Originally posted by Goddess Kali
I was thinking about this earlier. From my point of view, the self, or the experience of reality is:The basic perception of the universe around us on our sensory organs
Our preconscious evaluation and attribution of cause
Our allocation of attention
Our Physical arousal at a reflexive and precognitive level to stimuli
Our conscious interpretation and "story" for what is happening
The belief that this interpretation is true
I agree. I do not think Self has to be a physical or even spiritual substance to exist. Many people conclude that the mind is nothing more than the realm of nerves responding back and forth with messages and emotions. That does not make it any less valid, for it still exists.
Self existing as Five Aggregates, or in your case Six, does not mean it does not truly exist. The soul may not exist, because if it did, then it would truly make us individual and separate.
But you do not require a soul to have a self.
Originally posted by Goddess Kali
I just read the bottom of Kali's post, so to add an answer to my spam;I do think that we have innate need for social contact. I think it is in our genes, and in many ways our bodies and brains function at a higher efficency when we are social and content.
Human Beings are considered social creatures, like most mammals are. We need socialization, interaction, and communication.
Babies who are not touched by the human hand in the incubator, usually die.
We all need each other to survive, to be happy. I strongly beleive that.
Originally posted by Goddess Kali
To make a deeper philosophical point though, even if our concept of the self is an illusion, it is impossible to avoid experiencing the world as the self. Our brains construct reality as if we are an individual because that belief and the behaviour that springs from it has been essential to the survival of all multi-cellular creatures.
I also beleive that we can only experience reality the way our Brain inteprets it. To me, the mental existances are just as valid, if not more valid, than the physical ones.
Originally posted by Goddess Kali
I saw Michael Gazzaniga speak at my school, and at the end of the talk someone asked him whether or not there was still a scientific case for dualism. His answer was that, as a scientific concept it was dead, but that all people are by nature dualists. It doesn't matter whether or not we are cells, or temporal souls, or anything else. We don't have a lot of a choice over the way our brain constructs this experience for us, and unfortunately all the crappy emotional stuff that goes with it.
Buddha once said that most of us are free from physical illness, but it is rare when any of us are free from mental illness.
I can certainly vouch that mental suffering is more common (lol)
Originally posted by Goddess Kali
Michael Gazzaniga - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gazzaniga
Dualism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism
Thanks for your input and your links. They are much appreciated 🙂 [/B][/QUOTE]