I wonder what my "True" self is. I feel as if I am a robot, controlled by hormones/brain chemicals exc... i mean without my brain I would have no consciousness(discluding the existence of the soul)... I am programmed by genetics and conditioning... I can change how I've been conditioned, but can I really change my genetics? my personality is limited to my brain, I feel limited... a rat cannot comprehend a monkeys thought and a human can't comprehend a dolphins cause we have different thoughts... I'm confused...
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Feel like a robot.
- Thread starter BabySteps
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Blade of Truth
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It is true that there are limitations in this physical world, but God can free us from all limitations. You claim you are a robot, but is a robot capable of loving others or being loved? Are they capable of worship, or being aware of ones mortality? They are only capable of doing what they are programmed to do. You are not programmed. You have free will. You can decide to do evil or do good. You can choose what you are going to do in the next second, hour, day or year. Yes, genetics can influence behavior, but YOU are the one making the final decision. Genes can make you be born with no arms, or have bad temper, or be dyslexic, but they do not prevent you from experiencing the love of God and his ordained plan for you. If I am mentally disabled, can I still inspire others and be loved by God as his beautiful creation? If I am homicidal, can I choose not to kill? Can I resist all the urges of my physical body no matter the difficulty? The answer is and will always be yes.
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Phil. 4:13
-Jay
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I've been exactly there before! It's not fun.
What really helped me with this was a study on biblical womanhood.
What really helped me with this was a study on biblical womanhood.
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K9_Trainer
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Well, science CAN change your genetics lol. But it's not very practical, nor will it likely allow you to do anything more than you already can.
We ARE limited, very much so, and our brains are the center of our conscious being. We are limited by our senses, and there are a variety of things going on in the world that our bodies cannot pick up on (UV light, infrared, sonic waves, pressure system changes etc). These physical limitations come from genetics too. It's just a frustrating fact of life and we can only rely on technology to help fill those voids as much as possible. We can detect small earthquakes that we otherwise couldn't now, we have barometers that tell us when the pressure changes, we have night vision and thermovision, we have tools that detect super high pitch and low pitch noises. The things that science will never be able to do are just some of the wonders of the world.
But as far as a robot, you are far from it. Your uniqueness actually comes from those exact things you described...A mix of genetics and conditioning. Your genes are extremely unique, and you only share 50% with your parents and siblings. The probability that the exact alleles you got from your parents ever coming together again are almost impossible. A scientist could clone you, they can duplicate your genes, but the clone will not be you. They cannot, no matter how hard they try, replicate your upbringing, your memories, the experiences you've had, the people you've met, things you've seen, places you've been. Those are what make you, YOU, what make you unique from everybody else in the world.
I don't know how much this helps, but this is just the way I see it as a scientist. Of all people I'm aware of how robotic and computer-like life sometimes seems. How our genes dictate the way our bodies operate, how hormones are produced and received that cause certain things, the way operant and classical conditioning work to change behavior. But our brains are just so complex, there are still things that we cannot explain.
We ARE limited, very much so, and our brains are the center of our conscious being. We are limited by our senses, and there are a variety of things going on in the world that our bodies cannot pick up on (UV light, infrared, sonic waves, pressure system changes etc). These physical limitations come from genetics too. It's just a frustrating fact of life and we can only rely on technology to help fill those voids as much as possible. We can detect small earthquakes that we otherwise couldn't now, we have barometers that tell us when the pressure changes, we have night vision and thermovision, we have tools that detect super high pitch and low pitch noises. The things that science will never be able to do are just some of the wonders of the world.
But as far as a robot, you are far from it. Your uniqueness actually comes from those exact things you described...A mix of genetics and conditioning. Your genes are extremely unique, and you only share 50% with your parents and siblings. The probability that the exact alleles you got from your parents ever coming together again are almost impossible. A scientist could clone you, they can duplicate your genes, but the clone will not be you. They cannot, no matter how hard they try, replicate your upbringing, your memories, the experiences you've had, the people you've met, things you've seen, places you've been. Those are what make you, YOU, what make you unique from everybody else in the world.
I don't know how much this helps, but this is just the way I see it as a scientist. Of all people I'm aware of how robotic and computer-like life sometimes seems. How our genes dictate the way our bodies operate, how hormones are produced and received that cause certain things, the way operant and classical conditioning work to change behavior. But our brains are just so complex, there are still things that we cannot explain.
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yeah i feel as if my body is a temple(temple of the holy spirit), but I always had that idea, if I have a soul or spirit or whatever, that my body is its temple or holding place... i am bound to the "physical" by my body and brain, but when I die I am set free... I would assume it is in my brain ? lol... but yeah, radioactive wave, sound waves stuff we can't see with the naked eye, is interesting, makes you think of the possibility of the spirit world... I kinda see the spirit world as the energy world, all matter is is condensed energy, like the physical is them ost dense plane, I've read this but it makes logical sense.
you have an atom then a compound then matter... that we see... from least to most dense.
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K9_Trainer
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I think when it comes to the spirit or soul, we are probably never going to know for sure. Like you mentioned, there is a lot of energy in the world that we can't perceive, or even physically sense. Who knows what is actually out there, if anything at all.
We can have our beliefs and hopes....Some believe in a heaven or hell that a spirit goes to, so it's like a physical thing like energy. Some believe in reincarnation where the soul recycles into a new body. Personally, I lean more on the pantheistic side of things, so my beliefs are probably a bit obscure. To me, the soul is the memory, knowledge and reminders of life that living things still possess even when the life itself is gone. The soul of ancient peoples lives on in the petroglyphs and heirglyphs that thousands of people gaze on every day, and wonder what they mean. The soul of ancient animal life lives on when I hold a trilobite fossil in my hand and try to imagine the earth as it saw it, millions of years ago, or when I put my hand on a dinosaur track and imagine the beast when it was made. The soul of my biological father lives on through the memories that myself and my siblings share of him. He loved the camcorder, and being able to watch the footage he took of his family and events is like being able to briefly see a small bit of his world through his own eyes.
When it comes to the things we can't know or don't understand, sometimes it's best just to step back and appreciate how complex it is, and see the beauty and awe in it. Agonizing over the things we can't understand or don't know will probably just make us miserable. We like to know things, we like knowledge, we like evidence. But sometimes we have to learn to accept mystery, and find an interpretation of the things we don't understand and be happy with it, knowing we may still be wrong.
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couldn't have said it better myself. There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors... don't know why that came up but it did.
I know what I can see with my 5 senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing, beyond that I am agnostic. I do not know if the Universe had a beginning, nor if it will have and end, or if it is possibly eternal. People do not know if their prayers are heard by a being in the sky, though they have faith, we all have faith to an extent, believing in anything requires faith, as our perceptions as humans is limited and filtered by our brain. I believe in an Ultimate Reality, a perception that is not limited by physical contstraints of the brain, though this is probably what "God" would have. God in this case being an intelligent force that causes the existence of this Universe.
In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth... according to the biblical account of Genesis, the Universe had a beginning, it is assumed that this God being, had always existed... He spoke the Universe into existence.
The Universe could may well be a thought of God, as (assuming Gods mind works similar to humans), everything action begins with a thought.
We are Gods ideas, his/her/its creative project. I lean to Thelema, in that I accept the concept of the Great Work, from which I understand is this Gods will for the Universe. Each person exists, and this God being let them exist, he let them exist for a reason... he willed them to exist. sorry I'm getting way ahead of my self here... lol.
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