• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Where is your experience?

Bodhi Dharma Zen

Advaitin
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Joined
Nov 25, 2004
Messages
3,926
It is commonly accepted that the brain, somehow, produces the mind, at least in the JREF of course. If this is the case, where is the mind? It is located in the brain? The experience that makes you feel you, its inside your head?

What do you think about it?

Discuss.
 
Has to be in the head. Cut off everything else and you would still keep your experiences. :)
 
It doesn't have a physical location, it's emergent from the brain's operations.
 
Most people experience consciousness about an inch and a half behind their eyes. I'd say that's where "I" am.
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen said:
It is commonly accepted that the brain, somehow, produces the mind, at least in the JREF of course. If this is the case, where is the mind? It is located in the brain? The experience that makes you feel you, its inside your head?

What do you think about it?

Discuss.
Click to expand...

Oliver Sacks' A Leg to Stand On made the argument that our identity extends outside of our brains and into our bodies, so that damage to a part of the body alters our perception of ourselves.

Of course, all parts of the body have representations in the brain, but in Sacks' case, nerve injury to his leg cut off normal communication with the brain, leading to something of an identity crisis.

Is "identity" the same as "mind"? I'll leave that for the philosophers to decide.
 
The mind, to my understanding, is an aspect of the electrical processes going on in the brain. I perceive my mind as being somewhere near the eyes, as I understand is typical.
 
... so, in a general sense, if I wanted to point out to the "consciousness" of someone.. all I need to do is point right to his/her head. It is right there, inside the brain. In other words, the experiences are located in space/time just like a rock is (as a corollary, they would be a kind of physical object). Is this what (some of you) are saying?
 
"Mind" is merely a word that means, roughly, "what a functional human brain does". They aren't seperate entities. Damage a bit of the physical brain, and a bit of the "mind" is damaged. Mind exists in the same way that "health" exists.
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen said:
... so, in a general sense, if I wanted to point out to the "consciousness" of someone.. all I need to do is point right to his/her head. It is right there, inside the brain. In other words, the experiences are located in space/time just like a rock is (as a corollary, they would be a kind of physical object). Is this what (some of you) are saying?
Click to expand...

"mind" (consciousness I think we agree is synonymous with "mind" if not, say why) isn't just experiences; mind is the entire brain. Remove part of it, and some subjectivity is lost. It's an emergent property of all that stuff happening (or not happening even!) in your tiny, tiny brain
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen said:
... so, in a general sense, if I wanted to point out to the "consciousness" of someone.. all I need to do is point right to his/her head. It is right there, inside the brain. In other words, the experiences are located in space/time just like a rock is (as a corollary, they would be a kind of physical object). Is this what (some of you) are saying?
Click to expand...

Yes. Except it isn't "some of us" saying it, it is reality. I know that your "consciousness" feels like a wonderful special bit of unique magic, but it is only the physical activities of the brain that are responsible for it. As mentioned above, it is empirically tested: as the brain is damaged, the "mind," or "personality," or "consciousness" is likewise affected.
 
I agree with you 100% autumn but I don't think you should say that it is not "a wonderful special bit of unique magic". That the chemicals and electrical signals and everything else all work in such an amazing way is a wonderful and special thing. Just like so many other things in science the empirical answer turns out to be massively more fascinating and wondrous than any supernatural explanation ever could be.
 
Weak Kitten said:
I agree with you 100% autumn but I don't think you should say that it is not "a wonderful special bit of unique magic". That the chemicals and electrical signals and everything else all work in such an amazing way is a wonderful and special thing. Just like so many other things in science the empirical answer turns out to be massively more fascinating and wondrous than any supernatural explanation ever could be.
Click to expand...

This. I once had lunch with a catholic group on campus and after telling them i'm atheist a woman made the comment that the world is such an amazing place, how could there not be a God. I said the world is indeed an amazing wonderful beautiful thing but is it that even without God.

Some people need to attach mystery and spirituality to our beautiful amazing universe. Others just accept it as is.
 
IMST said:
The mind, to my understanding, is an aspect of the electrical processes going on in the brain. I perceive my mind as being somewhere near the eyes, as I understand is typical.
Click to expand...

I wonder if we feel our consciousness to be behind our eyes because sight is the strongest sense with which we experience the world.
It would be interesting to know if someone who has been blind all their lives, and use other senses to compensate, feel their consciousness to be elsewhere.

Phil
 
Twiler said:
It doesn't have a physical location, it's emergent from the brain's operations.
Click to expand...

You have to be careful with the term "emergent" in this context. People mean one of two things. Either they mean it is an interesting but mundane normal feature arising quasi-unpredictably from physics, or they mean a quasi-magical phenomenon that is, strictly speaking, actually a dualist position.
 
Last edited:
Beerina said:
You have to be careful with the term "emergent" in this context. People mean one of two things. Either they mean it is an interesting but mundane normal feature arising quasi-unpredictably from physics, or they mean a quasi-magical phenomenon that is, strictly speaking, actually a dualist position.
Click to expand...

I could only imagine it to be a dubious usurpation to define "emergent" by that latter definition >.>
 
Last edited:
I keep mine in my right big toe. It's a real bummer when I stub my toe on something.

Steve S
 
It's in my ears when I hear, or don't hear, the paper being tossed into the yard in the early morning.
It was in my left big toe the day I opened the door, and the bottom of the door tore off part of the nail.
It moves around my body.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom