From the perspective of neuroscience it’s possible to intuit that there is no separation between mind and body, but our lived human experience often suggests a duality between our inner life of thoughts/consciousness and our physical bodies. I like the idea that mindfulness meditation is considered by some as the scientific study of the mind through direct experience, the Buddhist concept of no self challenges this duality seeing both perceived mind and body as transitory processes with no permanent separate self underlying. Thanks for your insights on this fascinating topic!
I, too, am interested in that precious intersection of neuroscience, intuition, and belief systems — although I’m most interested in the scientific understanding of the brain and what it tells us about our evolved feelings and beliefs. There will definitely be more to come along those lines. Thank you for reading 🤍
This question of mind vs body reminds me too of the eternal facts vs feelings debate. Both ends of these "spectrums" coexist within our existence but we try **really** hard to dissect them into separate things. Sometimes that's a worthy endeavor, but more I've felt that is a way to compartmentalize our existence to avoid feeling too much at once.
Definitely. We are a single multi-faceted creature. Compartmentalization is valuable until we lose sight of how things *really* work. Thanks for listening -- I'm so glad you enjoy the audio!
I must agree, unraveling the mystery of mind (or consciousness, soul, sentence, or other synonyms), should not make this any less enchanting. Or certainly not to me. The opposite I think. Notice that before science, everything was essentially explained as magical. I consider this solution quite boring. Far more enchanting to me is how science has dispelled such magic. Gravity as bent spacetime? DNA as genetic code which operates cell function? Matter existing as electrons that spin around nuclei? I find such ideas far more enchanting than our various traditional otherworldly constructions.
On consciousness and it’s various synonyms, actually I think I know how this will go in the end. I suspect that scientists will empirically determine that the experiencer/thinker/doer which constitutes each of us, exists in the form of certain parameters of a neurally produced electromagnetic field. This would mean that your brain is currently producing a highly complex electromagnetic field which constitutes each element of what you see, and indeed, exists as the “you that sees”. How would you feel about not exactly being a body, but rather an electromagnetic field produced by a body? While not exactly solving “the hard problem of consciousness”, I suspect that this will eventually become known as science’s most enchanting discovery ever.
From the perspective of neuroscience it’s possible to intuit that there is no separation between mind and body, but our lived human experience often suggests a duality between our inner life of thoughts/consciousness and our physical bodies. I like the idea that mindfulness meditation is considered by some as the scientific study of the mind through direct experience, the Buddhist concept of no self challenges this duality seeing both perceived mind and body as transitory processes with no permanent separate self underlying. Thanks for your insights on this fascinating topic!
I, too, am interested in that precious intersection of neuroscience, intuition, and belief systems — although I’m most interested in the scientific understanding of the brain and what it tells us about our evolved feelings and beliefs. There will definitely be more to come along those lines. Thank you for reading 🤍
This question of mind vs body reminds me too of the eternal facts vs feelings debate. Both ends of these "spectrums" coexist within our existence but we try **really** hard to dissect them into separate things. Sometimes that's a worthy endeavor, but more I've felt that is a way to compartmentalize our existence to avoid feeling too much at once.
PS: I love being able to listen to your posts!
Definitely. We are a single multi-faceted creature. Compartmentalization is valuable until we lose sight of how things *really* work. Thanks for listening -- I'm so glad you enjoy the audio!
I must agree, unraveling the mystery of mind (or consciousness, soul, sentence, or other synonyms), should not make this any less enchanting. Or certainly not to me. The opposite I think. Notice that before science, everything was essentially explained as magical. I consider this solution quite boring. Far more enchanting to me is how science has dispelled such magic. Gravity as bent spacetime? DNA as genetic code which operates cell function? Matter existing as electrons that spin around nuclei? I find such ideas far more enchanting than our various traditional otherworldly constructions.
On consciousness and it’s various synonyms, actually I think I know how this will go in the end. I suspect that scientists will empirically determine that the experiencer/thinker/doer which constitutes each of us, exists in the form of certain parameters of a neurally produced electromagnetic field. This would mean that your brain is currently producing a highly complex electromagnetic field which constitutes each element of what you see, and indeed, exists as the “you that sees”. How would you feel about not exactly being a body, but rather an electromagnetic field produced by a body? While not exactly solving “the hard problem of consciousness”, I suspect that this will eventually become known as science’s most enchanting discovery ever.