Reflections on the definition of Existence

Who am I? I am but a mere mortal, am I not? Yet, I dare do what no mere mortal has done before?I dare question the purpose, all theory, and the very foundation of existence! Why do I do this? What motivates me? I am afraid I have more questions than answers? Every time I answer a question, it leads to more questions based on that answer?

What is life? Is life lived only by those that perceive it? If one cannot ask the question "why am I?" the one who hath not capacity to inquire such, are they non-existent?

What is the constant that answers all, the one solid, unbreakable law that applies to all, no exceptions? Perhaps, there is none! I have given this much thought, and I concluded that the only was to prove existence, is to ask oneself the question "Do I exist?" and "Why do I exist?" The answers are not easy to find, but they are there, because for every question asked, there must be an answer!

So, I reiterate?Who Am I? I am human, composed of flesh and blood, coursing through my veins, a never-ending process of death and rebirth, but, take away that vessel, that body, and leave only the thoughts, silent whispers that fall upon deaf ears and, then, "who I am I?"

Do I exist? I have no proof in that! I cannot prove that I, alone, exist, or that everything else exists as well! Then, perhaps, another question must be asked?

What is life? What is death? Life is the same as existence; therefore, if I perceive myself as existing, I have life. Then, perhaps, what is death? Merely, the absence of life? Or, another plane in reality, one devoid of all senses and objects, only filled with thought, regret, sorrow, frustration, and hopelessness?

But, that can never be proven, nor can it be proven that life is the same as existence?

If a rock exists? Is it alive? No? Then, one must redefine life. A more scientific term for life is, a form that consumes a gas, releases a gas, gives birth, and dies? This could group all living things together.

But, my question now, is: Is fire alive? Surely, it is not! laugh most of my educated friends... but, it fits all the requirements of life! It is born by act of friction, it gives birth by touching from one surface to another, it consumes oxygen, and it releases heat and it dies when cut off from its supply of oxygen. This was met by most unusual glances?

"Surely, you jest!" they replied. Fire is but a product of man, and is controlled by humanity, and devoid of life! Not so! I retorted, much to the shock of my friends. Lightning is not manmade, and yet causes fire, which is an act of friction by wind rubbing two surfaces together and produces fire as well.

This was then met with even more confusion, as a disbelieving murmur went up amidst the throng. AHA shouted yet another friend of mine... You forgot one definition of life: it must be made up of cellulous protein structure, which fire has not! Your proposition is invalid!? And with this, I set off, dejected, embarrassed, and resentful.

This little quibble proves, that the answer can be found by merely re-writing the question, guiding it, re-defining it, till it is corrupted beyond recognition.

And, even then, the grasp of society unenlightened stays firmly clenched on the nape of our necks! There is no room for independent thought, only ideas that are accepted by the public at large are thought to be beneficial. Well, enough, I say! I cast off this sheath of unenlightenment! I strive toward perception, in the mannerisms of the universe! So, I ASK YOU, to consider my ramblings, take heed, and please consider that there ARE alternatives with independent thought is capable and do not bow to the will of the crowd! Be proud, speak freely, letting no hold on emotions take place! With that, I leave you, alone with your thoughts that I hope you can give here for me.

But, what then, is the purpose of being? Is it merely to know ones existence is beneficial? Or, is there an ultimate purpose, one that cannot be comprehended by the human mind? I think, therefore I am?

Quote: Rene Descartes, a philosopher of the enlightened age in Europe some 500 years ago... while I respect the intellectual capacity of this man, I must disprove this theory as incorrect! For, a blade of Grass, a single blade is incapable of thought! It merely carries out its task, growing, obtaining carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen, burrowing into the soil to feed on nutrients, and eventually withering and dying.

At any point, does it stop to reflect?

Does it consider the delight of the warmth of the sun, the coolness of water?

Does it perceive that it EXISTS as a being, as a solid object, a tangible plane, that is born, grows, and dies?

The answer, of course, is no or is it yes for you? If so explain.

I believe it cannot perceive its own existence; therefore it cannot philosophize, and cannot think freely, if at all. So, then, does a single blade of grass exist? Yes, it does! And, the theory, then, would be disproved.

But, wait! It only exists if one PERCEIVES its existence on the same plane! So, instead of debunking Descartes theory entirely, a new one can be hypothesized! I think, therefore I perceive, and therefore the things I perceive exist! With the ability to think the only constant in the world! With that, you can prove the existence of everything based on ones perception!

Logically, this statement is proven true under all costs! But, once again, that answer is the key that opens one door, which leads to a room with many more doors! That IS perception? What IS existence? What IS thinking? ....and so forth?.

I ask you to think of these things, and perhaps answer THESE questions, as well! And finally I leave you with the chance to answer your idealogies and knowledge in this.

I also believe no one man can come up with all the answers, but working together as one we may find more answers in the future.

I think. Therefore I am. I think.

Creative Sounds kind of like creativesoul's theories and thoughts

I have the capacity to think and feel therefore I am.

So if a person is brain dead and still breathing they do not exist? But they affect their environment still. They affect other humans still. So to them they do not exist anymore but to others they still do. Just pondering here

Enjoy your life to the fullness you are able my friend, let the future take care of itself, for "No one" has the answers to all nor shall they while they wear this flesh.
Rene' Des' Cartes had not the answers either, he was esteemed as a rational school philosopher with others like Spinoza, His most well thought of statement came from his love affair with the Greek philosopher, Philo, whose main conjecture was - everything can be doubted but the doubter, which Descartes (De' Kart) furthered till his statement of "cogito ergo sum" french: "Je pense donc je suis" english " I think therefore I am" or more rightly - I am thinking, therefore I exist. Which along time ago i agreed with,but soon abandoned when Reading Locke, Hobbs, Berkeley, and Hume the Empiricist philosophy's.

From there i went on to other's Like Allen watts and such. None of which gave me the answer. I then entered into religion, all kinds and settled on Christianity for a dozen or more years. That to i left behind, along with all the others. Silva mind control, drugs, Guru's, sages, - ad nauseum.

"IF" there is a truth that cannot be attacked it is not in mans words or minds, the truth is past what we can know or perceive. So again - John, enjoy what you have, cherish every day, for all to soon it will be no more.

Thank you for your wise words! It is probably one of the best answers I yet received since I posted in this religion forum.

I am off to enjoy life like never before!

<<<<<<<<insert clapping hands>>>>>>>>


EDIT:


Ooops...

I left out the "l" in clapping...

Tribo, it is a pleasant experience to read your insight on many an occasion...

The respect is mutual...

thnx creative, you also my friend.

Just keep on dancing!

The answer is yes, for me, without a shadow of a doubt. Not one iota of doubt. Every living thing perceives its existence, although, certainly not in the way that humans do. A blade of grass is not a human and it would be absurd to try to speak of its experiential perceptions in human terms.

One thing that modern humans get hung up on and lost in is thought. Especially loquacious thought. Modern man tends to think and reason using words, even within his mind where he likes it or not. We are so used to using words to communicate with that we have a tendency to experience life though words. And through logical reasoning.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have no words? No words within your mind. None at all. All you could ponder is your direct experience. Or other things that you might imagine, but never with labels. Words are labels. We ponder labels almost to the very exclusion of the things that the labels are supposed to represent.

I found you comments about fire to be extremely interesting. You ask, "What am I?". I ask, what is fire?

You gave an explanation of fire, but I think you missed the point of it when you said the fire dies.

Where did the fire go? Where did the fire come from? Was it born and then die?

If so think about it hard. What was the fire really?

Was the fire the form?

Or was the fire the thing taking the form?

I believe it was the latter. The fire was never born, nor did it ever die. It was merely a fleeting change in form of that which always is.

Science, as feeble as it may be in its very early stages at this point in human infancy, actually has the answer. The fire was always before it ignited and after it burned out. It has been accounted for throughout the entire process.

And humans are no different from fire. Not one iota different. We are the flames of humanity. We are not born, and we do not die. Just like fire we are eternal.

When I was a young boy I used to sit around the campfire with my uncles, many of whom were preachers, but some were agnostic. We would discuss the meaning of life on many levels as we would poke into the red hot coals of the campfire. Our gaze often captured by the dancing flames.

I vividly remember those conversations that the fact that none of my uncles truly understood what fire was. For them it was a miracle. And that was surprising too because they were all well-educated men, but obviously not educated in physics or chemistry.

We would discuss the other pondering that you have posed,...



Oh what a proclamation! Are you sure?

I once believed myself. There is an answer to every question! There MUST BE!

Why must there be an answer to every question?

Because I say so! Really, that about the only thing I can come up with.

In truth, I have absolutely no reason to believe that there must be an answer to every question other than because I'd like that to be the case.

But is that a valid reason?

Meanwhile, back at the campfire, I'm watching the red hot coals devour the wooden logs pondering hard in my mind to try to comprehend "fire".

My uncles had no clue what fire is. They thought it was a unknown mystery. My uncle Clair would always say, "Jimmy will figure out". He had faith that I could figure out anything.

Well, I certainly did want to know the answer to "What is fire?". But in truth, at that point in my life I thought that was a hopeless question. I thought that I could never possibly understand what fire is. It seemed to me like a question that just couldn't be answered. Ironically, later in my life I took college chemistry and now I understand precisely what fire is, and what it isn't.

I didn't have to figure it out because the great scientists throughout the ages had already figured it out for me. And it's a good thing too because it's an extremely complex thing to understand. Certainly not something that I would have come up with on my own.

However, the point is that it is entirely understandable, and it truly is extremely simple in spite of how extremely complex it is to understand.

Once understood, its simple. Almost to the point of wanting say, "OF COURSE! Why didn't I think of that before?" It's OBVIOUS!

Well, it's only "obvious" in the face of a myriad of other concepts concerning physics and chemistry. But once those concepts are understood then it's obvious and extremely elementary.

Perhaps humanity is just as elementary. In fact, I'm sure that it is. Everything is elementary. Nothing is complex. All that complexity is, is a whole bunch of elementary things happening all at once.

Of course, this all changes when we enter the world of quantum physics. The complexity disappears until things become so elementary that they too disappear seemingly randomly. In fact, true simplicity cannot exist. The thing that gives rise to existence is the interaction between non-existing simplistic things. Existence is the complexity that arises when things that are too simplistic to have existence on their own collide.

And if that sounds strange all I can say is "Welcome to the world of the quantum"

But yes, we are the fire. It's the logs that don't exist.

Hey Jeanniebeanie, you have fiery red hair!

No wonder you're so fiesty.

I did that picture with paint shop pro. My friend Darla told me I should color my hair red. Should I? I have always been feisty, red hair or not.

NOOOO!!!

The question is "What am I?"

And I would wonder to whom do you think you must offer "proof" of your existence and how do you know these people exist?

What folly it would be to strive to prove that you exist to figments of your imagination in this dream you call reality?

I don't need to prove anything to them.

I know I exist but I don't know what I am.

Flesh and blood? Not really. At the quantum level atoms are primarily empty space and particles don't really exist as they are simply waves.

Everything is vibration and reflection of light.

My body and this world are holograms projected from the universal mind. But what thing anchors me to this image I see of myself and others?

What is the universal mind? Is it a two dimensional computer chip? It is a disk of information projected into a three dimensional matrix of space-time?

How does the mind connect to me, who observes and lives within this reality? Am I the dreamer? The player of a game?

What holds me together as an individual in this matrix? What keeps me from being consumed by the ever present field of dreams?

I exist because I feel.

Jeannie

These are many many questions I have no answers to. I am sure there are many who do have answers to them, but again I personally believe they are individual opinions only.

Perhaps the various answers to all of these questions you pose and have answers to them are all correct and at the same time different answers from others are also correct at the same time. The ability to have different options for each question is something that is allowed in our minds throughout the world. Who is to say they are incorrect? We don't know how everything started even if we truly believe we do. There are so many possible ways.

Just like my favorite professor Joseph Campbell always says:

Follow your Bliss!

Imagination is beautiful and I truly cherish it. I make a living out of it!

Thank you for your wisdom as always Jeannie.

Oh get serious already for bunny sake.

Everyone knows that it was all started with the Energizer Bunny.

How else could it keep on going, and going, and going, and going?

To question how it all got started would be like splitting hares.

Besides, who else would command people to procreate?

Why didn't I think of that? You are so right!!!

I exist because I feel.

Jeannie


You exist because you feel what? Feeling's?

and just what are feeling's?

I feel therefore i am?

Hmmmm??

Smiles,

As I read your words above, someone (one of my personalities) inside of me said this:

"It is not important nor does it matter who is believed to be correct or incorrect. It doesn't matter!"

The question was posed to me, "Why are people so consumed with whose thoughts or ideas are correct or incorrect? That is such a silly waste of time to argue and a silly thing to worry about.

"It does not matter. It really does not matter."

Now this is me speaking: I don't know why it does not matter. I simply trust this voice. I believe it does not matter.

What matters, I think, is that we do think and that we do imagine and create and that we do have opinions. That is the miracle after all. That we exist to do these things and that we are thinking centers.

JB