From: Nicq MacDonald (namacdonald@stthomas.edu)
Date: Fri Nov 17 2000 - 23:42:15 MST
> None of which means that when the node-machine dies, the personality
> construct associated with its functioning could possibly continue
somewhere
> else, or `merge back into' the cosmic flow, or any other `holistic'
> formulation. That's just as muddleheaded. Yes, those aspects of our
> `selves' that echo or implement ordered structures circulating among
> individuals (call those aspects, loosely, `memes' or `standing waves' or
> `attractors', whatever) will persist, while slowly or swiftly morphing.
Any
> impress we as individuals have left upon the discursive fields will remain
> for a time to impose chaotic influence on other living nodes, but we'll be
> toast. Too bad. Keep the dewars chilled and prepare the nanos for node
> revival in due course. Otherwise, the tide's gone out and there's only
> drying kelp left on the beach.
Not quite. You're still viewing your "self" as a self-contained entity, not
as the totality of existence. So far, no one has explained why the "self"
exists- other than in a physicalist manner which really doesn't explain
anything, because it still doesn't explain the idea of self-in-experience
(in other words, why am I me and why am I not you... or why am I not aware
of everything, because I am part of everything). The only reason we think
we are self contained is because of the limits of our nerve endings- as
Wilber pointed out, our consciousness extends much further. The brain is
not a machine that exists outside the universe- it is constantly reacting to
the gravitational effects of countless bodies throughout the universe, and
ends up being something of a conveyance for thought that takes place as the
motions of innumerable bodies throughout the universe.
Will you be self-aware when you die? No.
Is there a soul? No.
Will we reincarnate? Not in totality- but to some extent, the patterns may
pass on.
However, the movements still take place. The universe goes on, and life
continues. The ego is the only thing that has vanished.
-Nicq
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