why does human mind exist, and how did it arise in nature?

[DavidFirth]

So god came from nothing, then?

Quite the contrary, actually. I AM means He is. There was never a time that He was not, hence He is the beginning and the end.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Catholic Christian schools. I'm not even christian.

I kind of suspected that. Catholic schools tend to be very good schools, just not very practical in some areas of science.

 

[Willamena]

So god existed in no place, then? How does that work?

Location is highly over-rated.

Abstracts are an example of things that exist in no place.

 

[Milton Platt]

So god existed in no place, then? How does that work?

If there are no "places", then there is no place for anything to exist....so by default, god did not exist because there was no place for him to do so.

Location is highly over-rated.

Abstracts are an example of things that exist in no place.

True...so if the god is only abstract or a concept, that would work. But I think he would argue that his god existed as an actual thing.

 

[ArtieE]

I see, so would you say that the instinct to survive is inevitable?
And, by extension, that the existence of the human mind is also inevitable?

And yet, here we are now with our minds able to contemplate the significance of our survival and consider that we may merely have but an instinct to survive and that there is nothing particularly precious to life because "To the universe there's nothing precious about life." The existential dilemma remains because we are able to take our instincts into consideration and ask the transcendental question: Is life worth living to begin with? The manner in which we arose fails to resolve the philosophical dilemma. It can only suggest that it was inevitable.

If you are a healthy normal human being you have a brain wired to think that life is worth living. I don't know what you mean by "Is life worth living to begin with?"

 

[Willamena]

True...so if the god is only abstract or a concept, that would work. But I think he would argue that his god existed as an actual thing.

It was just an example.

 

[Mark Dohle]

in my years of high school and college I never once was exposed to evolution.

what drives natural selection? they say it is undirected chance, is that true?

Both theist and atheist accept the reality of evoloution......well there are some who don't but they are the miniority, but a vocal one. the place of divergents is wether there is a an intelligence behind it all.

Peace
Mark

 

[Ponder This]

If you are a healthy normal human being you have a brain wired to think that life is worth living. I don't know what you mean by "Is life worth living to begin with?"

Interestingly enough, not everyone is normal. If you don't understand the question, then I'm not sure how to explain it further. I'll try.
It's sort of like: you have to eat to live, but should you eat other animals?
Yeah, sure, maybe you have evolved to eat other animals, but why eat other animals? Should I just eat because I'm hungry? Because that's my instinct? Or should I act in some way beyond my basic programming?

So... it doesn't matter if we are "wired" to think life is worth living, we actually have the capacity to step back and really ask the deeper question: what if I wasn't wired to think life is worth living? Would there really be some point to life? Maybe that thought seems somehow too nihilistic for you to contemplate, but philosophers ask this sort of question. We understand that we aren't simply "normal" "instinctual" creatures. We have eccentricities and a degree of control over our basic instincts.

Is there a difference between an asteroid that burns up in the atmosphere and a meteor that hits the surface and wipes out all dinosaurs? The dinosaurs' instincts to survive are irrelevant.

 

[ArtieE]

Interestingly enough, not everyone is normal. If you don't understand the question, then I'm not sure how to explain it further. I'll try.
It's sort of like: you have to eat to live, but should you eat other animals?
Yeah, sure, maybe you have evolved to eat other animals, but why eat other animals?

Because you evolved to eat other animals.

Should I just eat because I'm hungry? Because that's my instinct? Or should I act in some way beyond my basic programming?

Depends on the particular circumstances and what you are trying to accomplish.

So... it doesn't matter if we are "wired" to think life is worth living, we actually have the capacity to step back and really ask the deeper question: what if I wasn't wired to think life is worth living? Would there really be some point to life?

No. There's no "cosmic truth" saying "there's a point to life".

Maybe that thought seems somehow too nihilistic for you to contemplate, but philosophers ask this sort of question. We understand that we aren't simply "normal" "instinctual" creatures. We have eccentricities and a degree of control over our basic instincts.

Is there a difference between an asteroid that burns up in the atmosphere and a meteor that hits the surface and wipes out all dinosaurs? The dinosaurs' instincts to survive are irrelevant.

The difference would only be to the dinosaurs. The moon couldn't care less whether dinosaurs survived or not.

 

[ArtieE]

Both theist and atheist accept the reality of evoloution......well there are some who don't but they are the miniority, but a vocal one. the place of divergents is wether there is a an intelligence behind it all.

Peace
Mark

"All" would include that intelligence. "All" would have to be intelligence with nothing behind it.

 

[Mark Dohle]

"All" would include that intelligence. "All" would have to be intelligence with nothing behind it.

I think the understlianding of 'Infinite intelligence' is an ongoing mystery, which means we will never get to the bottom ofit.

I will say this, the Universe is filled with intelligence, laws, all this is information, it comes from the source of all.

Peace
Mark

 

[ArtieE]

I think the understlianding of 'Infinite intelligence' is an ongoing mystery, which means we will never get to the bottom ofit.

I will say this, the Universe is filled with intelligence, laws, all this is information, it comes from the source of all.

Peace
Mark

"The source of all"? Even itself? It's its own source?

 

[Mark Dohle]

"The source of all"? Even itself? It's its own source?

It is impossible for me to understand the Infinite, or that the Infinite Mind has no beginning or end. All that exist in the universe has a beginning, therefore a source is needed. However the "One" that has no beginning has always been and will ever will be.

What is the sorce of the Big Bang? Or what is the source if there was 'something' before the Big Bang? I doubt it was just nothing, but perhaps it was No-Thing, which would be the Infinite.

 

[Ponder This]

No. There's no "cosmic truth" saying "there's a point to life".

Well, that is the question - "cosmic truth" aside, is there a point? It may be that the Book of Ecclesiastes, with which you apparently agree (that is to say, you both agree that there is no point) is true. And so, perhaps, it is easier to simply say: we are this way because we are this way (or because evolution made us this way); nothing that we do really matters.

 

[ArtieE]

Well, that is the question - "cosmic truth" aside, is there a point? It may be that the Book of Ecclesiastes, with which you apparently agree (that is to say, you both agree that there is no point) is true. And so, perhaps, it is easier to simply say: we are this way because we are this way (or because evolution made us this way); nothing that we do really matters.

What we do really matters to us. That should be enough.