#pansychism

[chaosshaman]

To be at a loss of self understanding

I definitely feel understanding at times and like I'm in a dense fog other times. This particular level of consciousness is truly the red queens race.

Similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we are stuck thinking about the nutrition that we are 'advised' to have; little do we know, it's not based on what's best for us.

I think that development of the current world is built on taking from the individual spirit. Energy is the truest renewable resource. Each bundle of atoms, energy, that then passes continues the cycle of energy, but as generally understood, energy cannot be destroyed. Instead of destruction, unity is needed. From not wanting death and aging to war, jealousy, any resistance of change is simply resistance to unity.

The energy of individuals seems to be taken through mental, physical and emotional distraction. This distraction can be taken advantage of, giving others the power of that individual away. Mental connects to economic situatedness, emotional connects to social situatedness, physical connects to the sum of economic and social pressures. The spirit is sapped trying to find happiness, contentment, understanding but essentially unity.

Similar to the saying, is the cup half empty or half full? What I mean to illustrate is that your cup must be full to find unity. When our cups are not full, we seek fullfilment from others (seeking wholeness, happiness but essentially unity). Finding balance in spirit, emotion, mentality and physicality is unity, and more so self love and respect. This allows for true freedom for yourself and those who you interact with. They are held by mutual respect and love. Although, I will digress, there is more to be said about the cups idea, but this post is not for that.

When an individual does not have self love and respect or seek inner power and enlightenment, the individual loses the grip on their power. Often their power is made to fit into a corrosive unity.

Corrosive unity is a distraction that is captivating and like an enchantment made to give the unity an individual seeks but at a cost. Some people seem not to realize the cost or decide that it's justified. It seems easy enough to speculate that if we owe nothing to anyone but the one we are truly accountable for, and that is oneself.

Intersectionality, the layering of oppression weighing on people is the symptomatic cost set up by the most vicious and cyclical world order yet.

I have yet to figure where it begun truly, but monotheistic, patriarchal, ableist, capitalistic society is the true death match of western culture and spirituality. This is how the spirit, the joy and power of the individual is captured and used as a power source.

Take back your power. Seek your spirit. Love yourself and be free.

We are unified through immediate relative existence, we are unified through being energy. You are powerful, beautiful and creative. You deserve love and understanding. You can be full and not alone. Through diversity and individuality we learn unity externally and internally.

When power is gained by each individual, unity can be had. Corrosive unity bunches energy and takes over the power, and causing soul loss, harm and general discontent.

The general concept of unity is that of equilibrium and balance.

[wordyvirdee]

The Hard Problem of Consciousness and Wisdom from Sikhism

Consciousness is one of humanity’s greatest mysteries—a phenomenon that lies at the heart of existence yet defies simple explanation. Why do we have subjective experiences? How does awareness arise from the biological processes of the brain? These questions are encapsulated in what philosopher David Chalmers calls the “hard problem” of consciousness. While neuroscience attempts to dissect…

The Hard Problem of Consciousness and Wisdom from Sikhism

[wordyvirdee]

The Hard Problem of Consciousness and Wisdom from Sikhism

Consciousness is one of humanity’s greatest mysteries—a phenomenon that lies at the heart of existence yet defies simple explanation. Why do we have subjective experiences? How does awareness arise from the biological processes of the brain? These questions are encapsulated in what philosopher David Chalmers calls the “hard problem” of consciousness. While neuroscience attempts to dissect…

The Hard Problem of Consciousness and Wisdom from Sikhism

[mrgig00]

My problem with Gen X Philosophy.

Reality Bites came out in 1994, my junior year in high school.  It starred Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Ben Stiller, Steve Zahn, and Janeane Garafalo.  It was terrible & grungy and talked about Gen X and the disenchantment we faced from having Boomers as parents.  It portrayed people only slightly older than me and convinced me to reconsider some notions about reality in a more critical light.  Did life really boil down to a duality of luck or suffering, and why?

My first year in college, I leaned heavily into my Philosophy and Creative Writing classes.  I soon hit all the usual pop-culture sources Gen X philosophy – Joseph Campbell's books and interviews, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, D&D and Mage the Ascension, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Quentin Tarantino films, Protestantism....  And I don't think that my experience is an unusual one.  These experiences shaped a personal philosophy inside me.

The modern interpretations for Campbell's 4 pillars of what all religions have in common have been answered for me as best I can for now.  The universe was conceived in a Big Bang (probably,) we have moral codes and cartoons and established channels laid down to inform our choices of how to treat one another, I have a belief in at least a recycling of the body & remembering of the self after death, and a wild proliferation of media in daily life to capture the awe of things greater than ourselves, be it the hand of God and/or simple gravity. 

My personal conception of God is transcendent - not a duality, but a third state, when there’s no electricity in the transistor so it’s neither on or off, it simply is.  The framework upon which the universe is hung, and the channels of least resistance we choose from to flow down this life.  But it's left me wanting.  In the wake of the pandemic especially, everyone is so isolated.  Solipsism has taken over.

Thanks to the modern internet age, I feel like it's easy to lean heavily into solipsism.  After all, what can't pass the Turing test anymore?  And what could I actually know or care about beyond this existence?  I don't think anyone's expecting streets of gold and mansions in some afterlife anymore. I've come to understand that heaven and hell are just particular decades of this life – being kind and generous to others really does open doors and grant you boons your would not have otherwise. Being wicked, even when it’s fun, will hurt you somehow.  And so much of life is about translating other's experiences so that you can digest reality.  A lot of other people's lives is just allegory and reflection.

I worry that leads to pride, thinking that the universe begins and ends with you, so I take solace in science articles that point to panpsychism - the belief that every thing is conscious, and possibly we’re all cells in one consciousness.  In that way, the universe is like my subconscious and autonomous processes of the brain, constantly running in the background to keep me alive, and thus I have a duty to do right by the world.  Being progressive and environmentally conscious is akin to good mental health.  “Other” entities and the world's circumstances are just me and God, poking each other, asking questions about ourselves.  (However the cynic in me asks if that's intuition of truth or just articles that are popular on google with people of my age bracket and education level.)  

Which led me to a further conclusion: Everything is about actively asking yourself to grow.  From eating to sex to learning from others to trade to love...  You can not grow without reaching outward and into something else which is also kinda you. Ouraboros.   

So I have to ask: What is the new philosophy?  Where do we go from here? There are always details to work out, experiences and rituals to share, questions to ask one another.  But is that all there is now, is just details?  

[panatmansam]

An examination of panpsychism's history.

Submitted by our dear friend  academica-esoterica,

Sam’s Note: In philosophy, panpsychism is the view that consciousness, mind or soul (psyche) is a universal feature of all things, and the primordial feature from which all others are derived. In other words, consciousness creates reality. This is now a fundamental aspect of quantum physics but it is not a new idea. Just new to science. Metaphysics has long seen it as the only view which explains certain difficult metaphysical problems.

BY BENJAMIN WINTERHALTER

The philosophical view known as panpsychism has ancient roots, with its earliest adherents being pre-Socratic thinkers. Simply stated, it is the notion that all matter and energy is sentient. The idea can also be found in the works of Aristotle (“soul is mingled with everything in the whole universe”) and Plato (“this world is a living body endowed with a soul”). The theory saw a revival in the Renaissance: Philosophers Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz advocated variations of it. “All things are animate in various degrees,” Spinoza wrote in his Ethics. Now, some might argue that this sounds like hippie nonsense. A word of caution, then, before we go any further: Panpsychist claims such as these should not be interpreted over-literally.* * *

One of the most enduring conflicts in philosophy concerns the so-called “mind-body problem,” the relationship between mind or consciousness (not obviously physical) and brain or body (physical, obviously). Battle lines have been drawn, and thinkers have, for the most part, split themselves into two camps: On the one hand, there are physicalists or materialists, who say, essentially, that states of mind can be reduced to states of the brain. 

And on the other hand, there are dualists or Cartesians (after French philosopher René Descartes), who say, essentially, that mind lives in a world of its own, that consciousness exists over and above physical matter—a kind of ghost in the machine. The battle between these two factions has raged for centuries, with no peace treaty in sight.But panpsychism offers a scandalous third possibility. As Seattle University’s Daniel Dombrowski writes, panpsychism rejects the dilemma; instead, it “suggests that every instance of reality is mind-like or at least exhibits some slight ability to feel the difference between itself and the rest of what is” (emphasis supplied).

But panpsychism offers a scandalous third possibility. As Seattle University’s Daniel Dombrowski writes, panpsychism rejects the dilemma; instead, it “suggests that every instance of reality is mind-like or at least exhibits some slight ability to feel the difference between itself and the rest of what is” (emphasis supplied).

(excerpt - click the link for the complete article)