• shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
    6·
    3 hours ago

    It’s amazing how popular this ancient philosophical metaphysical perspective is. Even Stephen Colbert, a devout Catholic, in his final episode responded with a similar concept when asked in his questionnaire what happens when we die?

    Moksha (Hinduism), Nirvana (Buddhism), returning to the Tao (Taoism), Neoplatonism (ancient Greece), Fanaa (Sufism/Mystical Islam) - over millenia, so many traditions have been captivated by the idea of rejoining with “the One”.

    Within Hinduism is the nonthestic framework promoted by Adi Shankara known as Advaita Vedanta which is Sanskrit for nonduality. This takes the concept even further, positing that we are one eternally and that individuality / self are spiritual Maya or illusion.

  • cally [he/they]@pawb.socialEnglish
    13·
    8 hours ago

    The Universe (big thing) pretending to be individuals (small thing)

    vs

    Atoms (small thing) pretending to be individuals (big thing)

    • cally [he/they]@pawb.socialEnglish
      8·
      8 hours ago

      Do you ever just realize that everyone is in space right now? Like, sure, there’s an atmosphere, but other than that you’re basically out there. The air around you is sky. The vacuum around you is universe. When you take a closer look, there are universes within universes, whole worlds of microbes, like the ones on the very surface of the keyboard I type this on - on the larger scale, ecosystems of stars, being born, evolving and dying - like in a cosmic “firework show”. But they don’t tend to affect each other, I think. They’re so far away…

      And then, there’s us. We’re so small yet so big. Does that make us special or just mediocre? To an ant we are giants, to a star we don’t exist. Why does consciousness as we know it only exist in the middle of sizes? Maybe because it’s “as we know it”, and of course we only really know what things are like at our scale? Maybe sapience is subtle, and it can only be detected when you spend every moment dealing with it. Perhaps atoms are kind of conscious, and brains are the shape they make such that their consciousness field constructively interferes. Idk

    • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      3 hours ago

      It’s amazing how popular this ancient philosophical metaphysical perspective is. Even Stephen Colbert, a devout Catholic, responded with a similar concept when asked in his questionnaire what happens when we die?

      Moksha (Hinduism), Nirvana (Buddhism), returning to the Tao (Taoism), Neoplatonism (ancient Greece), Fanaa (Sufism/Mystical Islam) - over millenia, so many traditions have been captivated by the idea of rejoining with “the One”.

      Within Hinduism is the nonthestic framework promoted by Adi Shankara known as Advaita Vedanta which is Sanskrit for nonduality. This takes the concept even further, positing that we are one eternally and that individuality / self are spiritual Maya or illusion.

  • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
    25·
    12 hours ago

    I love this kind of philosophy. I wish it were possible to access it on a tangible level, but sadly it seems consciousness is local phenomena

    • pptiny@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 hours ago

      You could just work on “first shift”, or what in Buddhism is called Fetters 1 and 2. Seeing through the self delusion. No woo-woo required and it’s the first stepping stone. But a big one.Just realizing there is no “me” here, and never has been, helps a lot.

      • volore@scribe.disroot.org
        18·
        12 hours ago

        shrooms can make you more empathetic, but in my case it also unlocked a new kind of depression in realizing that so many who need a change of perspective to see things that way, even for but a glimpse, never will. I felt such love and empathy for others in that moment, and such sorrow that it would never be felt nor returned by the vast majority of others; I understood perfectly in that moment what Edgar Mitchell meant by an “instant global consciousness”, and how we would likely never achieve this state of enlightenment among enough individuals to matter.

        • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
          1·
          3 hours ago

          And then there’s people like Joe Rogan who take all the psychedelics but apparently don’t realize a fucking thing.

        • NotANick@lemmy.world
          1·
          4 hours ago

          Integration of the experience into our lives is key. In my experience, the shift is happening right now and one person at a time. Don’t underestimate the ripple effect of people seeing through some of the theater in our world. Everyone is having an impact on others in everyday interactions and kindness goes a long way.

          Personally, I’d recommend a ritual psychedelic experience (like e.g. ayahuasca) with proper guidance to anyone reading this. Especially if you are inexperienced, do not take these substances in an uncontrolled environment. Be gentle towards yourself, healing can be a long process.

      • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
        6·
        11 hours ago

        Yeah they can make you feel that way especially if you do them with a tight friend, but in reality you’re still locked into your own perspective.

        Maybe if more people believed we could kind of willingly feel it by proxy. Kind of like how mirror neurons let you simulate the other on your own equipment.

  • ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml
    131·
    11 hours ago

    My thought recently has been:

    1. The universe is physical, ie made of material stuff. There is just stuff and the forces between stuff

    2. Stuff is governed by physical laws

    3. The interractions between things are relatively simple, but get much more complex and seemingly ramdom the more stuff you add

    4. This seeming randomness is not true randomness because the interractions between things are governed by predictable rules

    5. We are made of stuff, down to the neurons in our brains

    6. Our actions and thoughts are ultimately directly caused by neuronal activity that is (in theory) predictable and governed by laws

    7. Free will and individuality aren’t “real” in the way people typically mean. Our actions are determined entirely by the particles in our system interracting with the constituent parts of other systems.

    My conclusion: this doesn’t matter on a practical level. We still experience free will and individuality. But those things are illusions caused by the interractions of many complex systems.

    • cattywampas@lemmy.world
      72·
      11 hours ago

      Sort of but not really. Consciousness is intrinsic to a living brain. So while the basic components that we’re made out of will continue on until the end of the universe, our time as unique individuals and our experience of it will come to an end. Which is a bummer for us, but that’s a natural aversion that all life necessarily shares.

      • pptiny@lemmy.world
        21·
        5 hours ago

        Well that would be the physicalism/materialism hypothesis. Truth is we don’t know. That’s why it’s called the “Hard Problem of Consciousness”

        The scientific and philosophical communities are split into a few major camps:

        Physicalism / Materialism: They believe consciousness is an emergent property of complex biological computation. Just like “wetness” emerges when you put hydrogen and oxygen together, consciousness emerges when you network enough neurons. (Though critics argue wetness is still just physical behavior, while consciousness is a whole new dimension).

        Idealism / Non-Dual Perspectives: This flips the script entirely. Instead of consciousness being a product of the brain, the brain (and the whole physical world) is an appearance within consciousness. In this view, you don’t have a conscious brain; the brain is a conceptual map appearing in the wide-open space of prior awareness.

        Panpsychism: The view that consciousness is a fundamental building block of the universe, like mass or electrical charge, and complex brains simply channel or organize it rather than creating it from scratch.

      • PrimeMinisterKeyes@leminal.spaceEnglish
        3·
        9 hours ago

        Well, there’s a theory that the Big Bang created both our universe which has an excess of matter and is moving forward through time; and, in the same instant, a mirror universe that has an excess of antimatter and is moving backward through time. So there’s a mirror-you who, in a way, lived billions of years before you.
        The next question then is: is this a cyclical event?

      • kayzeekayzee@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        4·
        11 hours ago

        My personal philosophy on this is that the forces that shaped me and made me who I am will still exist after I’m gone, so it seems inevitable that some version of me will someday recombobulate by pure chance into some variation of what I represent.

      • Elting@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        8 hours ago

        Yeah I think consciousness is evidence in and of itself that the universe can organize into a higher order. It would be conceited to claim that because I obtained consciousness that means I can understand how that higher order functions. My consciousness will never reform exactly how it is now, but that is just a reflection of an ever changing universe.

        • cattywampas@lemmy.world
          2·
          10 hours ago

          Never dies of old age but still can die from trauma, disease, and predation. And like all life it’ll naturally want to avoid those things.

      • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
        1·
        11 hours ago

        Yeah. I think if we deprioritize individual consciousness then it comes easier to swallow (by the conscious mind…).

        Obviously you shouldn’t deprioritize others’ minds. This is just a personal technique/cope.

        • Elting@piefed.socialEnglish
          3·
          11 hours ago

          You can find your own peace through the death of your ego. I wouldn’t call it coping, but being in touch with reality. We are all just a piece of a cycle, consciousness is but a beautiful gift of circumstance.