Comments on Embracing God in my brainTypePad2007-10-27T04:38:26ZBrian Hineshttps://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/tag:typepad.com,2003:https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2007/10/embracing-god-i/comments/atom.xml/mysti commented on 'Embracing God in my brain'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d83451c0aa69e200e54f8ddf7b88342007-11-05T02:00:26Z2007-11-05T02:00:26ZmystiI see all this was covered in other posts elsewhere. Oh well.<p>I see all this was covered in other posts elsewhere. </p>
<p>Oh well.</p>mysti commented on 'Embracing God in my brain'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d83451c0aa69e200e54f79db9488332007-11-05T01:37:07Z2007-11-05T01:37:07ZmystiBrian: “Every experience that I have, whether meditative or otherwise, comes to me via my brain.” There are quite a...<p>Brian:</p>
<p>“Every experience that I have, whether meditative or otherwise, comes to me via my brain.”</p>
<p>There are quite a number of scientists who would now say that every experience we have, whether meditative or otherwise, comes to us via the ground of consciousness.</p>
<p>All manifestations and experiences, including the brain itself, arise out of unitive consciousness. The brain, for example, only exists as a quantum possibility and becomes an actuality when this quantum wave is collapsed by consciousness. Consciousness causes the brain to be, not the other way around.</p>
<p>Further reading Amit Goswami, or Alan Wallace for the Buddhist perspective. Plenty others out there. <br />
</p>Dave commented on 'Embracing God in my brain'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d83451c0aa69e200e54f14273e88342007-10-28T17:47:02Z2007-10-28T17:47:02ZDavehttp://www.vianegativa.us(Should be "...essential TO our survival.")<p>(Should be "...essential TO our survival.")</p>Dave commented on 'Embracing God in my brain'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d83451c0aa69e200e54f1426ec88342007-10-28T17:44:30Z2007-10-28T17:44:30ZDavehttp://www.vianegativa.usThe nervous system extends throughout the body; body and mind are thus inseperable, it is rarely ever 'all in your...<p>The nervous system extends throughout the body; body and mind are thus inseperable, it is rarely ever 'all in your head.' Second, the body was once physically connected to, and dependent on, another body which enclosed it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it retained some cellular memory of that. Third, we have evolved as social beings, with acute sensitivities to the thoughts and feelings of others essential our survival. The intensity of shared feelings and shared visions, which religious communites tend to be built around, is nothing to sniff at. </p>
<p>I would argue that the only really significant spiritual events do indeed take place "out there" - in the space between self and other, in the networks of reciprocity between and among beings. But then, I tend to think of spirituality much more in terms of concrete, ethical actions than in mental/emotional states. To the "spiritual but not religious" crowd, I say: heaven is highly over-rated. Can you care for the sick for 40 years despite being filled with loneliness and doubt bordering on despair, as Mother Theresa apparently did? She is my new hero.</p>Tucson commented on 'Embracing God in my brain'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d83451c0aa69e200e54effdd9388332007-10-28T17:36:20Z2007-10-28T17:36:21ZTucsonWhat Marcel recommends is no doubt an interesting book, but don't we already know quite enough? I imagine most of...<p>What Marcel recommends is no doubt an interesting book, but don't we already know quite enough? I imagine most of our bookshelves are quite full. Will one more book be the answer? Maybe. Who knows where one's catalyst lies. One's irrepresible seeking is perhaps their biggest obstacle, assuming they have not achieved philosophical satisfaction to their satisfaction, for which assumption, if incorrect, I ask forgiveness.</p>
<p>Our "real nature" lies wherever the senses and intellect cease to function. It is where we are before we look for it and it is not seen by looking. It is the unmanifest of what we sensorially perceive including the brain and the activities of its billions of cells. An "I" only has to cease in order to become what an "I" is. To see that "I" is not is to be all that is. Where thought and sensorial perceptions cease, where nothing can be known by their means, is the formless unalloyed awareness that is all that really is, that cannot be known as any sort of 'thing'.</p>
<p>Some may be thinking, "Great, if he's right, ultimately it's all a big nothing, exactly what we mortal egos fear.", but we are the matrix of all that we are aware of, the unmanifest from which everything springs, the within of the without, the Not-I which is all that really is right now, the splendor of this incomprehensible infinite moment.</p>
<p>The fact that it is so simple makes it difficult. The joke so hard to get until it dawns on you.. A-ha! Ha ha ha. That's all it is? Wow, it was right here all along.<br />
</p>Marcel Cairo commented on 'Embracing God in my brain'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d83451c0aa69e200e54effc11488332007-10-28T09:13:32Z2007-10-28T09:13:32ZMarcel Cairohttp://www.afterlifemedium.comI'm not 100% sure what you're getting at here, Brian, but it sounds to me that your true inner atheist...<p>I'm not 100% sure what you're getting at here, Brian, but it sounds to me that your true inner atheist self is finally adopting the reductionist materialist stance which it was naturally headed to for awhile now - That everything is the brain.</p>
<p>This book may have finally brought to mind (pun intended) a science/philosophy based "compromise" explanation for your "there's no God" journey that you've now been on for some time.</p>
<p>Have you read the Irreducible Mind? I recommend you put that one on your reading list before you draw any real conclusions about the brain.</p>
<p>Best,<br />
Marcel</p>william commented on 'Embracing God in my brain'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d83451c0aa69e200e54eff55cd88332007-10-27T07:16:40Z2007-10-27T07:16:40Zwilliamactually the mystics have been telling us this for a long time. the indwelling spirit within or heaven within or...<p>actually the mystics have been telling us this for a long time.</p>
<p>the indwelling spirit within or heaven within or the kindgom within is to the mystic within us.</p>
<p>the mystics only get a glimpse of this awareness within us and it changes their outlook on life and the universe.</p>
<p>god is everywhere there aint nothin but god.</p>
<p>now to express its attibutes it manifests entities through the power of innocence and these entities perceive themselves as separate and unique.</p>
<p>form is not an illusion but an interaction between substance and vitality.</p>
<p>form is enternal whereas substance and vitality are infinite.</p>
<p>it does not take a lot of research to see that consciousness survives outside the brain but it does take a very rare phenomenon. an open mind and at this stage of human evolution this term is an oxymoran.</p>