To: Solon who wrote (16188 ) 2/1/2004 10:07:47 AM From: briskit Read Replies (1) | Respond to From what I've read, the data points from the human side include a few different items, all of which will always be interpreted in different ways. One is the existence of the "self," our self-consciousness, etc. This self-awareness is generally considered distinctively human, though that's probably argued as well. So the question is about the significance of this evolutionary development as it occurs in humans. Secondly, we have this drive for meaning about all this, which is the symbolic aspects. We extrapolate and posit the existence of this self, against all odds and hard evidence, into eternity, if you will. We don't think any other creatures bother themselves with this exercise either. Psychoanalysts say the entire massive edifice of our character (personality) is both a huge justification for our existence, and an escape or repression of the consequences of our mortality. From an evolutionary and purely materialistic point of view, what a huge waste of energy, what a diversion, what self-deception and running from reality!! We for some reason reach with our character edifices for significance way beyond our immediate physical confines, our bodies and what we need to survive. At the same time we deny consciousness of our mortality in many ways, and the end of such a wonderful being as ourselves. We symbolically project ourselves into the stars, "the heavens" if you will, for eternity. Then there's conscience, as I've mentioned. Freud posited an ancient patricide as the origins of conscience, which he later revised. But this sense of right and wrong, accompanied by a sense of guilt.....how did it ever first get experienced? Suddenly without having this sense, somebody out of the blue experienced something as "wrong," not just painful or having negative consequences that they wish they'd avoided. You're familiar with those discussions.
