Fun post. Before you read it, take the following test.
1. Matter alone is real.
2. Consciousness alone is real.
3. Mind and matter exist as polar opposites in a dualistic reality.
4. The solution is indeterminable. (skepticism)
5. Other (Specific _____________________)
II. Explain your choice.
II. Explain your choice.
Jon Rappport's Blog
If you were Chief of CIA Consciousness Ops
Jon Rappoport, free-lance investigative reporter
More "men who stare at goats" wackiness from the company. That's what happens with black budgets. If you give mad people mad budgets, they'll come up with mad projects. High time to shut all this madness down.
ReplyDeleteFrom the angle of happiness - mind, matter, consciousness, seem to fit quite well together: Blooming
ReplyDeletehttps://www.timelesstoday.com/read/blooming-2/?mc_cid=9cc31518fd&mc_eid=2817f8b534
Torture!
ReplyDeleteAt a more basic, yes, philosophic level, you want to eliminate any sort of movement claiming that consciousness is separate from the brain. You want to snuff that idea out. It’s counter-productive, to say the least. It could give rise to a renaissance of an old outmoded notion called: freedom.
ReplyDeleteWhat could be more free, more independent, more unique, more creative than individual consciousness that has a non-material basis?
Indeed, the CIA needs to stop putting bullets through people's skulls.
At a more basic, yes, philosophic level, you want to eliminate any sort of movement claiming that consciousness is separate from the brain. You want to snuff that idea out. It’s counter-productive, to say the least. It could give rise to a renaissance of an old outmoded notion called: freedom.
ReplyDeleteWhat could be more free, more independent, more unique, more creative than individual consciousness that has a non-material basis?
Bob has zeroed in on the key quote in the post. This is a key fundamental of classical liberalism, which the exaltation of personal freedom, and stands in diametric opposition to determinism of scientific materialism.
But we live in an age where science is a cultural norm along with liberalism, so this gives rise to other paradoxes of liberalism.
At the time of the elaboration of classical liberalism by thinkers like John Locke, the theologically based great chain of being was being replaced by the scientific (Newtonian") world view. This was also the denouement of the feudal age and the rise of modernity.
Thus two contradictory views arose side by side and were incorporated into the cultural worldview of the West — the freedom of liberalism and the determinism of science — the human spirit versus the causality that rules the nature world, of which humans are an evolutionary product.
This dialectic is still in progress as various paradoxes come into consciousness and call for resolution that resolves the cognitive dissonance.
I'd resolve it by not torturing and killing folks.
ReplyDeleteDo neuroscientists experience cognitive dissonance when they fall in love?
Why would our knowledge of how things work affect our perception of it? That might be damaging.
So, how do we ‘measure’ a human being?
ReplyDeleteBecause we all have our little measuring tapes handy - always.
We measure social status, wealth, job position, academic achievement, physical stature, beauty, strength; emotional stability, harmony, mental prowess; the illustrious ego. Some egos rule whole countries and armies, some sweep the streets and beg, some write down our stories or entertain us; most are jealous and covetous of others. Are these measures of a human being? Or are they in the end, measures of just ripples in the mind stuff? Which measuring tape do we use when mind goes into a spiralling cycle of hate and division? Who dares go there?
What about the human heart? Which measuring tape do we use to measure the consciousness that dwells within the human heart? Do we even recognise it? Which measuring tape measures the depth of love and wisdom in the human heart? Which tape measures the breadth and volume of the Spark of Life that glues it all, and gives the human being infinite potential and direction? Consciousness is awareness: - of what are we aware?
When a human being goes within, it changes everything. No-one with any wisdom, would dare usurp that potential, or do so with impunity. Everything has its reward and cost .... but not by our measures.
Feed the good wolf. Let the bad wolf starve. There’s a New Year resolution. Then the conscience and the consciousness will change, deepen; the heart open and its secret become obvious in the full light of the day. The power to feel in the human being is actually far greater than lower mind, once it is known and experienced. One day it will be written on the portals to the learning centres. Mind, in its arrogance needs to become at best, a partner to the human being, to the consciousness; not the leader. The heart is the one that knows where consciousness needs to go (they are one). For me, consciousness comes from a place, far above the atomic sub-particles and their ‘charges’. Light a little candle and the power of the darkness is defeated; at least where you are. That’s what 2017 and human history means to me: - an opportunity to feed the good wolf. To know the Self. Just because we have a track record of failure up to this point, does not lock the future in concrete (mind). Peace can be felt, even on the battlefield. The heart knows our potential.
That’s why Krishna said to Arjuna – Fight!
Measure and compare at your own risk. I have not found such thoughts to be useful in my personal life. Ambitious people will disagree.
ReplyDelete