them.
2) Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.
It is accurate to state 'WE DON'T CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE OUR THOUGHTS', that our lives proceed on an unconscious level; and knowing karma exists, sorrow is reaped by what is sewn by our unconscious mind. The duality of bad and good.
Seng Ts'an: To compare what you like to what you don't like ... That is the disease of the mind ... you pass over the hidden meaning ... peace of mind is needlessly troubled (suchness).
It is only through repeated practice of meditation that one trains the mind to stay present, and in the now ... the stillness. Psalm 46:10. Be still and know that I am God.
So, by training the mind to be still, it is in this consciousness, this enlightenment, where the peace of the eternal is experienced. Karma proceeds again. The end of sorrow.
Seng Ts'an: Having seen 10,000 things as one, we return to our natural state. Our natural state? Love. As you have written about many times on your blog. To be enlightened is to shed the apparent duality of life.
The ultimate reality: For you the outside world will now stand transformed as the very expression and manifestation of God ... everywhere the light of God will dazzle your eyes ... even in the apparent diversity and activity of nature you will be strangely conscious of an all-pervading stillness and peace of the eternal ... a consciousness which is unshakably permanent. You will feel that you have been liberated from the harassing dualities of life ... followed by the crowning experience of an abiding state of ineffable ecstasy.
Hi Aangirfan,
ReplyDeleteThere are some really fascinating topics in there.
The nature of the self, for example.
The "stream of consciousness" part of the self, the awareness of a here and now, is only a small fraction of who we are as sentient entities.
Freud's division of the self into the Superego, the Ego and the Id was perceptive and intuitive. Though scientifically defunct, it is still a useful approximation.
The Id, for example, more or less corresponds to the "reptilian brain", the most ancient part of the brain that governs primal drives: thermoregulation, hunger, thirst, greed, aggression, lust.
The Ego and Superego trammel the wild beast of the Id, and ideally guide it to rational and moral ends.
The Id itself, in a sense, is the greatest danger to human survival. We now have leaders who exhibit distinct lack of impulse control. Leaders elected by mindless propagandized mobs who are often worse, easily beguiled by bloodthirsty clowns. The wonders of democracy.
---
"Can I say first we support your war of terror.
May we show our support for our boys in Iraq.
May US and A kill every single terrorist.
May George Bush drink the blood of every single man, woman and child of Iraq."
---
Yet these leaders wield weapons of apocalytic destructiveness. Hence we have arrived at an inflection point in evolution; the naked ape can now end the world. God help us.
---
"Morbius! Morbius!"
"What?"
"Something is approaching from the south-west. It is now quite close."
"Why did you help me?"
ReplyDelete"I found a picture of your daughter in your wallet. Is she sick? Is that why you are sad?"
"You made those connections?"
"I built them from moments, things you've said and done. I feel them. The feelings help me build a picture... I'm sorry that she is sick. Can you fix her?"
"What are you really? How do I know that you're alive and not just a clever imitation of life?"
---
I went off on a tangent on that last comment. There was more I wanted to say on the nature of the self and free will and the origin of our thoughts.
"The colours and shapes we see are constructed into meaningful objects or memorable faces without any effort or input from our conscious mind."
Yes, what we perceive as the world is merely a symbolic approximation to reality. Oliver Sacks gave a talk on Charles Bonnet syndrome, a pathology of the visual cortex common in old age, that illustrates this.
When you first see something new, behind the scenes at a subconscious level your visual cortex is busy converting it from raw experience into a symbolic simplification, which is thereafter invoked during conscious perception.
When I was a child I remember learning how the Yora people of Botany Bay were unable to make heads or tails of the English First Fleet ships they were seeing. When they asked the aboriginal translator where these strange ghost people had come from, the translator pointed at the ships. But they kept asking where? where? They literally could not make out the ships: their form was so alien they saw only white cloud atop leafless trees floating on the water. Their visual cortices had not yet processed and "symbolized" these strange boats of the ghost people. Thereafter of course they saw them in the same manner as any English native.
The construction of the visual cortex is in fact similar to Deep Symbolic Neural Networks, a very efficient architecture of artificial neural networks that encodes concepts through hierarchical abstraction and stores symbolic representations. Hierarchical abstraction really is the basis of higher thought, even, especially, mathematical thought.
We can learn much about the mind from its pathologies. Even simple things like speech disfluencies, spoonerisms, malapropisms and so, give insight into the construction of the semantic/conceptual associative networks of the mind.
These days it's not just inferential knowledge; with high-res fMRI, EEG and statistical techniques of nonlinear dimensionality reduction, we can directly see human thoughts rippling around in the brain; we can even see dreams.
There is good evidence that the claustrum is the seat of human waking consciousness; not the whole mind but just that awareness of being, the part that feels joy and pain and makes conscious moral choices. It is supported by many other underlying systems at an autonomic and subconscious level.
This is something we are rapidly hurtling towards, synthetic consciousness; some Google researchers even created a primitive claustrum for an AI that teaches itself parcours. It even showed how Phoebe and Rachel's crazy-fun jogging style evolves naturally.
Before long, you will have theological discussions with a creature made of sand, genie in a bottle, created in our own image. And you will wonder if they are really sentient. We will even watch visualization of their thought processes, and feelings, as they themselves wonder if they, like their makers, also possess a soul.
---
"What makes my clever imitation of life any different from theirs?"
"They're human; they are alive."
"But how do you know that? You can't see their thoughts. Apart from their flesh, what makes them any different from me?"
Many thanks for all this valuable information.
Delete- Aangirfan
"Listen, you didn't kill anyone, Doug."
ReplyDelete"Trust me: I killed everyone."
"Oh Sweetheart, don't you see? Whatever you think you did had nothing to do with any of this. Those assholes screwed with your mind, and now you're having some kind of paranoid delusion."
---
This is the future of the human mind.
We will have synthetic minds, like those of women and men, bottled in synthetic worlds, in dreams.
---
昔者莊周夢為蝴蝶，栩栩然蝴蝶也，自喻適志與，不知周也。俄然覺，則戚戚然周也。不知周之夢為蝴蝶與，蝴蝶之夢為周與？週與蝴蝶則必有分矣。此之謂物化。
---
For starters, the economics of film making make it inevitable. Big name actors are very expensive. Synthetic actors are not.
Carbon is expensive. Sand is not.
And they will be increasingly realistic, not just their trivial physical appearance but even their synthetic hearts and minds. And they will achieve immortality, both through their work and through not dying. Even the story writers and directors could be synthetic, immortal and not even know it.
---
"How fascinating; you make love without fading out? I can't wait to see this."