Yes, I am precisely saying that my interior perception is of a spiritual being, with qualities of self- awareness and self- determination. Material mechanisms can yield neither
Why is it necessary to adulterate (or if you prefer--augment) consciousness with spirituality? Do you believe that spirit is a type of consciousness? You remark above indicates to me that you believe that a spiritual being exixts NOW as you, and is, in fact, the defining nexus of your existence. It also indicates that you believe that you (the inner spiritual you) are non material--without matter. Yet you still claim to have existence and being, by which one can infer that you have boundaries (unless you consider yourself omnipresent); However, the idea that you might consider yourself omnipresent gainsays your usage of pronouns which indicate that you do consider YOUR self to be distinguisable from OTHER. For anything to have boundaries and spatial limits, and to be distinguisable--it must be composed of something--it must partake of something; it must have attributes, and attributes require substance.
Whatever your consciousness is, you know very well that it does not influence events when the physical brain dies, so there is no reason to consider that it is influencing events, apart fron the brain, while the brain is living.
Furthermore, your identification of consciousness (vis-a-vis your ideas of determinism, free will, etc.) as composing a spiritual Self leads to the idea that all creatures who exhibit behaviour are spiritual beings. They exhibit apparent will just the same as you do.
Actually, if I was to consider any supernatural field for existence, I too would consider it to be inclusive of all matter and all beings--but that is another story.
A quick look at the rest of your post convinces me that you have not refuted my points; indeed, that you have generally walked around them, or simpy re-asserted this or that.
Here is a link to 722 online papers on consciousness from every angle imaginable. They point out the plethora of disagreement and uncertainty which plagues the field. I have only read a couple of dozen of them over the last few months; I have not yet come across any that are making a connection between consciousness and spiritualism. So if you would like to give the proof behind the assertions, it would be grand. Further, and perhaps better, if you care to read these 722 articles and provide a synopsis for the thread, I am sure you will find a surfeit of gratitude.
u.arizona.edu |
