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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850 |
A question posed by a reader ...
Could consciousness be an illusion - isn't everything else considered an illusion?
What do you think?
Susan
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Joined: Oct 2003
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850 |
OK, I'll give my opinion first, than ... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
If everything else is an illusion than I think consciousness is an illusion.
But I feel in the field of illusion, that growing in consciousness is 'a ladder' that we (as soul) use for climbing further up, till we reach the roof of a building - where the view becomes open, vast, joyful.
Susan
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Joined: Aug 2004
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Newbie
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Newbie
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7 |
Hm...
Define 'illusion' and 'consciousness'.
~NdD
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Joined: Oct 2003
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850 |
My definitions:
Illusion - that which has the appearance of permanence, but is really only skin deep.
Consciousness - being aware that I am.
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BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
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BellaOnline Editor Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 22,934 Likes: 4 |
Well, this is the whole Matrix thing - how do we know that anything is real. That is the basis of Existentialism. How do we know we're not a brain suspended in a glass jar, being fed sensations?
Dictionary.com says conscious means
Having an awareness of one's environment and one's own existence, sensations, and thoughts.
So if we are aware of those sensations, whether they are real or not, we are conscious. If we can think to wonder these things, we are conscious. It doesn't mean anything "out there" is real. It only means we are aware to ponder the issues.
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Joined: Feb 2005
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Newbie
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Newbie
Joined: Feb 2005
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Hello,
Life as an illusion dosent make a lot of sense to me. To sense, to be aware, to be conscious in itself makes everything around us all the more real to me. Though I do feel that consciouness is more than what we are able to discern at any given time. Hence as we grow the more we learn the more we become conscious, be that a collective consciousness or individual consciousness.
Regards
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Parakeet
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Parakeet
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,161 |
I believe that it can be. I've found several resources on brainwave activity and states this week and listed them on the Dreams site as well as articles on levels of consciousness. You might find some of them helpful. Most are listed in the Basics of Dreams and Psychology of Dreams categories.
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Parakeet
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Parakeet
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 829 |
Mmmmm, if you had ever seen anyone in one of the levels of coma other than what is considered "normal" then I do not think you could call conciousness an illusion. Trust me on this one....this is not a theory but a harsh and horrible reality...
If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.
Dorothy Parker
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Joined: Oct 2003
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
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BellaOnline Editor Stone Age Human
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 8,850 |
Roni, could you tell us some more about the levels of coma you mention in your posting?
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Joined: Oct 2004
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Parakeet
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Parakeet
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 829 |
My info was from the mother of the boy(now a man in the coma) but I can certainly poke around and find a spot to look at somewhere "out there"...
If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.
Dorothy Parker
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