Closer To Truth
The existence of both cosmos and consciousness, each in its own way, constitute deep problems, perhaps grand mysteries beyond human knowing. Some claim that the two mysteries can only be solved in parallel, together, not in series, alone. Some base their claim on religion, a few on science, others on the belief that consciousness is the ultimate reality.
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The "current" cosmos and current consciousness everyone is being carried along in both fit the parameters of spaced out. Joking but all too true.
🙂
I prefer listening to Rees rather than Penrose as I can nearly understand him
6:07 "That's why the phrase 'theory of everything' is in my view hubristic and misleading…." AMEN to that!
I love him
💪☁️❤️😌🙏☀️💛
whats wrong with his shoulder?
Anyone else who thinks the human mind can't understand true nothingness or infinity? I wonder if even nature abhors them and perhaps they seem needed in the mathematics but can never be reached.
AN EXPLANATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Generally speaking, the brain stores and processes Information. The information it stores is related to the individual's life experience. The life experience originates from events that took place in a Present previously lived by the Individual, that is, the life experience refers to the Past.
Through the senses, information contained in the relevant environment of the Individual is captured. From what is perceived, and making use of life experience, the brain assigns meaning to what is perceived. As well as assigning meaning to what is perceived, the brain generates alternatives for future actions (Projection of the Future).
The information that is captured from the environment activates memories (neurons) that previously participated in a life experience. In this way, an association is established between yesterday and today (Pavlovian conditioning).
The actions of the Individual take place in a certain environment, which requires the brain to construct and manage a mental correlate of the relevant environment of the Individual.
The genome of every living being contains information that has been acquired throughout the evolutionary history of the living being. By the way, the ability to store and process information is limited, both from the genome and the brain. The ability to "learn", whether from a plant or a living being with a brain, is related to the ability to store life experience, a life experience that can be used in the future by the living being to give meaning to what it is perceived in the Present.
The living being with a brain constitutes an evolutionary milestone of proportions. Thanks to the brain, evolution acquired a new rhythm. Indeed, the speed of the genome to "learn", and to store life experience, turns out to be extremely slow compared to the learning speed that the brain grants to the individual who possesses it. In this sense, the brain radically expands the expectations of action of the living being.
Behind the action of every living being there is an obvious purpose to alter the future conditions of its relevant environment.
The mental correlate of the relevant medium has been like a kind of "photograph" that tries to conveniently represent the conditions of the medium from the meaning acquired by what is perceived. Coupled with the mental correlate, action expectations arise, which constitute projections of probable future states of the environment. Being limited, both the ability of the senses to capture information from the environment, and the brain's ability to manage said information, it is not surprising that the aforementioned "photograph" is not only incomplete but blurred in some areas. A mental mechanism known as "Attention" makes it possible to direct perceptual resources to certain segments of the environment, and make a certain area of the relevant mental correlate of the environment less "blurry".
Although the process of capturing information takes place in the Present, the brain has the ability to conveniently maintain memories (groupings of neurons) previously activated via perception, which administer information from segments of the relevant environment that are not being perceived in the Present. . Through this process some segments of the "photograph" are "updated". Thus, for example, if by turning my head to the right I stop seeing what is happening to my left, that does not mean that what I stopped perceiving a moment ago is no longer part of the mental correlate of my relevant environment. In turn, the brain has the ability to project, in time, the state of said segment of the environment. If in the previous example, before turning my head to the right, I observed that my dog, a hundred meters distant, was running towards me, my brain will project such an event in time. Although as the seconds go by, such a projection will become more and more diffuse, less accurate, it will not for that reason cease to be present, in said segment of the mental correlate of my relevant environment, my dog. It is evident that this "Actualization of the Present" is due to the brain's ability to project future states of the environment. At the same time, it is clear that a certain degree of uncertainty is implicit in Updating the Present – and in the Projection of the Future. All living beings with a brain have the ability to project eventual future states of their relevant environment, a projection in which uncertainty is present.
In the life experience that my dog has been storing in his brain, there are "latent", as non-active memories, the biographies of a number of entities with which my dog has interacted throughout his life. His life experience in which these entities have participated, through their daily lives, has characterized these entities, his brain generating a kind of utilitarian biography of each one of them. The vast experience of my dog's life, in which I have participated, allows him to carry out, when I get home, an adequate reading of my state of mind, which determines his actions. Indeed, a glance is enough for him to see that I am grumpy. Then he lowers his ears and lies down on the floor. If I'm in good spirits when I open the door, he pounces on me as soon as he sees me. Your brain, according to what it perceives, activates convenient memories, which refer to information with meaning contained in the biography that it possesses of me.
For the brain of a child listening to the story of Little Red Riding Hood for the tenth time, Little Red Riding Hood is a “very real” entity, which is part of its Present, and of the world of matter. The child often interrupts his mother's story to ask her about some details. They are questions of the type "Does Little Red Riding Hood have siblings? Do you eat all the food? Do they punish her when she is not obedient? " etc. The fact that the child's eyes cannot see Little Red Riding Hood, nor their ears hear her voice, does not prevent their brain from “placing” such an entity in the mental correlate of their relevant environment. When his mother tells him "Little Red Riding Hood woke up, got dressed, sat down at the table and had the breakfast that his mother had prepared for him, consisting of a cup of milk and a bread with jam", for the child's brain each one of the aforementioned events happens as they are described through language, and it is clear that the dozen seconds it takes for his mother to describe the above does not correspond to the “real time” that would elapse between awakening and a “real” Little Red Riding Hood finished having breakfast. In the material world, it would take Little Red Riding Hood a few tens of minutes to carry out the aforementioned succession of actions. In practice, the language that her mother uses expands in the child's brain the mental correlate of her relevant environment, in which the actions described take place, one after another. In this sense, human language allows a very particular “manipulation” of time / space that the child's brain manages, acquiring –time / space- a malleability that turns out to be one of the pillars of what differentiates us humans from all other forms of life. By the way, in the brain of a child who is able to follow the story in the aforementioned story, many other latent entities “inhabit” such as non-active memories (set of neurons). The child's brain has a biography of her siblings, her parents and grandparents, her friends, her dog, etc. According to what the minor perceives, the memories associated with said entities are activated, conveniently.
The functional architecture of the human brain evolved to be able to give meaning to the words it hears, and expand, through its use, the "dimension" of the mental correlate of its relevant environment, a relevant environment where entities and events that are not necessarily part of the material world. To get an idea of the degree to which the human brain has evolved in terms of expanding the mental correlate of its relevant environment, it is enough to mention that between birth and four years, a child hears between ten and forty million words, many of them which allude, -in the Present in which the minor is living-, to entities or events that are not part of the world of matter. It is convenient to stop for a moment on the above; ON AVERAGE, A CHILD HEARS THE ORDER OF 17,000 WORDS A DAY.
Although the brain arose to administer a body located in a material world, which required the brain to administer a mental correlate of the relevant MATERIAL medium, the administration of human language results in the incorporation, in the mental correlate of the relevant medium, of some segments of said correlate, which are not part of the world of matter. This characteristic makes the difference between the human brain and the brain that other living beings possess.
(keep going)
What a treasure. There's a warmth and humility that comes through when Martin speaks – it's a pleasure to listen.
Consciousness explained. https://studylib.es/doc/8080182/una-explicación-para-la-conciencia
That was great. When I look at the structure of atom so complex, I am skeptical of contribution from theologians and philosophers who offer metaphorical solutions.
the Law myoho-renge-kyo represents the identity of what some scientists refer to as the ‘unified field of all consciousnesses’. In other words, it’s a sound vibration that is the essence of all of existence and non-existence, the ultimate creative force behind planets, stars, nebulae, people, animals, trees, fish, birds, and all phenomena, manifest or latent. All matter and intelligence are simply waves or ripples manifesting to and from this core source. Consciousness (enlightenment) is itself the true creator of everything that is, ever was and ever will be, right down to the minutest particles of dust, each being an individual ripple or wave. The big difference between chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and most other conventional prayers is that instead of depending on a ‘middleman’ to connect us to our state of enlightenment, we’re able to do it ourselves by tapping directly into it by way of self-produced sound vibration.
On the subject of ‘Who or What Is God?’, when we compare the concept of ‘God’, as a separate entity that is forever watching down on us, to Nichiren’s teachings, the true omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of what most people call ‘God’ is our enlightenment, which exists nowhere else but within us.
When the disciples asked Jesus where the Kingdom of God is, didn’t he tell them that it was within them?
Some say that ‘God’ is an entity that can never be seen. I think that the vast amount of information that is constantly being conveyed via electromagnetic waves gives us proof of how an invisible state of ‘God’ could actually exist. It’s widely known that certain data being relayed by way of electromagnetic waves has the potential to help bring about extraordinary and powerful effects, including instant global awareness of something or mass emotional reaction. As well as many other things, it’s also common knowledge that these waves can easily be used to detonate a bomb or to even enable NASA to control the movements of a robot as far away as the Moon or Mars. However, none of this is possible without a receiver to decode the information that is being transmitted. Without the receiver, the information would remain impotent.
In a very similar way, it’s important for us to have our ‘receiver’ switched on so that we can activate a clear and precise understanding of our life, all other life and what we and all else that exists truly is. Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo helps us to achieve this because it allows us to reach into the core of our enlightenment and switch it on. That’s because the sound vibration of myoho-renge-kyo represents the combination of the three major laws that underlie all existence.
Myoho represents the Law of latency and manifestation (Nature) and consists of two alternating states. One state of myo is where everything in life that’s not obvious to us exists. This includes our stored memories when we’re not thinking about them, our hidden potential and inner emotions whenever they’re not being expressed, our desires, our fears, our wisdom, happiness, karma, and more importantly, our enlightenment. The other state, ho, is where everything in Life exists whenever it becomes obvious to us, such as when a thought pops up from within our memory, whenever we experience or express our emotions, or whenever a good or bad effect manifests from our karma. When anything becomes apparent, it simply means that it has come out of the state of ‘myo’ (dormancy/latency) and into a state of ho (manifestation). It’s simply the difference between consciousness and unconsciousness, being awake or asleep, or knowing and not knowing something.
The second law, renge, governs and controls the functions of myoho, ren meaning cause and ge meaning effect. The two laws of myoho and renge, both functions together simultaneously, as well as underlies all spiritual and physical existence.
The final and third part of the tri-combination, kyo, is what allows the law myoho to be able to integrate with the law renge. It’s the great, invisible thread of energy that fuses and connects together all Life and matter, as well as the past, present and future. It is often termed the Universal Law of Communication. Perhaps it could even be compared to the string theory that some scientists now suspect exists.
Just as our body cells, thoughts, feelings and all else are constantly fluctuating within us, everything in the world around us and beyond is also in a constant state of flux, in accordance with these three laws. In fact, more things are going back and forth between the two states of myo and ho in a single moment than it would ever be possible for us to calculate or describe. And it doesn't matter how big or small, important or trivial that anything may appear to be, everything that’s ever existed in the past exists now or will exist in the future, exists only because of the workings of myoho-renge-kyo.
These three laws are also the basis of the four fundamental forces and if they didn't function, neither we nor anything else could go on existing. Simply put, all forms of existence, including the seasons, day and night, birth, death and so on, are all moving forward in an ongoing flow of continuation, rhythmically reverting back and forth between the two universal states of myo and ho in absolute accordance with renge and by way of kyo. Even stars are dying and being reborn in accordance with the workings of what the combination myoho-renge-kyo represents.
Nam, or Namu, on the other hand, is a password or a key; it allows us to reach deep into our life and fuse with or become one with myoho-renge-kyo. On a more personal basis, nothing ever happens by chance or coincidence, it’s the causes that we’ve made in our past, or are presently making, that determine how these laws function uniquely in each of our lives from moment to moment, as well in our environment. By facing east, in harmony with the direction that the Earth is turning, and rhythmically chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for a minimum of ten minutes daily, anyone can experience actual proof of its positive effects in their life.
In so doing, we can pierce through even the thickest layers of our karma and activate our Buddha Nature (the enlightened state). We’re then able to summon forth the wisdom needed to challenge, overcome and change our negative circumstances into positive ones. It brings forth the wisdom that can free us from the ignorance and stupidity that is preventing us from accepting and being proud of the person that we truly are, regardless of our race, colour, gender or sexual preference. We are also able to see and understand our circumstances and the environment more clearly, as well as attract and connect with any needed external beneficial forces and situations.
Actual proof soon becomes apparent to anyone who chants the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo on a regular daily basis. Everything is subject to the law of Cause and Effect, so the strength of the result from chanting depends on dedication, sincerity and determination. To explain it more simply, the difference could be compared to making a sound on a piano, creating a melody, or producing a song and so on.
NB: There are frightening, disturbing sounds and there are tranquil and relaxing sounds. It's the emotional result from any sound that can trigger off a mood or even instantly change one. When chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo each day you are producing a sound vibration that is the password to your true inner-self – this soon becomes apparent when you start reassessing your views on various things, such as your fears and desires etc. The important way to get the best result when chanting is not to see things in a conventional way (difficult to achieve but can be done), rather than reaching out to an external source, you need to reach into your own life and bring your needs and desires to fruition from within, including any help that you may need. Think of it as a seed within you that you are bringing sunshine and water to in order for it to grow, blossom and bring forth fruit or flowers. It’s important to understand that everything that we need in life, all the answers and potential to achieve our dreams, already exist within us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CZ0XJqWRr4 OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN sings about Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
Actually philosophy and theology substantially helped (if not started) science in the past; then why not in the present or future?
Therefore I find him last sentence too dogmatic and naive.
Let's keep things simple. We don't need to know everything about a thing to understand it. Take a motor car for example. We know what it's for but we don't have know every aspect of it's manufacturing process, who designed it, or where it came from. The reason we don't have to know is that there are overriding conclusions we can arrive at that makes sense of the existence of the car i.e. it's been designed and manufactured because of intelligent scientific information. If there was no scientific understanding and no intelligent infromation in the world then there would be no car. The car proves that intelligent information is primary to the existence of the car. Now we humans KNOW that information ONLY comes from intelligent mind. We have proof of that FACT. Conclusion: for ANYTHING to exist INFORMATION is PRIMARY and MUST come from MIND. I could be wrong and I'm open to learn the truth so please help me understand if I'm wrong by showing me a better conclusion.
Well said by a true critical thinker of a scientist. He ain't getting sucked into made up stories about consciousness, cosmos and afterlife when it comes to finding possible real answers to those questions.
The universe and everything else is the anatomy of ourselves.
Not via language.
There are just some "aspects" that can only be grasped and understood as "aspects"… and nothing more additionally.
Do these people ever question their assumptions? So much certainty about things we don't actually know is surely the greatest barrier to understanding.