Is mind a spiritual (non-material) entity?

coberst · Post by **coberst** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:40 am

Is mind a spiritual (non-material) entity?

Idealism is a label for the philosophical position that rejects realism. Realism is the view that the world is only matter and that objects are independent of mind and can be known as they really are. Idealism stresses the spiritual (other worldly) characteristic of mind, which is different in kind from body.

Idealism has many definitions but all focus on the assumption that consciousness is detached from its concrete socially situated subjects. Such an assumption leads to the isolation of ideas from the concrete body. Theories, beliefs, human conduct and other products can be understood and analyzed in isolation from the historical subject. A giant unbridgeable gap develops between mind and body.

Idealism holds the twin principles nature or matter on one hand and spirit, God, ego, etc. on the other. Man and woman are creatures harboring two distinctly different realities within one structure. We are bipartite beings. Thought, especially theoretical thought is a substance of the spirit thus intellectual, moral, artistic and such are activities of the spirit.

Consciousness is the property of the spirit and because spirit transcends the world of matter then philosophers surmise consciousness is autonomous and independent, governed by non-material principles.

This tradition of an autonomous reason began long before evolutionary theory and has held strongly since then without consideration, it seems to me, of the theories of Darwin and of biological science. Cognitive science has in the last three decades developed considerable empirical evidence supporting Darwin and not supporting the traditional theories of philosophy and psychology regarding the autonomy of reason. Cognitive science has focused a great deal of empirical science toward discovering the nature of the embodied mind.

The three major findings of cognitive science are:

The mind is inherently embodied.

Thought is mostly unconscious.

Abstract concepts are largely metaphorical.

These findings of cognitive science are profoundly disquieting for traditional thinking in two respects. “First, they tell us that human reason is a form of animal reason, a reason inextricably tied to our bodies and the peculiarities of our brains. Second, these results tell us that our bodies, brains, and interactions with our environment provide the mostly unconscious basis for our everyday metaphysics, that is, our sense of what is real.

I hold the view that there is no body/mind dichotomy (division into two mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities). It seems to me that one must be an idealist to believe that a person has a soul. Do you have a different view and does that view agree with Darwin’s view of natural selection?

Quotes from “Philosophy in the Flesh.

zinkyusa · Post by **zinkyusa** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:14 am

I think yes Spirit is non-material in nature. It exists outside of the bounds of time and space. It is what we perceive of as "The physical universe" that is not real. Time and space are illusory aspects and not reality. In reality there is only eternity. The only aspect of time that is real is the present. The present cannot be subdivided into a discreet moment it goes on forever and yet there appears to a past. How can this be? We appear to occupy a body and have a brain and "exist" in this illusory world and yet quantum physics shows that what we perceive is not real and that reality in this world is relative and subjective (determined almost entirely by our senses). The existence of paradox within our world also proves it cannot be real. So what it the reality. I think that it is not descriable in words or concepts. We can hint at with words like oneness, eternity, limitless formless etc but that does not describe it.

Carl44 · Post by **Carl44** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:40 am

Novelty wrote: Your mind has nothing to do with the spirit, your mind and body are seperate from this,

so when someones spirit is broken it means what , honestly i dont know i thought that when your mind got exhausted and finally gave up no matter how hard you tried your spirit was broken :-3 :-3

and the person that pm's me every time i say some thing stupid this time i know i'm being stupid but thanks for taking the time to make me feel special any way :-3

erik paulson you lied to me i'll never buy your books or instuctional dvd's again

Carl44 · Post by **Carl44** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:20 am

[quote=Novelty]when your spirit is broken, it means that your peception is wrong,

chunking is a termed used when we add problems or tasks, 7 is about the maximum we can take, eg, shopping, urgent deadline, argument with friend, eastenders, ect ect, the trouble is nowerdays we have to chunk to much, some tasks come and go, but some also stay, why? becouse some dont start at 7 oclock on a monday night and last for 1/2 an hour, let me try and make this clearer :-3 your mind is full, you need someone to poke an hole in it and release all the pressure, what is sticking in your mind jimbo?

You dont say stupid things.............................................................

everything means something.[/quote]

yup nearly everything i say sez jims stupid :wah: :wah:

erik paulson said something on a similar line i'll have to watch the dvd again doh

honestly guy this is all a bit too deep for me

zinkyusa · Post by **zinkyusa** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:33 pm

Hamster wrote: Ok I think I am on a roll here now...So meditation kind of rewrites the software and gives it a daily "upgrade"??

In this case "Chunking" should be almost none existent?

I think you both need to be fdisked and repartitioned..:wah:

guppy · Post by **guppy** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 2:45 pm

i want a new hardrive. mine crashes too often.