I don't know if I want to know (personally). Knowing with 100% certainty that I am "alone" is tough to swallow.
Quoting: MutantMessiah It is indeed. As a kid, I often wondered about that. It was this weird feeling of "seeing from behind my eyes", for lack of better words. A camera-like feeling, where the "seeing" originated only from my viewpoint. I wondered if this was true for others as well. I guess, I wanted it to be true, especially for those with whom I had a great connection and displayed a special depth.
I wonder the same thing. My understanding is that it would function as if it did, but effectively wouldn't. This is because from my perspective it wouldn't need a perspective, it has mine.
Quoting: MutantMessiah Yes, I understand that my perspective is all it takes, and all there is for me, technically. I guess it has to do with the nature of the "external" input. Interacting with other true perspectives (even if filtered through mine) seems a bit more interesting.
If they're valued, they're hardly "empty shells". Even if they lack the perspective in it's full gory that you "have" they're still important to you. I am 31, I still have a stuffed animal humanoid dog that my parents would have me sleep with in my crib as a baby. I keep "him" on my night stand overlooking me as I sleep even to this day. "He", is "hardly" an empty shell.
Quoting: MutantMessiah I can very much relate to that! My teddy bear is now a "stinky old rag" lol, it has followed me around the world, and goes in cycles of being locked in a closet for years, and then taken out, apologizing for the neglect. Years ago, I even bought him a "girlfriend" bear at a farmer's market... That stuffed bear is definitely a strong value, it has a name, and to me has consciousness :)
No, they are not irrelevant. The way I see it, they serve multiple functions. One, they are advertisements for the way you "could be" if you wanted to. Two, they provide the opportunity to play the "hero" (every hero needs a villain). Three, we need suffering to have salvation (sadly). Without injustice there is no justice, etc. We experience only the relationship between representations and not the representations themselves, so sadly in order to have happiness we need to know sadness (etc..). If we are perpetually calm, harmonious and at peace, there is nothing to experience and we find ourselves as the "apple in the void". Basically there can be no healers :) in the absence of sick people :(.
Quoting: MutantMessiah Right, you need its opposite, in order to define something. Without yin, there is no yang. Maybe I used the wrong word, and instead of "irrelevant", I should have said "not relative". Meaning that given my nature, the opposite is less relative to my perspective.
For example, if one is healthy, illness is part of the overall perspective to define health, but a less relative value. If the value was highly relative, one would experience illness.
Thank you! I did. Hope you (and the horse) enjoyed the ride :).
Quoting: MutantMessiah I am not sure who had more fun, me learning from the challenge, or the horse playing the game of not following commands and still getting an apple as a treat! lol
