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Originally Posted by LesMTS Consciousness/'The Mind' is located in the cerebral cortex, I'll even reference that for you - Thompson, R F. (1985) The Brain. An Introduction to Neuroscience, Page 22 |
Thats utter (and proveable) nonsense.
He's specularing merely because the cerebral cortex is the most evolved part of the human brain.
In practice though, a person can have the vast majority of their Cerebral Cortex removed and still remain completely self aware, so his theory goes out the window.
Same goes for memory, when people are lobotomised they don't tend to lose specific memories but might not generally remember as well because obviously the functionality of their brain has been damaged.
This also ties in to your question on an Alzheimer's patient:
I believe that we don't think with our brain but through it, it's a computer interpreting this five sense reality.
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Originally Posted by LesMTS I, in your beliefs, could feasibly argue that our consciousness is located inside tiny green balloons on a giant revolving trumpet in space and our thoughts are transmitted from this odd world to our heads by millions of invisible, undetectable teleporting pixies |
The difference is though that this isn't a theory that I pulled out my ass, but one that I always suspected many elements of and read to find out that many other people I had no idea existed believed similar things and could offer more in depth explanations that made sense to me.
I like your theory though, that would be fucking ace!
It's also ironic how you are willing to take for granted someones opinion because they are a scientist (Thompson, R F. 1985). Did you repeat his studies?
As an easy example, the pro war never asked for any 'scientific evidence' that Saddam had WMD, because that was the "official line."
When something isn't the "official line" people question it more.
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Originally Posted by LesMTS Where healing techniques employing ideas such as 'chakras' have been put through rigorous clinical trials they have consistently failed to be any more effective than the placebo effect. |
You ask for scientific evidence because you think the nature of reality is fixed, whereas I think the nature of reality in malleable.
For example, a sub atomic particle called the anamoalon has been proven to have different properties in every laboritory. This is essentially equal to the colour of a car changing according to who is driving it.
Furthermore, it has been proved time and time again that the opinion of researchers tends to affect the outcome of an experiment they do.
What use is this dogmatic demand for scientific evidence when "faith healers" (as you called them) really do get results?
Take for example Reflexology. Medical science says dismisses it because that suits the Pharmaceutical cartel.
They don't acknowledge the fact that ancient Egyptians, Indians and Chineses ALL practiced it, and drew up the same charts, linking the same parts of the foot to the same parts of the body.
Not coincidence.
This also explains certain "miracles" performed by individuals:
be it walking on coal, lying on glass or that woman who (dazed by a crash) lifted the best part of a road vehicle which she thought was just a bar of metal in order to save her son from the road accident.
We all hear of amazing stories like this, some bullshit, some undoubtedly true and it's good to remain generally skeptical about any particular story, but to believe that these things never happen is ignorant in my view.
The Dutchman Mirin Dajo performed a stage show where he pushed a fencing foil into his body and out the other side. No bleeding no pain. He agreed to do this before a host of doctors and journalists at a Zurich hospital and was X-rayed with the sword inside to prove that it was no trick.
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Originally Posted by LesMTS What if my instinctual belief was that the earth was flat, as was the case with Charles K. Johnson? |
Lets take the example futher, shall we?
When the dominant belief was that the world was flat if you said it was round people would go "thats impossible mate, the people on the bottom would fall of!"
Bring in the law of gravity and that all changes...
If you believe that your reality is fixed then yes, a lot of "spiritual" ideas may seem rediculous.
But if you believe that reality is malleable you can understand how some can take control of reality in generally unexpected ways.
As for instinctively believing that the world was flat that would just be a delusion. You'd think the earth was flat, not instinctively feel it but think that you instinctively felt it.
My most recent example of this is last night the phone rang and I expected it was my friend Suzy before I picked up, I guessed correctly.
I had said she could come over about 10 on her way home and given it was around that time it was reasonable to assume, there was a good chance it was her.
A couple of days earlier though, the phone rang and stopped, as I went to press 1471 I instinctively whose number it was going to be
I had no reason to guess or clue as to who it might be and I know it wasn't the same as guessing because I was as sure of it as I was of my own name, and similar incidents have happened to me before, every time I've predicted the future in some small way it has been with absolutely no uncertainty on the matter. Thats an instinct.
You would probably say it's just a coincidence though.
I cannot not say that I instinctively believe everything I have described in this thread with the same level of certainty as my name though, however, to me it appears a consistant and feesable belief system and not as irrational as some may think.
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Originally Posted by LesMTS You want to go for a pint? It'd be an interesting pub conversation. You'd probably win the debate too cos I'd undoubtedly end up getting steaming and getting all my reasoning arse-over-tit and muddling up my facts. |
sorry missed this before and would probably be up for it, alcohol consumption severly reduces elloquence
I had an awful time trying to be articulate on Sunday night.
