Haven't posted in a while, that seems to happen a lot with me. I won't say much here, but I thought I'd ask a few questions and see your answers. I want you guys to be sincere and really think about these question and give me your thoughts. I really want to see what you all think.
Does something exist because we think it does? Or is there something else that makes an object or an idea real? Is there really any truth to "I think, therefore I am?"
What is it about yourself that defines you? What makes you real as a person? Is it your friends? Is it your family? Is it the actions you perform, the verbs you make? Is it the words you speak? Or is there something more that makes you who you are?
What makes you human? What separates you from the animals? Is it the ability to comprehend the abstract? The intangible? Does the intangible really exist if you can't hold it in your hand?
If rights exist and they are, indeed, undeniable. How can they be so easily removed from us? How can they be denied? How come the British have 13 rights in their Bill of Rights, and the Americans only have 10?
Like I said, I'm curious about your input. You don't have to answer every single one of them. I'd like you to, but you aren't required to to leave a comment.
Let me hear what you have to say!
Comments (6)
In the quantum physics sense of the world, something exists in the state of a collapsed waveform (one object appearing in one place at one time) because we perceive it to be. All reality is subjective. I don't believe that question is suitable for us humans. Each of the bubble universes of perception every person lives in is 100% an invention and interpretation all our own. We can see no truth but the truth we make.
I am therefore I am. Not I think therefore I am. Not I speak therefore I am. Not I do therefore I am.
Who said anything separates us from animals? Apes use tools. Elephants create art. Beavers and birds build structures. Whales sing. Most of the things we treasure about ourselves as special are present in other examples in the animal kingdom, just not in the particular incarnation that we've created.
Rights don't exist. Rights are an illusion between those with power and those without and power comes from the barrel of a gun. Go out into nature alone to live and see what rights you really have.
Does something exist because we think it does? Or is there something
else that makes an object or an idea real? Is there really any truth to
"I think, therefore I am?"
Recently, I've come to believe that there is only one existence. It's not made by one person thinking it exists, it is made from the collective mind of thousands and millions of years of all life. So there is "something else" that makes things exist, but at the same time the answer is that there isn't anything "else" that makes existence possible.
What is it about yourself that
defines you? What makes you real as a person? Is it your friends? Is it
your family? Is it the actions you perform, the verbs you make? Is it
the words you speak? Or is there something more that makes you who you
are?
I would say that my awareness defines me. Maybe.
What makes you human? What separates you from the animals?
Is it the ability to comprehend the abstract? The intangible? Does the
intangible really exist if you can't hold it in your hand?
The only thing that separates us from animals is, currently, our own stupidity. There shouldn't be anything that separates us.
If
rights exist and they are, indeed, undeniable. How can they be so
easily removed from us? How can they be denied? How come the British
have 13 rights in their Bill of Rights, and the Americans only have 10?
We "trade in" our rights to the government (not that I would define "rights" the way humans define "rights," anyway) in return for ideology and illusion. At the same time, we are not only trading in our rights but the rights of our friends, children, and everything else that happens to occupy the planet.
I have long intervals between my postings too. Maybe it's a good sign, sometimes I am too busy experiencing life to write about it. But... I like this post, so on to the questions...
My answers are probably going to be completely contradictory to what most responses on here. That's ok, I'm used to this.
Yes, actually, I think that something can exist just because we think it does. At least it can exist in idea, even if it does not in physical reality. I've never really understood the phrase, "I think, therefore I am" It makes sense in that, in some capacity, everyone thinks. Maybe there are just levels to "being" and the more you think, the more you discover who you are.
I tend not to think very philosophically (if that's not obvious) and am more concerned with 'here and now and the people and problems' rather than the 'how and why' but as for the second question, I am a person and that's all. It is my friends, family, actions, words, thoughts that make me an individual, a unique person. Everyone is a person, but deep down everyone is also a unique and unmatched person even if many may seem too similar.
We are all classified as humans and that is enough. Humans are somewhat similar to "animals" in the way that chocolate pie is similar to shephard's pie, as in...they're both pies that have similar functions, but little else. Animals have certain places in the world, a kind of lifestyle, a "society" so to speak and they serve humans and humans serve them in certain ways. However, humans have done remarkable things. And it isn't really what we have done it is what we can do, the good that we could be capable of. Animals don't possess that kind of improvement. I love people. No matter what they do, I couldn't stop loving people, as a whole. They can feel and think and interact, create and reflect in millions of different ways. The concept of all of the people in the world, each completely unequaled and yet united in so many ways, gives me hope and makes me never feel discouraged or alone. There is always another road to travel, another person to meet who could change or help you and there is always someone or a group even that you could help or change or just enjoy the company.
Rights are something that can exist if we so choose. I can give you rights, I can give myself rights, sometimes even the world, ideals, government, and society can give rights. However, all of these things can also take them away just as quickly. When I don't respect myself or believe in myself or let something or someone control me, I've given away "rights." I think you are the one most in control of your rights. Sure, the Bill Of Rights makes certain ways of thinking and acting legal, but nothing like that has all the real power. It's sort of the difference between "can I?" and "may I?" If that makes any sense at all... But I like to think that as long as I have my mind (which is rarely ever taken away) that I can survive and value life and humanity and that some rights I could keep that way, in any circumstance.
Oh... Am I an idealist?.... :) ;)
Hi, these are thought provoking questions indeed. I'll take a shot at a few of 'em, as honestly as I can.
Although thinking something exists certainly doesn't make its existence factual, thinking something doesn't exist certainly can make it unreal to us even if its existence is factual. I might think that there's a polka dotted elephant at the fire station that will come and spray water from its trunk to put out a fire at my house, but that wouldn't do me or my house much good in reality. But if I refuse to believe that a firehouse exists at all, it may as well not exist, because I won't call it if my house catches fire. For me, it doesn't exist.
I think, therefore I am... to answer that I need to know how you define "am". What exactly does it mean "to be" for the purpose of this question?
What makes me real is my ability to alter the reality of other beings, and my mortality. I can prove the reality of my being by altering the reality or experience of others, or by removing it from the sum total of experience and demonstrating that there is indeed a difference after I'm gone. If I am not real, I can have no influence by my presence, and if nothing is subtracted, nothing will change. I prefer method number one
What makes me human and distinguishes me from the animals? I love this one! Answer in two parts...
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
That's simply a matter of faith. Part two is directly observable though. We're the only animal that considers the future, and even the incomprehensible concepts of eternity and infinity:
He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Because of the points you've made regarding rights, I've concluded that they don't exist, but are ideals that humanity has attempted to bring into being, usually through legislation. The fact that they can be taken away is one basis for this statement, but an even stronger support is the fact that "rights" can so easily be corrupted so as to condone evil. Hahaha, you forgot to ask about evil
"Haven't posted in a while, that seems to happen a lot with me. I won't
say much here, but I thought I'd ask a few questions and see your
answers. I want you guys to be sincere and really think about these
question and give me your thoughts. I really want to see what you all
think."
Alrighty.
"Does something exist because we think it does? Or is
there something else that makes an object or an idea real? Is there
really any truth to "I think, therefore I am?"
Stuff, matter, energy, exists. Our perception of it is very dim, it is not what we invision. But whatever it is, it's definitely there.
I think.
Separate things, however, are a product of our consciousness. We designate patterns and take the chaos of the universe and say "this is a this and that is a that". We say that this pattern is an X and that pattern is a Y. Nature has no x's or y's. The universe has no concept of a shoe or a spark plug, these are patterns we devise and designate names to.
"What is it about
yourself that defines you? What makes you real as a person? Is it your
friends? Is it your family? Is it the actions you perform, the verbs
you make? Is it the words you speak? Or is there something more that
makes you who you are?"
My rugged good looks.
"What makes you human? What separates you
from the animals?"
A small portion of my DNA and physiology, depending on what "animal" we're talking about. Not nearly as much as people think.
"Is it the ability to comprehend the abstract? The
intangible?"
That too. Well not really, animals can do this as well. A higher level of self-awareness is unique to humans, at least on earth. But we are in no way "seperate" from animals. Or anything else. That is just us designating patterns again.
"Does the intangible really exist if you can't hold it in
your hand?"
It exists as patterns in our minds, which are designated by our minds as we perceive our minds.
We're strange critters, no?
"If rights exist and they are, indeed, undeniable. How
can they be so easily removed from us? How can they be denied? How come
the British have 13 rights in their Bill of Rights, and the Americans
only have 10?"
Ah, a carlin fan : D
"Like I said, I'm curious about your input. You
don't have to answer every single one of them. I'd like you to, but you
aren't required to to leave a comment."
I hope my answers were far more cryptic than illuminating. Journey being the reward n' all.
"Let me hear what you have to say!"
No!