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originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: artistpoet
You're right I worded it wrong. thought is thinking, not thought. Thinking is made of that which thinks. Thoughts do not exist. Thinking is performed by that which does exist.
People do not make thought. Thinking is an action. Actions are not things. Actions are not made. Thinking begins at birth and ends at death.
I was pretty much thinking out loud. I would like to hear Your input.
Would you answer the questions when you get a chance to think about them? Thank you.
Human beings are bio-electric machines. We are made up of atoms. Thoughts are produced within the brains of the humans. Thoughts are streams of electricity flowing between neurons.
A scenario: You're listening to someone pontificate about their philosophy—as you are wont to do—and they continually posit nothings as both purposes and answers to the universe's riddles. Their answers, as usual, feel pleasant to our human sensibilities, but alas, consist of nothing more than mere words, a sure sign a form of circular reasoning is at work behind the scenes. Maybe it's "love" or "consciousness" or "God" or "the soul," they speak of in usually seductive ways (the only way to acquire followers), but for the most part, they refuse to mention anything concrete in the off-chance that you may, as a sovereign individual, want to confirm for yourself.
originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
Much to my chagrin, there are very few nominalists in the world anymore, and because of this, deep conversation is a mine-field for anyone who cares about reality. Yet we keep sauntering through in no particular direction, quite unsure of where to step next, but quite sure that it is only a matter of time before we are cleaning our boots after stepping in someone's newest turd.
Those who routinely push (or even relieve oneself of) the abstract and universal into our discourse, thereby obfuscating any sort of consistency, immediately hinder any sort of mutual dialogue in favor of their own nugatory trifles. Perhaps it is innocent, but in my eyes such realism and platonism (more philosophical jargon for those who care) is at best nothing short of mere linguistic convenience for a lazy species, and at worst, the favoring of things that do not exist over things that do.
A scenario: You're listening to someone pontificate about their philosophy—as you are wont to do—and they continually posit nothings as both purposes and answers to the universe's riddles. Their answers, as usual, feel pleasant to our human sensibilities, but alas, consist of nothing more than mere words, a sure sign a form of circular reasoning is at work behind the scenes. Maybe it's "love" or "consciousness" or "God" or "the soul," they speak of in usually seductive ways (the only way to acquire followers), but for the most part, they refuse to mention anything concrete in the off-chance that you may, as a sovereign individual, want to confirm for yourself.
This is easily avoidable. If you are not yet lulled to sleep by their soporific speech, and as usual, your caution convinces you to sleep suspiciously with one eye open, try this simple trick to dispel the fluff and see what, if anything, they are actually talking about.
Imagine a string tied between the word and what the word is supposed to be about. If the string, however long it may be, can be tied from the word to what its about, then we are speaking about reality. If, however, the word sits ashamed in the corner with the string dangling timidly to nothing, then nothing is exactly what they are talking about. If the string is tied to nothing, then it can be reasonably assumed that they have not witnessed, perceived, understood, examined, viewed or beheld any such thing, and what they are in fact speaking about is something different entirely.
Thank you for reading,
LesMis
Human beings are bio-electric machines. We are made up of atoms. Thoughts are produced within the brains of the humans. Thoughts are streams of electricity flowing between neurons. Thoughts contain atoms. Thoughts exist not just as an action, but as a physical phenomenon.
Thoughts do exists as a physical, measurable thing. Think of something, and it can be measured. Thoughts can be seen as brain activity. Electrical impulses that do have substance.
Nobody, I repeat NOBODY knows what happens after death, so until there is proof that one ceases to exist in some state post mortem, one cannot just assume that thoughts end at death (yes, they stop cycling through our electric brains, but we do not know where that energy goes after death).
We think using our electric brains. Our memories are thoughts and information stored, and when you access those memories, there is a pattern of electricity that is transferred, which is measurable. Yep, thoughts exist as a physical phenomenon. As to what this means...well...perhaps one day we will figure that out.
originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: lostgirl
You and I both know you are dealing with your own memories, your own loss, your own body. No string is necessary.
originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
The evidence for what happens to us after death is staggering
Actually, don't you think it would be more accurate to say, "The evidence for what happens to" our bodies "after death is staggering"?