Nothing exists.

That sounds like half of the engineers I work with.

 

Not the mind, but rather the brain. Hallucinations are chemical and therefore physical. The mind is metaphysical. By "eye" I meant (or could have meant) the body's ability to perceive information which includes the brain's ability to process that information.

The mind is where your focus lies: The brain is aware of the feel of one's clothes against one skin continously. The mind is only aware of such mundane things only when you focus on them.

I have had waking dreams, but I have never hallucinated. The difference deals with the ability to distinguish the dream from subjective physical reality. I was fully awake, yet dreaming; also my dream had nothing to do with the reality around me and took place within a world that I created for introspection purposes as well as the future possiblity of a book series that may or may not ever be written.
Also these waking dreams weren't fully in a subjective (inside) frame of reference, but instead were, at least partly, in an objective (outside) frame of reference. Hallucinations are "experiences", but not all dreams are.

I have also had visions where the reality being communicated to the mind is spiritual, not of one's self nor of physical reality. I would create a distinction between this type of vision and the type of vision that I would call a waking dream. Especially as dreams (whether asleep or awake) are of the subconscious mind and such visions are not. And again, in this singular instant, there was no confusion between the experience and physical reality as my mind was "elsewhere". Of course, clairvoyant visions that occur during sleep I would include in this catergory of visions as opposed to calling them dreams. (And I have had clairvoyant "dreams" as well).

What I mean by "introspection purposes": Art is the expression of the subconscious by the conscious. Therefore, it reveals what is within. And this created world is a product of this form of Art which allows for the barriers between the subconscious and the conscious to be weakened.

So you see, I have two forms of "insanity" that others can refer to when claiming that I am crazy (even though neither is a form of insanity) the first is that of an eccentric artist and the second is that of a religious nut. So for which am I considered the most "crazy"?

My experience with a realistic video edit was a video that dealt with 9/11's Pentagon attack. By eliminating the video and the pictures that included plane parts, a realistic video was created that claimed it was a missile and not a plane that struck the pentagon. Snopes.com can prove proof that it was indeed a plane.

With "editing" limited to removing specific frames, a video can show reality, but not all of reality.

You walk into a room where the walls are painted white. You turn off the light. What color are the walls? If you say black or gray or some other color that determines what you see after the lights are off, you don't deal with absolute certainites. According to personalities types, you are mostly likely a Perceiving type as opposed to a Judging type.
If, however, you note that the color of the paint used to paint the walls is white (which can defined by the can in which the paint came from, which is a set color even when the can is closed), you will define the color of the walls as white, even when a red light is shining on the walls. Judging types tend to define reality by absolutes and not perceptions while making clear distinctions between what is and what is perceived to be.
So if you walk into a room with a bright light that reveals the walls to white and then someone turns the bright light off and turns on a red light. Judging types will say the walls are white, and only appear red.

In like manner, Science and Religion deals with absolutes. This is a sin (religion), that is a positive charge (science) and neither deals with perceptions: "This appears to be one thing and so I will treat it as such." doesn't enter the mind of the religious or the scientist. Both, upon discovering that the appearance of a thing to be false, will claim that they were deceived.
Philosophy, however, might treat Subjective Truth with equal weight as Objective Truth. The value of this position is that when a person is deceived, one should judge them by what they perceived to be true and not by actually reality. This is justified by the position that it is impossible for any one person to know everything. (Example: If a person kills in self-defense because they perceived a threat that wasn't there, it will still be held as self-defense in many courts if the perception of a threat was provable.)

Religion deals with absolute certainities because it deals with the absolutes of morality, including the absolute that people can only have a limited knowledge of Truth. It also describes with absolute certainities things of a spiritual nature that science may never be able to prove exists. Such as God or visions.

Agreed, but having fun is nothing more than wasting time for pleasure's sake. So I ask and contemplate such things because it pleases me.

That was my major before I dropped out of college for insuffience funds to pay for the last semester. I lacked proper motivation to pursue that goal and not having enough money was my excuse to stop pursuing it. I had discovered that Engineering was boring (no use for creativity) unless you had pursued a Master or Doctorate degree to get to the interesting stuff. That and and my fear of having wealth without purpose.

 

This is rather simple; hallucinations do not requite that the person experiencing them believes they're actually happening. Belief in a hallucination is one of the many cases of what's known as a delusion, and delusions themselves aren't brought on solely by hallucinations. This requires a damaging of thought processes due to things that cause stress (hallucinations being one of them), or even a vitamin deficiency. I hallucinate constantly, but due to clarity of mind, I know none of it is real. It's just really, really annoying. Imagine constantly seeing flashes of light, animals, and people in your peripheral vision. I'm at the point where I normally don't look directly, but under sufficient stress or fatigue I'll check it out "just to make sure," of course nothing is ever there. In case you missed me saying it somewhere before, I've been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and can suffer hallucinations and delusions simultaneously. Though, this is not the only way for such an intriguing view of reality to occur. And, I had to do a lot of my own research into hallucinations, because despite having a degree in psychiatry, my doctor didn't think it was necessary to tell me why I keep hearing, seeing, and feeling such strange things that made so little real sense. I might also add that "insane" is a legal term, something not used in the medical field. That doesn't stop people from using it, as you've pointed out. The problem is that it can be applied to people who are psychopathic or psychotic, which is unfortunate because those words are used in the description of two entirely different mental states.

That's how a lot of people use video editing and photoshop; to show parts of reality. That doesn't make what's being shown any more real. That's why I used the word "realistic." Apparently, realism is subjective, leading to a multitude of opinions on what is or isn't. In the case of the missile hitting the pentagon, someone could easily have watched that and insisted the plane video was fake.

 

It's good to hear you are on top of it, Gross.

I figure that insanity begins only when we stop critically examining our sanity, which makes the faithful the craziest of us all, and any exclusive claim to truth the biggest delusion of all.

Btw, Xyle, I consider you crazy because your prose is scattered. If you're so goshdarned clever as to make your own definitions up for every step of logic, then you should be able to construct a coherent picture of reality from the ground up, like a house of cards, and not merely an idle ramble through the garden of ego.

 

I hope Xyle gets cancer.

 

^harsh, dude^

I miss the days when I was the one claiming nothing existed and you were trolling me. I like to think we maintained a higher callibre of nonsense.

 

Actually, I hope his girlfriend gets cancer first and he has to watch her die.

 

Yikes! I take it back: I don't miss the days when you were trolling me at all.

 

Way to take a page out of my book Wayne sheesh.

 

A fun analogy. Thanks!

OK, I think I get where you're coming from based on the absolutes of religion; religion attempts to define things absolutely. Where I get hung up is the "certainties" aspect of your view. If religion defined anything with absolute certainty, then the religions of the world would agree because these things are certain and absolute.
Your description of how religion is absolute leads me to think of religion as a list of concepts to which actual things are attempted to be linked. This is similar to how I believe reality is perceived in that we observe something and form a concept around it. The big difference with religion is that it is as if the list comes before the observation. It feels like a scavenger hunt: "Next on the list is 'rabbit.' I don't know what that is, but I know it's out here in reality somewhere." This approach to dealing with reality seems backward to me.

 

I'm not quite ready to make this my signature, but it's a definite contender.

Lol, sir, verily lol.

 

He's always talking about his girlfriend and how they can read each other's minds.

 

Well what did you expect dingus? Of course they've got to teach you from the ground up with little room to do stuff yourself; how else do you get to a point where you know enough to conduct relevant further research in the field? If you really are so intelligent then you could have self-taught to a greater extent using your lectures to supplement your learning, and then done your own research in your spare time. You don't have any excuse for not taking the initiative in my mind except laziness. Really I have absolutely no idea of why you took a science degree at university if you expected to start doing crazy shit straight away? I bet people at your university just got tired of your so-called "creative" ramblings, which is why now you're using this forum as a sounding board for such ideas and boring people to pieces in the process.

I wish I had a Vulcan Mind Meld with someone.

 

If that's all, then we both wish to see the end of my "crazy". But learning how to do a thing is only accomplished by doing that thing.

When one wished to keep one's privacy about how much one knows, one does not reveal all. When one does not believe that others will listen, one does not reveal all. When one considers that others will believe him to be crazy, one does not reveal all. I have many more reasons that I have not "revealed all". That and the fact that it requires work in order to compile the sum total of one's unique worldview, means that I have endevoured to "reveal all" piece by piece. Perhaps, it is time for me to change my strategy.

Ahh, but have you ever seen an aardvark? I have not, and yet, I am told that they exist. Now, if I wanted to be a zoologist that knew about every animal in existance, and yet I never encountered an aardvark, I have to rely on information that other's provided, now won't I?
If you wish to experience all things spiritual, it is no different that wishing to experience every animal. And that indeed would be quite a scavenger hunt. My position is that one should not seek out spiritual things (as it opens oneself to deception), but neither should one deny them when one does experience them, nor deny them when another experiences them.
But, as there are a lot of liars in the world, accord no one honor based on their words, but rather honor others based on their deeds. Even if one should claim a prophet of God, honor them not for being a prophet and instead honor them for their charity (or dishonor them for their lack thereof) for a prophet who does nothing for charity's sake is no prophet of God and the person who is not a prophet that does things for charity's sake will be rewarded in heaven for said charity.

Now, in every religion are certain key points about that religion, if you're position on religion is derived from not having your own, merely learn the key points to determine if that religion is right for you for within every religion is diversity about the minor points.
The key point of my religion is that God forgives you of your sins as proven by Jesus paying the penalty for your sins and the only outward acts that are required is a change of behavior that indicates your turning away from your wickedness and a water baptism to both "cleanse" your soul and testify of your conversion. For those that live mostly godly lives, baptism is mostly symbolic of your acceptance to continue living a godly life (even Jesus was baptized) and "repentence" may be as simple of surrending that one thread of bad behavior.

Visions, Spiritual Gifts, and other interactions with things spiritual are all bonuses. They shouldn't be cast away any more than you would a paycheck, but neither are they requirements anymore than you would require a child to bring home a paycheck. And learning about gifts that God doesn't intend to give you may decrease the joy of your life. Unless you are willing to take joy in the benefits that other receive. But that also doesn't mean that God won't give you such gifts if you ask, but he might require that you learn the lessons to use them before you are granted them. It varies and that variance renders such musing worthless to some, and valuable to others.

But my point is plain. To learn all of anything is an unnecessay scavenger hunt, so unless you have reason or desire to pursue a thing, don't. But as heaven should be thing desired, one should live a godly life. And don't let your past misdeeds prevent you from it.

 

If your snippets of "all that is to be revealed" are based on a lack of understanding, people won't take the rest of it seriously. Much like when I, or anyone else, would be corrected after saying something based in fallacy, you too shall be corrected.
To give an example, when I turned 24 I posted here saying I was having what I later learned were hypnomorphic hallucinations in conjunction with what I already knew was sleep paralysis for about a month. At the time I was also a regular user of cannabis. I leveled a couple possible scenarios;
all in my head
completely real
I thought I was being attacked by a supernatural thing, and despite it being completely implausible, I was totally absorbed by the fantasy of it. It really doesn't matter how right you think you are, unless you can prove it to more than just yourself. Something people with psychosis have in common is that they can try as hard as they want to convince their doctors, their loved ones, or even strangers that what they're experiencing is real.
I mean, it has to be, right? If I'm awake and hear God tell me I'm the messiah and I have to kill the antichrist or that I have to be ready for the Rapture, plus I get internal pains from what calls itself the devil, and when I walk with my back to the sun I see my shadow unnaturally stretched into abominable shapes, there's no way any of that could be a manifestation of my subconscious mind. How could it be? Before that, I never looked at a bible.
Unfortunately, no. When a person in a psychotic episode isn't feeling pain, they're in a delusion of grandeur. Both are extremely harmful. Honestly I have no proof for any of it, other than what's in my head. When your personal beliefs about certain events don't mesh with a consensus of reality, other people do actually have the right to say there's something wrong.
One example; Unless you have some concrete proof that the oceans of the earth rose to more than 29,000 feet for 150 days, and that somehow the salt-water marine life didn't die off due to their homes being diluted by fresh water, I'll continue to rest within the confines of evolution over the last 3.5 billion years.

 

It's really good to hear you talking so sensibly, Gross.

For the record, I was able to accept your anecdotes as real for you which is still important and often meaningful as well.

But it's great you have a mental place to shelve these experiences now. Kudos, sir.

Xyle, I don't want to engage you on the level of serious debate and I don't want to simply insult you but I do have to say this:

Your delusions of being so special are as common as muck. If you want to be great, start with a bit of humility; you may learn something.

 

Hear, hear.

 

I was born lazy. Seriously. My mother told me that when my father held me as a newborn he said that I would be lazy; ergo, I was born lazy.
I think he noticed that my body generates less heat than normal. (I have had cold hands my entire life.) It's as if my body doesn't want to do more work than necessary to substain me. This then affects my emotions which in turn affects my drive. The trick that lies before me to find ... that which I am missing.

I once read that the bacteria in your gut releases hormones into your body that make you hungry so that you eat more (and therefore feed them more). I theorize that I have a batch that releases hormones that reduce my willingness to use my body's stored energies so that way, when I die and they consume my flesh, there will be more for them to consume. Of course, it's irrelevant as obstacles are just there for us to overcome them.

Ramblings? I didn't ramble way back when, it's only as I gotten older that I have learned how to ramble.

And I don't consider my ramblings on this forum creative, they are self-expressive, but not creative.

"Seek and ye shall find." & remember to believe that you will find it.

I am curious as to what you believe that I am revealing.

While your words don't directly express the opinion that it is all "a manifestation of my subconscious mind" (because you are talking about yourself), it is implied. The problem is that half of what I said is that some visions are manifestation of the subconscious mind, that is one of the purposes of dreams.
That vision about the evil around the dorm? Manifestation of the subconscious, but not hallucination. And why not a hallucination? Because there is a difference between natural dreams (whether waking or sleeping) and unnatural hallucinations. You see, while science may care only about material reality, I care about emotional health. A "hallucination" that seeks to mend your emotional health is not a product of your body's malfunction, it is a product of your body's attempt to heal itself.
There is a sense of "wrongness" in the corner of my eyes when I perceive (or falsely interprete) the presence of a thing or person that is not there. That wrongness doesn't accompany visions or waking dreams.

And the other half is that the visions are products of the things spiritual. But there are many ways to define the term "spiritual"...

Well, that's the question isn't? But which consensus? Local religion-based community that accepts the term spiritual as meaning to having to do with things from God, such as spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12 to 14)? Or the international community of the internet that is bound together ... with what? Words?

Perhaps the one vision I had that I would call "spiritual", instead of subconscious, was a product of my subconscious's attempt to eliminate a conflict between my prayers and my reason, and therefore a manifestation of the subconscious. Or perhaps it was "real" from a spiritual point of view. It really doesn't matter now does it? The issue of my "insanity" is a question that is beyond my power to answer: If I love a girl that loves me back, I am not crazy and she will someday prove it. If I love a girl that doesn't love me back, I would be crazy even if I wasn't claiming that we are mind-linked. So what difference does it make what I claim? I have a problem that I cannot fix: I fell in love.

Horrifying, isn't it? And yet, we all seek to enter that state. Why are we as a specifies designed to seek our destruction by falling in love? Self-perpetuation of the species & the value of the group over the individual? Or are we as a society naturally delusional? Personally, I would rather believe that we as a society are not delusional and that falling in love is a state that we aspire to because it is the best state to be in than to continue to dwell on the problem before me. After all, engineers have a maxim: "If you can't fix it, it is not a problem."

 

Yes I'm sure people are seriously born lazy :roll: At secondary school I was one of the laziest people in my year, my school actually wrote home asking about why I only had 20% attendance, and now I'm at university I rarely if ever miss a lecture. Laziness is just an excuse for weak people to avoid things they can't be bothered to deal with. Clearly you thought it was better to become a philosophical dreamer than actually getting a degree, a job and a real life. I feel almost dirty using wayne's trademark :roll: but if anyone deserves it Xyle it's you.