I mean not real in the physical sense sure, but they are real in the sense that they certainly have an impact in the way we experience and live our lives. I don’t know what this lady is thinking, believing there is something mystical to the thoughts that we have when it’s likely that some are occurring below our awareness and others are not.
Define “real.”
I guess real in that it exists. The article means something that is “out there”, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the only way to describe real.
But when it comes to the way that certain thoughts make us feel or empower us is it really the thought or the value that we attach to it? In a sense could we just say that we make ourselves feel a certain way and attribute it to the thought? Because aren’t thoughts inherently empty of value and such, and if so then how can they empower us or hurt us?
I think the mind is pretty mechanical, but I heard that likening it to a computer isn’t true.
When I read the article you cited, it seems to me that the author is not saying that thoughts aren’t “real”; she is merely cautioning us not to get obsessively caught up with them to the point to the point that we ignore the reality around us. We’ve all known people who get caught up with one idea (whether it be global climate change or some conspiracy theory they just heard) and that all they talk about any more. They seem to think that if this idea is so important to them, it MUST be important to us too or we are wearing blinders. She’s just saying that the thoughts in your head don’t change the world around you in their own image. That’s the sense I get out of the article at least.
SOunds more like the rambling of someone who doesn’t want to admit that humans are more mechanical than he wishes .
If you’re referring to Penrose then you are quite wrong. Penrose’s position is based on sound reasoning, I have no idea why you’d write that.Its actually not. I knew it was fishy as soon as I saw the quantum bit in it. Not to mention that using the incompleteness theorem for your argument dooms him from the start.
So no, not sound, more like just another human who doesn’t want to admit humans are basically machines.
In what way the author suggesting thoughts are something mystical? I read it exactly opposite.
I’m sorry but from what I gather from those who read the book is that he is out of his depth on this one, linking topics that aren’t connected in any way to each other. Apparently the quantum argument he makes is weak.
He is smart, I’ll give him that, but he dropped the ball here.
Boy, this is a hard forum to follow (at least on Android). I just lost another reply, and I can’t tell whether the one I am replying to is responding to mine, or not.
If it is, I was just asking why the OP wrote:
I don’t know what this lady is thinking, believing there is something mystical to the thoughts that we have when it’s likely that some are occurring below our awareness and others are not.To me, just from Nancy's article, it's saying thoughts AREN'T mystical, because they only exist inside our brains.
Thoughts ARE NOT mystical. They are behaviors that occur inside of our skin (mostly in the brain).
Thoughts ARE NOT mystical. They are behaviors that occur inside of our skin (mostly in the brain).
I can’t tell if this is to me or not.
I agree thoughts aren’t mystical and that they are only inside our brains.
And I thought that was what the article in the OP said, as well.
My confusion was about what the OP wrote, when commenting on her article. It sounds like he thought she said they were mystical, and disagreed with her, but I did not agree with his interpretation of what she said.
Boy, this forum is hard to follow…
My bad. When you know my posts better, you may see that I rarely miss a chance to say something that relates to my particular interest in the field of verbal behavior (as in thoughts are mostly internal verbal behaviors). It must be disconcerting for someone who doesn’t have a clue as to where my comment is coming from.
My comments about verbal behavior are generally always directed to anyone who will listen. And regardless of what anyone said, Tee, the correct statement is the one that you repeated: “thoughts aren’t mystical and… they are only inside our brains.”
Reminds me of the happy hippy days.
Dude it’s all in your head.
Yeah man.
Peace.