#46. Who is the Thinker?
It is natural for people to think. But what exactly is ... thinking?Science tells us that thinking is achieved through the activity of the brain; that we use only 1/10th of our brain potential; that the brain functions as a phenomenal computer with zillions of gigabytes of RAM (I made that part up with my brain); that signals for hormonal secretions are sent to the proper glandular authorities to create emotional charges in the body at a moment's notice; that memory is stored in the brain for future recall; that the brain . . . and on and on and on it goes.
But is there a "thinker" behind our "thoughts"? Is there a non-physical YOU that is independent of the human brain . . . and body? Can this thinker therefore choose to creatively use the brain to think and produce solutions to your problems?
If you respond with a comment (and I hope you will), is your brain telling you what to write . . . or is it coming from the non-physical, non-human YOU?
Labels: brain, humanity, Intelligence, spiritual, thinking
posted by Virgil at 4:21 PM
5 Comments:
I think the answer is both - the little "me" thinks programmed thoughts, while the mind behind the programming is the witness to it all. It is possible to be stuck in the "me" and totally believe in the programmed, circular thoughts, while never accessing the "truer" thoughts behind the whole thing.
For in-depth discourse on this, see this dissertation on the teachings of Richard Rose:
http://www.searchwithin.org/johnkent/
As a follow-up, I am on Chapter 14 of the John Kent dissertation, and it's quite profound. My sister and I have been reading and discussing. I think of this dissertation as quite "heavy-duty" spirituality, and not for the casual dabbler. However, it is the most thorough, honest, and to-the-point spiritual book I have come across.
I tend to think the brain is a physical thing. The reason for this is that people that are sleepy or drunk think differently. People with gunshot wounds to the head or brain tumors think differently too.
I think Douglas Hofstadter in "I am a Strange Loop," asserted that sentience is a product of one's brain observing itself and then reacting to it. This feedback is ingrained and probably subconscious.
Hofstadter believes that the personality could exist in other computers besides the brain -- implying that a non-physical brain could host a "mind," in the afterlife.
Greg,
So, is the "personality" or "mind" non-physical? Does it, or can it, exist independently of the brain, a computer, or any other 3-dimensional thing?
Virgil,
In my view the mind is linked to a physical brain. The mental processes of the mind could exist on more than one physical manifestation, that is a brain or computer -- at least in principle. One could imagine a non-physical computer, but no one on earth has ever seen such a thing so far.
I understand there is an old chain of argument that the mind of dead person can reside in part in the minds of his friends, who emulate his mind when they remember how he would have reacted. I think this goes back to the ancient Greeks, but I can't find the reference.
In more modern terms, theorists have shown that any "Turing machine" can run any software, albeit slowly. In theory, the programing that runs my mind could run on another system, but doing that is tough. See Turing Machine on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine
This provides some justification for reincarnation or an afterlife in another form.
Greg
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