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Goodbye Jesus

Third Try: On The Human Experience


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TED talks got me thinking along these lines in 2011 or so, more than I had been already. The nature of who we are, why we do some of the things we do, how much of that is or isn't up to us.

 

On biology.

We are units composed of billions of individual cells, living things, diverse in nature, all having different forms of communication with one another. They form organs and systems when again have diverse ways of communicating with one another. 

It's said we should "follow your gut" or "follow your heart" or "use your head" or "stop thinking with your dick." Each of these sayings imply that our organs have voices of their own, and they do. Minds of their own. They can agree, and most often they conflict with one another.

 

On soul/spirit

So as billions of voices that compose us argue about the existence of God, what is soul? Do they all ultimately coalesce into an ID, a soul, a spirit that makes us one entity? Do they create a vacuum, a phantom core where no one voice really exists, but rather converged unit driven by the billions with no real identity?

 

On choice

When we make decisions, there's more controlling us than just some abstract concept of free will. Our billions of parts are making choices. Take glands for example, the most prominent decision making parts of us. We're driven by reproduction. Our glands make decisions for us. They follow pheromones. We have less control over this than we'd like to think. I sure as hell do.

Chemicals determine how we think, and they determine how we act. Take depression. Chemical disposition. Can a depressed person decide to not be depressed? I can't. It fucking sucks. Can they decide to think positively and cleanse it all away? I'd like to smack the next person who says that.

 

On experience

How much of what we do is for us to objectively observe and nothing more? Are we just along for a ride? Who are "we" in the first place? What is our experience but the work of our cells retaining information with glands, in glands, in individual organs? They bias us and control the rest of us.

 

On energy

Living beings support energy fields. What is the nature of this energy? Is it intelligent or is it the biproduct of the collection of living organisms that make a living organism? How does it affect choice?

Western culture knows way less about the natures of these energy fields than other cultures in the world. As a product of Western culture I see it as something of a mystery, and can confuse it with spirit and soul. I don't know enough about it.

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I don't have the answers.  Neither am I sure that I have all the questions.

 

I suppose:

 

Regarding biology, "communication" can be automatic or intelligent.  A chemical messenger that informs other cells of a particular state of biological affairs is a very different thing to a conversation about the meaning of life.  The former is a necessity of physical life.  The latter is not.

 

Regarding soul/spirit - if I interpret you correctly, you suggest that the billions of voices that control me (presumably the chemical messengers between cells) argue about the existence of god.  They don't.  My prostate could not care less whether god exists and is unaware of the concept.  Same for my large intestine, left kidney, liver etc.  The voice that deals with this is the one in my head.  The question is whether something as unconscious as a few pounds of chemicals mixed with water can, of itself, give rise to something as conscious as me who is then capable of entertaining such arguments.  I'm not aware that this particular issue is resolved.

 

Regarding choice - there are all sorts of permutations of levels of determinism,  As far as I can see, we are composite creatures with a level of free will and choice and a level of biologically determined behaviour.  How and to what extent these two aspects inter-relate is another matter altogether - and may not be the same in each individual instance.

 

Regarding experience - seems to me a similar question as soul and spirit.  Another related question is whether individual consciousness is just illusory if "we" are but biological information storage.

 

Regarding energy - I'm unsure precisely what you mean by "energy fields".  Therefore, I have some difficulty formulating any thoughts.

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