sandandfoam
Veteran Member
Are they compatible in your view?
Why (not)?
Why (not)?
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Spiritual and biological views of the self
- Thread starter sandandfoam
- Start date
Gjallarhorn
N'yog-Sothep
Sure. I am my soul, and I am also my body. As long as you leave transcendentalism out of it, it's fine.
lunamoth
Will to love
Yes. 'I am,' spiritually and biologically, miraculous. :angel2:
Breathe
Hostis humani generis
What do you mean by compatible?
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
The one that springs immediately to my mind is Damasio's model of proto, core and autobiographical selves anchored in brainstem and cortical structures.
Starsoul
Truth
Essential to eachother , as the body is a tool to reach and continuously enrich the spiritual self. It isn't without the other, but neither spiritual recognition is obtained merely by tending only to the biological self, its sphere of wants are much broader, and at times, at odds with the far stretched desires of the self.
Not entirely always compatible, as there will always be instances where the spirit can only be enriched when something of the body has to be restrained/refused.
(e.g there's a meeting that you really have to attend, its a major thing in your career,( the career, a part of your material desires, the desires linked to your biological self ) and then you meet an unforeseen mishap on your way where a little girl is injured and you're the only one there who can take her to the nearest hospital asap, and it requires your indulgence as a helper to the extent that your not willing, but choose to, out of sympathy..and let you're meeting slip /be late where you're unable to explain beforehand the reasons of your absence n etc.)
In such an instance, if you leave the child right there, thinking that someone else might pull up and help her out, you go and attend the meeting, and then feel really empty inside later on.. feeling some grave loss of spirit later , due to your overpowering material desire; which in the end doesn't feel as good as helping out other people in need.
There will always be some kind of a contrast/clash, imo, between biological desires and spiritual upliftment at SOME level, we may fail at some smaller levels, but that may sometimes lead us to make some bigger decisions,(when the opportunity arises), for the spiritual self, and that choice always makes us feel far more empowering/strong than any biological/material gain that we ever experience.
( depends on the kind of person you are as well, considering there are people who sell their organs for an expensive gadget, and if you're not somebody who at least recognizes the spirit/soul. Cause If you don't recognize it, you're almost a complete slave of your biological material desires, unable to reach the level of human compassion which makes you look beyond the material of this world, beyond your own interests and desires, and inspires to make a better person out of you, beyond your own known limited capabilities ).
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Secret Chief
Vetted Member
I blame Descartes.
lunamoth
Will to love
But Occam put the nail in the coffin.
Secret Chief
Vetted Member
lunamoth
Will to love
The razor was not the hammer. Although a deeply religious and spiritual person, Occam, as an intellectual of his day, insisted that there was no connection between the reality of God that we know via revelation and the knowledge we have of the material world via the scientific method. This built a wall dividing science and religion that we are still struggling to get past.Is a razor the right tool to put a nail in with?!
However, the wall is an illusion.
Secret Chief
Vetted Member
However, the wall is an illusion.
It is indeed. Did the Enlightenment bring us this duality in the West? Was this where 'science' diverged from 'philosophy'? - a separation not so evident in the East I believe?
lunamoth
Will to love
Duality is part of life in one form or another, to one degree or another. However, I would agree with your statement, that the Enlightenment sharpened the duality, made what was ephemeral into something concrete.