I am not a body because it is what appears to me. Consciousness is more primal than the material objects in it. If the material objects do not appear in consciousness, they are no good because if something is in memory as opposed to observation, it becomes an assumption or probability... we cannot know what objects are doing when not being looked at, they are thus in a state of assumption. Without conscious observation nothing is manifest. Things are not as they appear. "What/who am I?" are truly words of wisdom. As Nisagadatta was often found saying, "to know what you are you must first know what you are not (...) body, time thoughts, space, nothing perceived is you. Are you the heart and the brain? Maybe. Or perhaps you are non-existent, nothing, non-manifest, caput - conceptually. You are non-existent, conceptually speaking, but this does not mean you are nothing. You are not a psychic entity of the mind. Since we are not a psychic entity, we are non-existent conceptually speaking.
The words "I AM" is not an assumption. It does not imply that one exists as a psychic entity. Rather it means that one is nothing, conceptually, but something unknown. It does not imply that one is something or nothing, it implies that which is inconceivable. That which is spaceless, timeless, selfless. That.
Just because your perception changes does not make the universe aroud it change i tought we went over this before.
An Elizabethan poet said : I am a parcel of vain strivings The Buddha said: There is no permanent "I" Hume said that when he introspected he could not find evidence of a self. All he found was a procession of thoughts. I am paraphrasing Hume because I am too lazy to search him out among my books
Draqon, dear apolocipse of death, please explain the prediciment preceded in yourn statements of such., They are not blunt enough to require anything satisfactory.
Then you are saying we cannot define it at all. This world is all we have. I have had debates ad nauseum about spiritual beings, vital forces , cosmic energy and so on, so please don't expect me to discuss anything of that kind.
I wish you hadn't asked. I've checked and found I've been neutered. No wonder I'm frustrated. I've decided to become a vet in my next incarnation.
The biggest drawback is that I have nine lives to get through before I can reincarnate. Everyone else only has one
Cats have nine lives in order to become a good cat. How many lives does a human require in order to be a good person?
That is an interesting question in itself. Most people would not wish to be someone else, were that possible. They would like to be themselves, but happier, richer etc. Which means that people believe that they are something additional to their memories, beliefs etc.
