this blog is the continuation of a genuine mystical tradition, unless you get in daily contemplative time and abstain to a significant degree from "entertainment" then you are just wasting your time and mine !
Speaking of Tononi's Information Integrated Theory of Consciousness, you should check Christof Koch's book "Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist". It's very good and argues the same thing you are. He helped Tononi make his theory, and he was close friends with Francis Crick who spent the later years of his life research neural correlates of consciousness.
I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Confessions-Reductionist-Christof-Koch/dp/0262017490
with relative ease, he dismantles Descartes' substance dualism, reminding us that "If the mind is truly ephemeral, ineffable, like a ghost or a spirit, it can't interact with the physical universe.
It can't be seen, heard, or felt. And it certainly can't make your brain do anything." Other insightful pearls include, but are not limited to:
* "Every phenomenal, subjective state is caused by a particular physical mechanism in the brain."
* Why it is we "look, but don't see."
* How afferent data and sensory referrals are "heavily edited before they become part of the neural correlates of consciousness."
* "Consciousness does not arise from regions but from highly networked neurons within and across regions.... It is critical to understand how this tremendous diversity of actors ... contributes to the genesis of qualia."
* "Nervous systems, like anything else, obey the laws of quantum mechanics."
* Reviewing the research of neurophysiologist Benjamin Libet, Koch reminds us that "The beginning of the readiness potential precedes the conscious decision to move by at least half a second....The brain acts before the mind decides!" Brain-imaging studies have largely upheld Libet's conclusions. Such a foundation allows Koch to segue into a rich and productive discussion of Free Will. "The feeling of agency is no more responsible for the actual decision than thunder for the lightning stroke....
But even if your feeling of willing an action didn't actually cause it, do no forget that it is still your brain that took the action, not somebody else's. It is just not your conscious mind that did so." He goes on to say that "the brain decides well before the mind does; the conscious experience of willing a simple act - the sensation of agency or authorship - is secondary to the actual cause."
* Koch argues that consciousness is a "fundamental property of complex [systems]." Observing the sweet innocence and playful banter of his beloved dog Nosy was all the proof he needed that she, too, was conscious and experiencing. (See pp. 115ff for details.) "We are all nature's children; all of us experience life."
* As to David Chalmer's views of the Hard and Easy Problems of consciousness: "Don't be taken in by philosophical grandstanding and proclamations that the Hard Problem of consciousness will always remain with us. Philosophers deal in belief systems, simple logic, and opinions, not in natural laws and facts. They ask interesting questions and pose charming and challenging dilemmas, but they have a mediocre historical record of prognostication." When it comes to the power of science, Koch affectionately recalls something his intellectual father Francis Crick intoned: "It is very rash to say that things are beyond the scope of science." Christof insists that "There is no reason why we should not ultimately understand how the phenomenal mind fits into the physical world."
Things happened. I abandoned Buddhism. I still pursue enlightenment but in another way. In the relationship, truths were spoken, truths that can be destructive to relationship. I believe most relationship are maintained by illusion. It's still holding together, perhaps by habit or by the awareness that nothing fundamentally changes either way. Same patterns resurface so it's best to stick to one failure and learn to live with it, rather than create new failures to escape from the previous.
yeah, that's why what zen is really about is celibate and this whole western "married with kids" zen which hybridizes monastic with lay life is such a disaster . . the roads fork and which one you are on requires a different approach
kogen's (/r/user/Gocloudrunwater) wife has recently become pregnant, they are living at tassajara and i think subtlely the management is trying to push them out, but he seems to have no clues that he now needs a good income !
I witnessed this with Muho at Antaiji when I stayed there. It was absolutely prohibited to have any love relationship while in the Temple, but he himself was visited by his wife sometimes, and held his baby in his arms while we were having informal lunch. It created an awkward atmosphere. Because he had to act the role of a strict "master" and he was quite scary at times, but then when he was holding the baby he turned into something domestic, docile, which produced a tragicomic effect, there was a visible contradiction there.
In the past I thought I'm the exception and I can be an enlightened man plus married plus children, plus a good job. Often we're blinded by this exclusivist stupidity thinking that somehow, we're the exception.
Sooner or later life teaches us we are NOT the exception.
Now I'm aware of the impossibility you were talking about, but how things will resolve, is still to be seen. I just got a new job and I think that for the time being, I need some structure in my life.
Thanks Andrew. After all that happened, I still think you're one of the few honest people in this "spirituality" scene, for lack of a better word. You have my deepest respect.
Speaking of Tononi's Information Integrated Theory of Consciousness, you should check Christof Koch's book "Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist". It's very good and argues the same thing you are. He helped Tononi make his theory, and he was close friends with Francis Crick who spent the later years of his life research neural correlates of consciousness.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Confessions-Reductionist-Christof-Koch/dp/0262017490
Here are some quotes from his book:
Deletehttp://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/491x617q90/538/Ad1mKi.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/488x224q90/905/xleJCu.jpg
I think you'd like it.
from a review of that book on amazon
Deletewith relative ease, he dismantles Descartes' substance dualism, reminding us that "If the mind is truly ephemeral, ineffable, like a ghost or a spirit, it can't interact with the physical universe.
It can't be seen, heard, or felt. And it certainly can't make your brain do anything." Other insightful pearls include, but are not limited to:
* "Every phenomenal, subjective state is caused by a particular physical mechanism in the brain."
* Why it is we "look, but don't see."
* How afferent data and sensory referrals are "heavily edited before they become part of the neural correlates of consciousness."
* "Consciousness does not arise from regions but from highly networked neurons within and across regions.... It is critical to understand how this tremendous diversity of actors ... contributes to the genesis of qualia."
* "Nervous systems, like anything else, obey the laws of quantum mechanics."
* Reviewing the research of neurophysiologist Benjamin Libet, Koch reminds us that "The beginning of the readiness potential precedes the conscious decision to move by at least half a second....The brain acts before the mind decides!" Brain-imaging studies have largely upheld Libet's conclusions. Such a foundation allows Koch to segue into a rich and productive discussion of Free Will. "The feeling of agency is no more responsible for the actual decision than thunder for the lightning stroke....
But even if your feeling of willing an action didn't actually cause it, do no forget that it is still your brain that took the action, not somebody else's. It is just not your conscious mind that did so." He goes on to say that "the brain decides well before the mind does; the conscious experience of willing a simple act - the sensation of agency or authorship - is secondary to the actual cause."
* Koch argues that consciousness is a "fundamental property of complex [systems]." Observing the sweet innocence and playful banter of his beloved dog Nosy was all the proof he needed that she, too, was conscious and experiencing. (See pp. 115ff for details.) "We are all nature's children; all of us experience life."
* As to David Chalmer's views of the Hard and Easy Problems of consciousness: "Don't be taken in by philosophical grandstanding and proclamations that the Hard Problem of consciousness will always remain with us. Philosophers deal in belief systems, simple logic, and opinions, not in natural laws and facts. They ask interesting questions and pose charming and challenging dilemmas, but they have a mediocre historical record of prognostication." When it comes to the power of science, Koch affectionately recalls something his intellectual father Francis Crick intoned: "It is very rash to say that things are beyond the scope of science." Christof insists that "There is no reason why we should not ultimately understand how the phenomenal mind fits into the physical world."
TY 4 recommendation
DeleteI downloaded it for free because I am thief.
Hey, I banned myself from this blog until August I believe?
ReplyDeleteThings happened.
Relationship changed permanently...
Painful truths faced.
More solitude.
What happened?
DeleteHello Zakay, midas make a blog post about it. Please? Or no? Okay.
DeleteBut yeah welcome back.
DeleteThings happened.
DeleteI abandoned Buddhism. I still pursue enlightenment but in another way.
In the relationship, truths were spoken, truths that can be destructive to relationship. I believe most relationship are maintained by illusion. It's still holding together, perhaps by habit or by the awareness that nothing fundamentally changes either way. Same patterns resurface so it's best to stick to one failure and learn to live with it, rather than create new failures to escape from the previous.
Thanks Jon.
Delete"truths that can be destructive to relationship"
Deleteall women think men are immature babies basically
how can it get worse than that ?
for their part women are pursuing some idealised romantic version of reality that even mills and boon only scratches the surface of ! :o)
"Everything about woman is a riddle, and everything about woman has a single solution: that is, pregnancy." - Nietzsche
Deleteyeah, that's why what zen is really about is celibate and this whole western "married with kids" zen which hybridizes monastic with lay life is such a disaster . . the roads fork and which one you are on requires a different approach
Deletekogen's (/r/user/Gocloudrunwater) wife has recently become pregnant, they are living at tassajara and i think subtlely the management is trying to push them out, but he seems to have no clues that he now needs a good income !
http://drizzleanddew.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/blood-burgers-and-monsters.html
the mad breed better than the sane, it's hard to expect a world to come right where this happens ! : o ) (
sylvia plath is a well known tragic example of the fork splitting a person fatally !
I witnessed this with Muho at Antaiji when I stayed there. It was absolutely prohibited to have any love relationship while in the Temple, but he himself was visited by his wife sometimes, and held his baby in his arms while we were having informal lunch. It created an awkward atmosphere. Because he had to act the role of a strict "master" and he was quite scary at times, but then when he was holding the baby he turned into something domestic, docile, which produced a tragicomic effect, there was a visible contradiction there.
DeleteIn the past I thought I'm the exception and I can be an enlightened man plus married plus children, plus a good job. Often we're blinded by this exclusivist stupidity thinking that somehow, we're the exception.
Sooner or later life teaches us we are NOT the exception.
Now I'm aware of the impossibility you were talking about, but how things will resolve, is still to be seen. I just got a new job and I think that for the time being, I need some structure in my life.
great post thanx zakaj !
DeleteThanks Andrew. After all that happened, I still think you're one of the few honest people in this "spirituality" scene, for lack of a better word. You have my deepest respect.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJMggxSzxM4
ReplyDeleteThat's beautiful. Thank you.
DeleteListening to it over and over all day! What have you done to me.
DeleteThis is touches too deeply.