Quote:
Originally Posted by infinitethoughts  Materialists argue that the brain creates consciousness.
What they fail to see is the simple logic that the "brain" thinks beyond the 5 senses, beyond the "physical", beyond itself.
If consciousness was created in the brain, common sense tells you, we would not be able to think beyond the 5 senses.
Obviously its not the brain thinking, but something beyond the 5 senses, beyond the brain. |
Ok, I'm going to attempt to fill in a few assertions which you seem to assume are clear from what you've stated. So my understanding of your logic is:
1. The brain is directly linked to the five senses.
2. Consciousness allows us to think.
3. We can think beyond the five senses. (I take this to mean we can think of things that we don't perceive with the five senses. Let me know if I'm misinterpreting)
4. The brains direct link to the five senses prevents it from thinking beyond the five senses.
5. The ability to think beyond the five senses proves the brain cannot be responsible for thinking, therefore the brain does not create consciousness.
Is that what you're saying?
The ability to state that something exists is not evidence of its existence. Of course I'll be proven wrong when the
Flying Spaghetti Monster turn up.
In other words, the ability to
think beyond the five senses is
not equivalent to the ability to
perceive beyond the five senses. Otherwise all little girls would have real ponies instead of imaginary ones, which would create havoc for food supplies, not to mention stabling them all. But I can see how your belief in SR leads you to think the way you do, and to consider it common sense.
We have a wonderful ability to imagine things that don't exist, to think of things which haven't been thought before. That we can do so says nothing about the seat of consciousness, nor does that ability require any spiritual source. Of course it doesn't disprove a spiritual source, it just doesn't
require one.
It's like what the Dalai Lama said yesterday about compassion, love, and happiness; you don't have to be a spiritual or religious person to experience those key attributes of humanity (Nathan, an open mind would allow acceptance of the words of others. Repeating those words does not indicate a closed mind, nor a lack of understanding of those words)
Which is another way of me saying I accept that extra-sensory abilities of some kind may exist in some form, but that it's our lack of understanding of them which assigns them a metaphysical source, rather than the more mundane (and therefore less appealing to most) proposal that they're simply natural, misunderstood abilities.
Part of the lack of acceptance is as Alchemiss said, fear, but it's fear seemingly justified when some (and only some) claims of psychic powers are shown to be fraudulent. It's a case of one bad apple spoiling the barrel. Entirely unfair, but if those who do truly possess such abilities stop surrounding them with mystery then people might start to see that the barrel is still unspoilt.