Marduk

"By "universal soul" we mean what...?? Gross physical (nonliving, organic) matter?? Or some sort of consciousness?"

I meant the metaphysical notion that consciousness is the only thing that really exists. Life after death? life? reincarnation??
Idunno?
So far I (and everyone else here) have had at least one successful incarnation, this one. Maybe this phenomenon has occurred in the past or will occur again in the future. The phenomena of awakening to find yourself alive on a planet called Earth that is.

Aerik Von

I still miss how we define consciousness in a scientific manner that religion can abibe by with the belief in "soul".

Diesel800

There are scientific studies (consciousness studies) regarding this, which indicate that we are not just a collection of cells, but more...

They say that consciousness create matter, not the other way around...

Here's one...
<a href="http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/quantum/Archives/Uploads/940173754_16242.doc" target="_blank">http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/quantum/Archives/Uploads/940173754_16242.doc</a>

ps418

Interesting. Do you think I could create a cheeseburger with my mind power? Or a Barbie doll for my daughter? What about a private island with an army of gorgeous humanoid automatons?

ps418

Ok. I just read the article. It did not present any evidence for your proposition that "consciousness create[s] matter." Did I miss it? Or did you post the wrong link? Or are you just misinterpreting the results of quantum mechanics experiments, as so many others have?

Psycho Economist

Consciousness, memory, et c. doesn't reside in brain cells; it's the result of a pattern of activation of nerve cells unique to the topography of one's brain. It's the 1 -&gt; 2 -&gt; 3 circuitry that brings memories to life in a weak version of how the neurons were fired when the experience was first encountered.

You couldn't "download" consciousness into a computer any more than you could download a play. Sure, you could put images and sounds from a play into a computer, but then you'd have a movie viewable by others, but not a play subjectively experienced anew by the actors as well.

When I still tended to Christianity, I was always told to be greatful that my soul was put into the body of a middle-class American in the twentieth century, and not in some starving kid in the 4th century. One of the mind-blowing things about cognitive science though, is that my consciousness is my brain. There never was any possiblity of my subjective sense of experience being in another place and time. Your mom says "and if I'd not taken that flight, you wouldn't have been born", but that's irrelevant because the consciousness didn't come first.

Diesel800

There are different sites, and different Universities which have consciousness studies...
I only showed one of them as an example, not to verify what I posted.

This is another site to verify...
<a href="http://twm.co.nz/holoUni.html" target="_blank">http://twm.co.nz/holoUni.html</a>

"Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Space, Time & Medicine writes: Today nearly everyone is familiar with holograms, three-dimensional images projected into space with the aid of a laser. Now, two of the world's most eminent thinkers -- University of London physicist David Bohm, a former protege of Einstein's and one of the world's most respected quantum physicists, and Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, one of the architects of our modern understanding-of-the brain -- believe that the universe itself may be a giant hologram, quite literally a kind of image or construct created, at least in part, by the human mind. This remarkable new way of looking at the universe explains not only many of the unsolved puzzles of physics, but also such mysterious occurrences as telepathy, out-of-body and near-death experiences, "lucid" dreams, and even religious and mystical experiences such as feelings of cosmic unity and miraculous healings."

Diesel800

Whatever you truly believe, however I think it's very unlikely, because we are brought up to believe that such things are impossible, which undermines our ability to do it consciously. It has a lot to do with your core beliefs.
There are a lot of success stories out there, Two examples are Arnold Schwarzenegger * and Jim Carrey**
And in some yahoo groups (should I post some links?)there are a also some succes stories of people who did such things (albeit in less significant ways)...


* I read a book in which the author interviewed him in the 70's back when he was a nobody. In it he said that he would become the most succesful actor in hollywood. (The book was "100 ways to motivate yourself" by Steve Chandler)

(Jim Carrey signed a $10 million check to himself and carried it with him for to years untill he got such a check in reality [I think it was for starring in Ace Ventura])...

Diesel800

A heap load of essays for those interested...
The first two links are about NDE's

The last one is the database (I think) of the university of Arizona

<a href="http://www.nderf.org/Berkovich.htm" target="_blank">http://www.nderf.org/Berkovich.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.nderf.org/Skeptics_Corner.htm" target="_blank">http://www.nderf.org/Skeptics_Corner.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/online.html" target="_blank">http://www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/online.html</a>

ps418

Interesting. So, I could in fact create a private island with an army of gorgeous humanoid automatons, by sheer mind power, if only I had not been brought up to believe that this is impossible? Bummer! Perhaps you could be so kind as to put me in contact with someone whose 'cores beliefs' allow them to perform such magic?


Tell me, Deisel, what types of objects have you been able to create with your mind power?

[ November 09, 2002: Message edited by: ps418 ]</p>