Treedbear
Veteran Member
- Joined
- May 30, 2016
- Messages
- 2,567
- Location
- out on a limb
- Basic Beliefs
- secular, humanist, agnostic on theism/atheism
Survival is the basic premise of all arguments. This idea is based on the premise that the basic metaphysical truth of all things is that they exist because they survive, and that, therefore, the purpose of all things is to survive. The meaning of life, and indeed the meaning of anything, is the antecedent of what it is. Meaning is that which defines something by virtue of all that has led to its existence. Purpose is derived from what is required in order for something (or some kind of thing, as for a living species) to continue to exist.
Consciousness is the great mystery, but mind is defined as all that the brain does. Therefore consciousness is only one product of the mind. The subconscious mind is another product. What people think of as a personal God that they can petition with prayer is actually the subconscious mind.
My opinion is that consciousness is a mystery because it is wrongly characterized as a thing rather than a process or state of the mind. They want to attribute thoughts and ideas as products of this thing. I think that conscious awareness is the product of the model-making ability of the brain. It is essentially the same thing as the model of the Self, but more particular in that it is pared down to the essentials of thought and perceptional awareness. But these basics, while not as contingient on external reality, are still integrated parts of this model created by the brain. The environment of the brain includes, after all, all the inner activities of the physical body that one can be aware of.
The primary function and purpose of any brain is to create models of its environment.
Consciousness is the great mystery, but mind is defined as all that the brain does. Therefore consciousness is only one product of the mind. The subconscious mind is another product. What people think of as a personal God that they can petition with prayer is actually the subconscious mind.
My opinion is that consciousness is a mystery because it is wrongly characterized as a thing rather than a process or state of the mind. They want to attribute thoughts and ideas as products of this thing. I think that conscious awareness is the product of the model-making ability of the brain. It is essentially the same thing as the model of the Self, but more particular in that it is pared down to the essentials of thought and perceptional awareness. But these basics, while not as contingient on external reality, are still integrated parts of this model created by the brain. The environment of the brain includes, after all, all the inner activities of the physical body that one can be aware of.
The primary function and purpose of any brain is to create models of its environment.