# What exactly does this mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [March 9, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340 "2019-03-09T14:44:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snowcity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@snowcity](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/snowcity)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/1 "2019-03-09T14:44:58Z")
> **[Everything’s Made of Mind](https://www.lionsroar.com/everythings-made-of-mind/)** > > All that we are and experience is mind, explains Zen teacher Norman Fischer. That mind is original enlightenment itself. I think I can chalk this up to a LONG line of Buddhist words and things that I don’t understand. But I don’t think it’s true, that everything is made of mind. ---
**Author:** ![citizenschallengev3](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/citizenschallengev3/32/17_2.png) [@citizenschallengev3](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/citizenschallengev3)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/2 "2019-03-11T23:47:32Z")
Hmmmmm, I mean OOhmmmmm \

**MRI Data, Brain nerve Visualization** \ \

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j\_fdptHmpio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_fdptHmpio)\ \

Visualization of MRI brain scan data from a single person, showing nerve fiber bundles near or feeding into part of the hippocampus.\ \

Behold, our mindscape! _;-_ )\ \

![NIHOD - MRI brain nerves](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/2X/8/8db2aeb993192d7416f394a78d6ae038aaa7b085.jpeg)\ \

![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/2X/0/08afe09448d71404dbd11bf57e302b854475bc05.jpeg)\   ---

**Author:** ![snowcity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@snowcity](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/snowcity)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 10:11am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/3 "2019-03-12T10:11:56Z")
I don’t get it ---
**Author:** ![mikeyohe](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/mikeyohe/32/28536_2.png) [@mikeyohe](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/mikeyohe)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/4 "2019-03-12T13:45:49Z")
You got to admit, cool pictures. ---
**Author:** ![citizenschallengev3](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/citizenschallengev3/32/17_2.png) [@citizenschallengev3](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/citizenschallengev3)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/5 "2019-03-12T14:13:28Z")
Xian, I don’t get the stone statue. ;- ) The words say “Everything’s Made of Mind” and I thought what could be better than taking a look at what the Mind is actually made of. [Fascinating](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFods1KSWsQ)   Watch [the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_fdptHmpio), like Mike says, it’s way cool. ---
**Author:** ![3point14rat](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/3point14rat/32/26463_2.png) [@3point14rat](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/3point14rat)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/6 "2019-03-12T14:20:33Z")
It’s a deepity: profound sounding words that have little or no meaning or value. You could really reach and imagine that the author meant that we comprehend reality with minds, so everything we can sense is reconstructed in our minds. But I doubt they meant anything that mundane or meaningful. It’s more likely new-age mumbo-jumbo that the author has just parroted from some other mindless drone. ---
**Author:** ![snowcity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@snowcity](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/snowcity)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 10:47am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/7 "2019-03-13T10:47:29Z")
But I don’t really think that’s what he’s getting at with that. ---
**Author:** ![3point14rat](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/3point14rat/32/26463_2.png) [@3point14rat](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/3point14rat)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 11:21am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/8 "2019-03-14T11:21:36Z")
Without any context, it’s hard to say what the author was trying to say. But I’ve heard enough of that sort of thing from people who themselves have no clue what it means, but merely say it to sound profound, to comfortably assume that the purpose is to give the warm fuzzies to his/her followers who will think it’s meaningful. Lots of this stuff revolves around the definitions of the words. You’ll probably find that the author doesn’t use a scientific definition of ‘mind’, which makes the quote meaningless to anyone not using the exact definition the author has in mind.   ---
**Author:** ![snowcity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@snowcity](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/snowcity)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/9 "2019-03-17T22:46:17Z")
> **[What Is Your Body?](https://www.lionsroar.com/what-is-your-body-july-2013/)** > > It’s less than we think. It’s far more than we know. It’s who we are but it’s not. Contemplate the deeper reality of the body.   Well it also talks about how he claims there is no “objects”, that what we assume when we experience and object is just the experience itself. He likens the body in the same way, as an experience and not really an object, calling that an unwarrented assumption. “Contemporary cognitive science agrees. All experiences arise when consciousness is activated by a sense organ meeting an internal or external object. (Here, the mind itself functions like a sixth sense organ in relation to emotion and thought.) We assume we are “experiencing” the object that gave rise to the event in our consciousness. But the truth is that the only thing we can verify is the experience itself, however we may be misconstruing it. The idea of the body is like this. It is an idea based on unwarranted assumptions about the coherence of our conscious experience.” ---
**Author:** ![advocatus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e5b9ba/32.png) [@advocatus](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/advocatus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 9:46am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/10 "2019-03-18T09:46:38Z")
I resist saying anything as trite as this, but as with a lot of popular philosophy it probably “means” whatever you THINK it means. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![snowcity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@snowcity](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/snowcity)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/11 "2019-03-18T11:33:02Z")
I’m not sure how that responds to the quote I cited? ---
**Author:** ![3point14rat](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/3point14rat/32/26463_2.png) [@3point14rat](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/3point14rat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:39am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/12 "2019-03-19T10:39:00Z")
I believe Advocatus means that when there is no meaning in something, any meaning it has for _you_ comes from _you_. Those types of articles are actually meant to have no real meaning so that they can apply to any person and any situation and _you_ can find whatever help or message _you_ want it to have. That type of writing is of no use to physicists, medical doctors, biologists, engineers, or anyone else who deals with reality. It is for those who need an emotional boost. And I don’t say any or this in a derogatory way: anyone who needs some inspiration or positivity should be able to find it wherever they can. Think of it like Dumbo’s feather, he thought he needed it to fly, therefore he did. So enjoy it and benefit from it, just don’t expect me or anyone else to tell you there’s something there when, for us, there’s not. ---
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/13 "2019-03-19T12:39:47Z")
oops, wrong thread ---
**Author:** ![snowcity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@snowcity](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/snowcity)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/14 "2019-03-20T20:02:07Z")
I’m sorry but you are clearly in the wrong here since this article is very clearly trying to say something. This isn’t one of those vague stories which people can interpret however, this is a clear statement about the nature of reality and attempting to use science to support it. ---
**Author:** ![3point14rat](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/3point14rat/32/26463_2.png) [@3point14rat](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/3point14rat)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/15 "2019-03-21T14:45:18Z")
Here are some nuggets of word salad I easily found in just the first few paragraphs of the article. If the author had a goal other than to spout nonsense, he failed miserably. > _"They began by distinguishing two aspects of mind—an absolute aspect and a relative, phenomenal aspect. These, they said, are both identical and not identical. So mind (not only in the abstract, but also my mind, your mind, the mind of all sentient beings) is at the same time both transcendent and not."_ > > _“Mind equals reality equals impermanence equals eternity.”_ > > _“…not only mind in the abstract but the actual minds of sentient beings—‘includes within itself all states of being of the phenomenal world and the transcendent world.’”_ > > _" Mind and matter, space and time, animate and inanimate, imaginative and real—all are mind. Mind can be both absolute and phenomenal because it is empty of any hard and fast characteristics that could distinguish one thing from another. It is fluid. It neither exists nor doesn’t exist. So, strictly speaking, it isn’t impermanent. It is eternal."_ I rest my case. ---
**Author:** ![timb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@timb](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/timb)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/16 "2019-03-21T18:11:20Z")
Maybe one has to be smoking the same, particularly potent strain of marijuana, as the author may have been, to make sense of it (at least until getting distracted and going for snacks). ---
**Author:** ![snowcity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@snowcity](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/snowcity)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/17 "2019-03-22T13:37:10Z")
My problem is the parts referencing science ---
**Author:** ![3point14rat](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/3point14rat/32/26463_2.png) [@3point14rat](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/3point14rat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2019, 8:00am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/18 "2019-03-25T08:00:46Z")
Instead of spending time and energy trying to find meaning in words written by someone who is likely clueless about science, why don’t you read articles by people who actually know science. There’s a ton of good science stuff on the internet. Go read it. I don’t mean to say your questions about the article are not honest. But I, personally, see no value in looking for accidental meaning in a bunch of intentionally meaningless blathering. Accidental meaning has no value, so I don’t waste time looking for it. ---
**Author:** ![citizenschallengev3](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/citizenschallengev3/32/17_2.png) [@citizenschallengev3](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/citizenschallengev3)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2019, 11:17am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/19 "2019-03-25T11:17:54Z")
“Mind equals reality equals impermanence equals eternity.”   groooooveeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy man \I think therefore I am impermanence, or something like that.\ ---
**Author:** ![snowcity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@snowcity](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/snowcity)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340/20 "2019-03-25T11:30:00Z")
Except science stuff doesn’t answer the deepest questions and mysteries like who you really are. Some say you are the universe. [Next page](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/what-exactly-does-this-mean/6340.md?page=2)