Jump to content

Obama = 666?


ivan

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 119
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Describing human behavior as purely instinctual is a bit simplistic.

 

A view that appears so mechanistic and reductionist by incorporating bits of Freud (biology is destiny) and Skinner (we are mindless automatons) among others.

 

But if we see unexplainable examples of innate (instinctual) behavior in animals, for instance, a bird that manages to build a nest without prior knowledge(or is there really 'innate' behavior?) then by extension wouldn't you suspect the same for humans or are we really that removed from the 'lower' animals? As far as genes determining our behavior, see for instance this: The gene that makes us once bitten, twice shy

 

Our 'instincts', or deep seated emotional drives and impulses, may drive us to think, feel, or do one thing while our prefontal cortex drives us to think, feel, and do another.

Why new age buddhism is so appealing?

 

I do agree that philosophy and religion are two common sources of morality, which is a human construct, but a person who has...

 

A Christian would say that morality derives from God, that morality derived from man is flawed.

 

Governments, of course, are one of the chief engines of morality today. They have become extremely adept...

Social manipulation for the Atman or Immortality Project (google Ken Wilber). He uses the example of the pyramids as a grand social project built on the mass contribution of the people but overseen by the governing elite.

 

It's all about the power structure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the observer has lost his way, attaching to fragments of a passing story.

 

can he let the story go completely, losing himself so entirely as to....find himself?

 

Who is himself? Himself is maya, everchanging.

 

"All conditioned phenomena

Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow

Like the dew, or like lightning"--Diamond Sutra

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the observer has lost his way, attaching to fragments of a passing story.

 

can he let the story go completely, losing himself so entirely as to....find himself?

 

Who is himself? Himself is maya, everchanging.

 

"All conditioned phenomena

Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow

Like the dew, or like lightning"--Diamond Sutra

 

 

what happens if you step past "himself is maya, everchanging"?

 

this is another story about "self", defining it (although in a more subtle, sophisticated way....)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think humans have a very significant primal component. Even though the prefontal cortex is constantly deciding what to do based on a barrage of modern considerations, we have a fundamental evolutionary imperative as social animals to 'fit in'...to our party, our government, our neighborhood, our friendships, our marriage, our internuts, our street gangs....

 

The brain is also a delicate organ that is sensitive to chemical balances; also a direct byproduct of evolution. Change the chemistry and personality and behavior, ie what constitutes the self, changes accordingly.

 

The kicker is that humans, for whatever reason, evolved really large reasoning centers, which are capable of a whole lot of spurious activity, including those which ensure a lack of survival rather than the opposite. This is what throws a curve ball into the whole 'instinct' argument; the ability of the prefrontal cortex to 'argue' with deeper impulses and either win or lose that argument when it's time to act.

Edited by tvashtarkatena
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When the brain starts thinking about the brain, and tries to catch itself thinking, then whoops. There you go. The rabbit hole.

 

so if attention is directed towards the normal "normative" brain processees, and no longer the contents of brain processees are simply "obeyed", then this observational vantage point (which gives one awareness of the standard thought structures) leads to the "rabbit hole", and this is to be considered a "whoops"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...