Thread: The Occasional Ponderings of Wakata

#1 - Consciousness and the Pursuit of Self-definition - 8/15/2009; 9:04 PM

What are "we?" What is our consciousness the embodiment of? Are we the collective consciousness of all of the cells that make up our bodies? Are we the collective consciousness of the relatively few cells that make up our brain, which happen to be in control of the rest like a man in a robotic exoskeleton? Are we something else, a consciousness and mind born of the interacions of some or all of our cells but nonetheless seperate from them? Or is there a different explanation, that we are a bodiless, ethereal mind that is trapped in a body of flesh and blood and gives it that spark we call "life?"

What are "we?"

Where does our consciousness, this indefinable thing we call the "mind," stem from?

~

I've always liked the Freudian perspective; to facilitate evolution we needed a set of morals. "Civilization" as we know it depends on these self-created rules. However we also have deeper hard-wired instincts to eat, drink, sex each other up, etc. Its speculated that "consciousness" came from an evolutionary function of the brain to rationalize between these dichotomous forces.

A by-product of this evolutionary path, the "mind" (or "ego"), is basically just a complex but ultimately meaningless network of experiences, speculations, memories, ideas, thoughts, etc. that we define as "ourselves", though many (myself included) believe that the processes of the mind obscures our true selves.

Underneath all this distraction lies some pretty crazy shit. The human brain is 3 pounds of absolute magic encased in our skulls. The amount of things most of us perceive is infinitesimal compared to what we're capable of perceiving. What we call the "unconscious" (which I find too singular and simple of a term to describe something so intangible and dynamic) is where this interesting stuff happens every moment of every day, but we always tend to be too distracted to notice.

A lot of it sounds rather morbid, but in my case the full realization of this was the most liberating thing that ever happened to me. I'm by no means in any way enlightened, I'm really just starting to explore my own unconscious. But aside from that so many functions of our mind tend to be petty annoyances. Getting lovesick over women, being afraid of social situations, all these psychological things I used to be a victim to are progressively melting away. Feels good

At any rate, this is just my own understanding of it all. Could be right, could be wrong. But hey, it works for me.

I like your view, although my own is slightly different (it varies from time to time, though). Thanks for giving input!

EDIT: I'm putting up another essay in maybe a day or so, so if you want to comment on this one, don't delay!

Originally Posted by WakataDreamer

EDIT: I'm putting up another essay in maybe a day or so, so if you want to comment on this one, don't delay!

Almost out of time to reply, guys, the next one's coming later today and its a massive fireball of an essay.

And its only Part 1 of 3.