Post by jhernandez720 on Sept 11, 2015 1:24:22 GMT
Film test 1 - 11632
posted Sep 8, 2015, 10:46 AM by Jasmin Hernandez. edited Sep 10, 2015, 6:12 PM
1. How would you feel if you realized that you were just “stuff”, just this body, and that there was nothing “meta” physical about you?
Under the realization that I could be just "stuff" and nothing "meta", I feel confused because I notice a juxtaposition between this statement and how my own personal experiences feel to me. With the premise of me only being "stuff" - defined as exclusively matter and energy - I notice that my own perception of the world is based upon receiving input from tangible things, these things being what I can measure, see, hear, mathematically calculate, and as Mysterium Tremendum said about reductionism "comprehensively or algorithmically understand".
Continuing on this path of thinking I realize that I myself am one of these tangible things... every part of me can be mapped, measured, understood by my limitations to give discernible precision as to what exactly I am, where "I" end, and that is that...
Well, I feel a certain way about this - however, whether the feeling is good or bad ultimately does not matter - strangely, the feeling is dependent upon emotional and mental processing of this information. More simply, how I choose to analyze and assess what my input perception means to me will determine how I feel about "being stuff, nothing meta".
What I feel may be substantially based on molecular chemical interactions going on in different regions of my brain, as neurons transmit electrical impulses through neural pathways all following physical laws measured electromagnetically, or through other known scientific forces, and mapped physically - all able to be understood essentially due to my own limitations or lack of "boundlessness", it doesn't change the fact that my perception is still a holographic projection of this, and though I myself may not be transcendental, the product of my brain - which is my mind - does result in something somewhat transcendent... even if I, myself, am actually not.
For instance, "feelings" are just results of different measures of chemicals interacting in my brain, however they put my state of awareness in a state other than just "physical" and rather my focus is on my own thoughts, which are intangible. It is curious to me, the point at which the physical and energetic interactions within my body cross the "threshold" and stop performing body functions, then crossing into a realm of thought and idea. Although I (my body, my brain) may not be within this realm, my perception is there... How? This is the complete loop of reasoning that results in me feeling confused in the end.
I feel relieved to have seemingly escaped any negative feelings about being "only matter" using this mindset. I am struck by the vague mystery that is constantly overlooked - how matter produces a reality that is not material. Situational perspective, emotions, and ideas are all included in this non-material reality which I experience daily. My ability to experience these things - without effort - makes me happily curious and leaves me with a sense of wonder. As stated in the video, "Science illuminates the universe", I believe also adds into the beauty we find in it and gives one the power to attempt to understand it.
2. Using your own life as a template, provide two or more examples of Plato’s Allegory of the cave. Hint: think of those times in your life when you mistakenly believed something to be true or real but you later realized wasn’t. Be sure to think within the context of the movie.
I feel deeply aware of Plato's allegory of the cave reflecting my mindset as a child and teenager. Raised in an extremely religious home, I was taught to believe in things willfully on faith, not through substantial evidence. Despite my lack of proof for anything, my faith was supposed to create an unswaying foundation of certainty for the things I professed to believe in. I understand that not all religions impose this way of thinking on their followers, but in my upbringing, this is how religion took its form.
Later when I became a person of science and curiosity I realized that many of the things I believed in were not what I thought. Quite often, they disagreed with the laws of the universe. For example, I was raised to believe in a six 24-hour day creation story. Not only does this story disagree with science, it is not even possible according to the Bible since the measure of 24 hour days is based upon the earth's rotation 360 degrees to face the the sun, however according to Genesis 1, the sun, moon, stars, and all celestial bodies were not even created until the fourth day... thus it is logically impossible for the first three days to have been 24 hours since the way in which 24 hours are measures is reliant on the presence of the sun. So I feel like a mistranslation of languages and words confused the Hebrew words "time" (as in a "period of time") and "day" (as in a 24 hour day) and had me believing something totally incorrect that not even the ancients intended. It was a lack of clarity in linguistics, inaccuracy in translation, and complete disregard for logic and scientific evidence. This left me as a prisoner in a cave staring up at historical shadows on the walls and believing a two dimensional representation of a 3d figure to be the totality of the figure itself. And I believed that quite strongly for some time.
Another example of my life comparing to the cave was a time I mistakenly believed for a few months that I was actually smart enough to "know a lot" about the world and actually "get" it... I don't know why I thought I was that fantastically knowledgeable because nowadays, the more I learn, the less I feel like I have a grasp on understanding the totality of things which is quite frankly how I like it. However, I had just spent about 18 months having an existential crisis and came to the conclusion that I had almost thought up all the thoughts in my head and my quest for seeking would soon be at its end.
Things changed this rather suddenly however. I went snorkeling in Hawaii with my family and as my finned feet were padding through the sea I looked down and saw a coral reef. In the coral, there were sea urchins and all different kinds of fish, most of which I couldn't identify. I felt calm in the water feeling shrunken down to an impossibly small size and realized that I know hardly anything about the ocean or all the species it contains. What a monumentally arrogant and ignorant error I'd made in believing I knew it all, that I had almost captured it, followed by an inescapable sense of relief that washed through my mind as I was again, just a drop of water in an entire oceanic mystery. I have come to believe that if I think I "have it" I have probably most likely lost my way.
Original Post
posted Sep 8, 2015, 10:46 AM by Jasmin Hernandez. edited Sep 10, 2015, 6:12 PM
1. How would you feel if you realized that you were just “stuff”, just this body, and that there was nothing “meta” physical about you?
Under the realization that I could be just "stuff" and nothing "meta", I feel confused because I notice a juxtaposition between this statement and how my own personal experiences feel to me. With the premise of me only being "stuff" - defined as exclusively matter and energy - I notice that my own perception of the world is based upon receiving input from tangible things, these things being what I can measure, see, hear, mathematically calculate, and as Mysterium Tremendum said about reductionism "comprehensively or algorithmically understand".
Continuing on this path of thinking I realize that I myself am one of these tangible things... every part of me can be mapped, measured, understood by my limitations to give discernible precision as to what exactly I am, where "I" end, and that is that...
Well, I feel a certain way about this - however, whether the feeling is good or bad ultimately does not matter - strangely, the feeling is dependent upon emotional and mental processing of this information. More simply, how I choose to analyze and assess what my input perception means to me will determine how I feel about "being stuff, nothing meta".
What I feel may be substantially based on molecular chemical interactions going on in different regions of my brain, as neurons transmit electrical impulses through neural pathways all following physical laws measured electromagnetically, or through other known scientific forces, and mapped physically - all able to be understood essentially due to my own limitations or lack of "boundlessness", it doesn't change the fact that my perception is still a holographic projection of this, and though I myself may not be transcendental, the product of my brain - which is my mind - does result in something somewhat transcendent... even if I, myself, am actually not.
For instance, "feelings" are just results of different measures of chemicals interacting in my brain, however they put my state of awareness in a state other than just "physical" and rather my focus is on my own thoughts, which are intangible. It is curious to me, the point at which the physical and energetic interactions within my body cross the "threshold" and stop performing body functions, then crossing into a realm of thought and idea. Although I (my body, my brain) may not be within this realm, my perception is there... How? This is the complete loop of reasoning that results in me feeling confused in the end.
I feel relieved to have seemingly escaped any negative feelings about being "only matter" using this mindset. I am struck by the vague mystery that is constantly overlooked - how matter produces a reality that is not material. Situational perspective, emotions, and ideas are all included in this non-material reality which I experience daily. My ability to experience these things - without effort - makes me happily curious and leaves me with a sense of wonder. As stated in the video, "Science illuminates the universe", I believe also adds into the beauty we find in it and gives one the power to attempt to understand it.
2. Using your own life as a template, provide two or more examples of Plato’s Allegory of the cave. Hint: think of those times in your life when you mistakenly believed something to be true or real but you later realized wasn’t. Be sure to think within the context of the movie.
I feel deeply aware of Plato's allegory of the cave reflecting my mindset as a child and teenager. Raised in an extremely religious home, I was taught to believe in things willfully on faith, not through substantial evidence. Despite my lack of proof for anything, my faith was supposed to create an unswaying foundation of certainty for the things I professed to believe in. I understand that not all religions impose this way of thinking on their followers, but in my upbringing, this is how religion took its form.
Later when I became a person of science and curiosity I realized that many of the things I believed in were not what I thought. Quite often, they disagreed with the laws of the universe. For example, I was raised to believe in a six 24-hour day creation story. Not only does this story disagree with science, it is not even possible according to the Bible since the measure of 24 hour days is based upon the earth's rotation 360 degrees to face the the sun, however according to Genesis 1, the sun, moon, stars, and all celestial bodies were not even created until the fourth day... thus it is logically impossible for the first three days to have been 24 hours since the way in which 24 hours are measures is reliant on the presence of the sun. So I feel like a mistranslation of languages and words confused the Hebrew words "time" (as in a "period of time") and "day" (as in a 24 hour day) and had me believing something totally incorrect that not even the ancients intended. It was a lack of clarity in linguistics, inaccuracy in translation, and complete disregard for logic and scientific evidence. This left me as a prisoner in a cave staring up at historical shadows on the walls and believing a two dimensional representation of a 3d figure to be the totality of the figure itself. And I believed that quite strongly for some time.
Another example of my life comparing to the cave was a time I mistakenly believed for a few months that I was actually smart enough to "know a lot" about the world and actually "get" it... I don't know why I thought I was that fantastically knowledgeable because nowadays, the more I learn, the less I feel like I have a grasp on understanding the totality of things which is quite frankly how I like it. However, I had just spent about 18 months having an existential crisis and came to the conclusion that I had almost thought up all the thoughts in my head and my quest for seeking would soon be at its end.
Things changed this rather suddenly however. I went snorkeling in Hawaii with my family and as my finned feet were padding through the sea I looked down and saw a coral reef. In the coral, there were sea urchins and all different kinds of fish, most of which I couldn't identify. I felt calm in the water feeling shrunken down to an impossibly small size and realized that I know hardly anything about the ocean or all the species it contains. What a monumentally arrogant and ignorant error I'd made in believing I knew it all, that I had almost captured it, followed by an inescapable sense of relief that washed through my mind as I was again, just a drop of water in an entire oceanic mystery. I have come to believe that if I think I "have it" I have probably most likely lost my way.
Original Post