Cogito ergo sum. Descartes famous words. What do they actually mean to us?

Identity is a major aspect as it is the own answer of the question Who am I?
And the own identity influcences how one looks at other individuals.

It is really the major aspect in life, identity. Identity changes with the amount of self-awareness. And IMHO one can only love another (eternally) when one has got who one really is.

The willingness to extent the own identity is to me an attribute of a modern person. And a society who has a lot of such individuals is a modern society.
Anyway it seems the author wants to preserve differences. Or has an issue with to lose it. So he is not ready to give up individualism, why?
It seems western people have a problem with de-individualisation. It seems to be equal to them with to lose identity, but that is an error.

In my experience one has its real identity when there is no idea of it. I don't mean to be clueless, I mean not to restrict the identity by pressing it in a defined object....and that is usually the job of the mind....thoughts...

 

I could not use less words, but this time there is no experiment to try...only replies and some additions....

Some say that imagination is different or a special form of perception.

We can see a table with our own eyes.
And: We can think about a table and create an imagination of it.

Here I wanted to make no difference. Both are perceptions. And both his happening in the mind.

To get more awareness it is useful to separate the observation into more parts.

Imagination of that table, or perceiving.

Four wooden stakes, covered with a sheet are not a table (yet). That wooden construct is only a table when it is seen as a table. That table is that what is seen as table and that seeing is that what had been seen already.
If it wouldn’t be that what was seen already, then we couldn’t speak of seeing or recognizing.

And the table is not the object outside, here the sheet with the stakes, because one hasn’t to see that wooden construct as a table, one can see it as something different.

The construct has a stand space and a substructure.
So one can use it to go up and make some paintwork. So it can be seen as a simple scaffolding that can be used by a painter.

So how long does it take to see the table as a simple scaffolding? It takes no time at all. This new idea must be thought as such, only then we can speak of a simple scaffolding.

That what is, is that what has been (already). (In the mind).
And that’s the reason why I have said: Objects are only existing when they are perceived (thought).
And they have a own meaning to each of ‘us’. So we give then their existence which is past existence.

“Are you also saying that reality is only within the (human) mind? However, what about the minds of the animals, the minds of plant life (if possible)? And are you saying that all the minds of every living being on this planet alone are singular”

Reality simply is.
Our self-identification to be an individual makes us believing we have a own mind. And makes us recognizing other individuals with their own mind.

And then we think about what their mind is an what their mind can do. So there is actually nothing like their mind. Their mind is an idea in our mind. There can't be anything outside of 'our' mind.

“You are going right back to the tree falling thread and "nothing is real, everything is in the mind" bit.”

Actually yes, but it’s not that drastic as one might think.

It is just a tiny change. It is as real as it is now. But it isn’t separated to somebody.
When one is identified with an idea, then the one perceives anything relative to this idea.
And this is not real. A present consciousness (I am) is identified with a past consciousness (idea).
And objects are related to this idea, which are also ideas.

When one is not identified with an idea and lives there where one only can, presently, then every-thing becomes real.
Then the one has no ego and is not identified with an object. The one IS.
There is no limit of inside and outside. (There is no ‘I’ and no core, remember?)
One lives now its real Self. I am the sun and the sun is me. I am the flowers and the flowers are me.
I am anything and no-thing.
I am, but I am not Yen (only)
I am, but I have no idea what it is.
I am, but I don’t think about.
It is only a tiny ‘movement’ to the source where thoughts arise. When focusing there with awareness, then one remains the source. There is no more becoming, there is only being.
The flow of constant self-identification is interrupted.
Why should it be that way? Because anything that is thought in the mind is past already. Suffering occurs because we are trying to catch that idea. This never can work.
And the experiment does reveal that ‘we’ actually have no ‘I’, no core. So it’s just living reality.

Hence the appeal: Let’s live what we are and not hunt an idea.
See the objects as if you have seen them the first time. Rediscover them anytime as they are without an idea.


This tiny change ‘in mind’ is hard because almost any human has its self-identification. The mind is familiar with it. We have our habits and it’s just normal.

After my study I hadn’t been satisfied. There were still inconsistencies and I could not find me.
I speak of ‘I’ but I cannot be defined.
I exercised methods to explore ‘I’. and all I have experienced is that ‘I’ is an idea which is not real.
And when have a trained mind and one lives not his idea something happens what one never can imagine…..it is like to awake from the last dream….

 

When you try that experiment 'there is no 'I' no core', who do you think is actually doing this experiment? Your higher functions of the brain? The brain? It is you that is doing it! You are the driver of your body / mind. Consciousness is objectified in the body and mind. And then it becomes identified as one's body and one's mind. And then the mind assigns that consciousness to brain functions.

And I laugh about when scientists are searching for its place...or think the brain creates consciousness.. (It is a controversy matter to discuss with scientists.)
That experiment proves that searching for a location of 'I' consciousness fails. There is no location...

That what one calls higher functions of the brain are ideas, like the ability to learn, to understand complex matters, to extend relative chains of conclusions. To think. And to have an 'I' idea.


There are IMO two facts which justify that that what I wrote has a higher aspect of reality:

-To think is no verb. All your thoughts are past. Living an idea of what one is is like dreaming. One lives actually presently but is identified with the past.

-Introspection of 'I': There is no 'I', no core. Living an idea of what one is is like living an illusion.

There are only two ways, either it's BS or it's something that is worth to evaluate.
I myself could not ignore these 'facts', I am sorry. When one can....no problem... live your dream...

It is just that tiny movement from I am my thoughts ('I' idea) to I have thoughts. From I am my desires to I have desires. Nothing mystic here, nothing high or low, nothing animal. No science, no study.
The tiny movement to be aware there where the thoughts arises.
gorski, you haven't got what I said. Your "pure feeling" and "pure being" is an idea already and not IT. I am sorry no mind can get what I mean. The mind can only identify IT when experienced....
..and when got by the mind, one writes about an idea of it. The only difference is beyond words. Experience. SOCRATE knows of what I speak, others don't. We have the same experience. No real issue.
The interpretation of that fact is up to everybody. Some think I might be mad, if you feel comfortable with this idea.... ...
So the only thing here is an appeal and no teaching...

 

gorski, is your previous reply to me meant that I should make more effort to try it another way to communicate and you are anyway a bit interested in what I want to say?

I never really know what others think of what I am writing. It is hard to me and my major experience is that if I do most think it is totally crazy or BS. But it isn't (to me). And I actually don't care what others think about. The reason why will reveal when reading.

I gladly take my time to communicate with all I can use here, and the post gets long....I speak from my heart, no theories, no teaching. So please don't complain that it has become a long post, lol.

I have a request, please. We have to forget our study for this moment. I put science aside and you put Philosophy aside. It is a sacrifice for both of us. I ask you for that, because I had to put it aside to experience that what I try now to communicate. It would be rather a obstacle. So only a few words to Hegel. Hegel applies where Hegel has a meaning. And I do not disagree with what you have posted. I try here now to write about a way of perception which is beyond common science and I guess Philosophy also. Yes, I had to recognize that science has not arrived here.


Thoughts are past. The 'I' consciousness has no location. You need now to know how true those statements are to you. I have posted detailed about and to me both statements are totally true. My attempt to communicate is based on the truth of these both statements. There are several other situations and experiments I had which also results to that truth. I could post them as well to have another 'base' to argue further.
So the solidity of my post is dependent on how much truth you can see at these both statements.

OK. You have posted that mind can get things. That is right. But here it's an issue.

My appeal is to see the things as they are and not as they are thought. And you are then answering with your idea of them, or with an idea what they could be to me. That is the reason why they are impossible to be conveyed. They are but cannot be conveyed.

It is similar to the attempt to explain the taste of coffee in that way that there are no differences to the taste itself. The issue resolves when one tastes coffee by oneself. So the issue resolves when you see the things as they are.

OK. Do you think we are using our mind or is the mind leading us?

Most think we are using our mind, hence one says: Hey, what's up? Use your mind to get things. But are we really using the mind?
What does one do if one doesn't need something anymore, is finished with to use it? One either puts it aside or switches it off. So can you put your mind aside when you want? Can you switch it off? Can you stop to think? One might ask now why should I switch off my mind? I need a mind, or I am dumb. I don't know what is your definition of mind. To avoid misunderstandings I define it here simply as thoughts, pattern of thoughts, ideas.

So can one be free of thoughts, can one switch off the mind? No. We have always thoughts all the time. We are involved in stories, we think about past stories, we think about future events. We have sorrows,fears, future ideas, we think about work, family and our and their future. We follow our desires we consume, we search for luck, we have idols, we accept things, we deny things. The mind makes a lot of noise, he is constantly present.

We are not using the mind, the mind is using 'us'. 'We' follow our mind, constantly. We are mind orientated, but can we speak of use of it when we cannot stop thinking??? Can we speak of use of it when thoughts are ever past? Can we speak of use when thoughts simply arise without to have any own influence?

Watch your mind closely and notice that the mind ever tells us stories. When going by bus to somewhere at morning, how many different stories are going through your mind? 5 minutes to go then I arrive, the movie you watched last night, the last issue with your kid, I have to buy milk when I am there, next Friday I have to work a long time, next month I buy a car, my last holiday had been boring, next will be better, I ask my boss for more money....

So tell me now what all that has to do with what you are doing NOW!

Remember you are going by bus. Are you really going by bus? Are you aware of it? Do you live now (going by bus), or do you dwell in your thoughts?

What are thoughts? They are past and they are over!!! So do you live? Or are you dreaming? It's like watching movie, but you are the main actor. Have you actually asked for that movie? Or are it your habits, like I watch all the time, I don't know how it is without to watch?

We are not using our mind, the mind controls us. The mind fills us with noise all the time.
Thoughts are past and over and cannot be changed. The future is thought. By evaluation and jumping through thoughts and the ability to redefine and add thoughts to new complexes of thoughts implies a future.

To change a table to a scaffold it takes no time, to redefine takes no time. The future are thoughts of what might be, but thoughts are past. They are already over when thought. So that what we call future with all our possibilities is in fact never accessible. We cannot change anything in the past and we cannot change anything in the future. But our habits how we use our mind imply that we can! We are possessed by the mind. Habits veil the minds true nature.

I am means I live presently. The present is the only 'moment' I can act. Where I can create things, I can live myself, I can be a part of the reality.

Finally not to forget the mind holds an idea of what we are 'I' which is obviously not real. This we don't know, it had become normal, we accept the mind as it is we can count on the mind.

The humans mind is that much intelligent, far above animals, we can study we can develop, we explore the world. Our mind is so great!!!

Haha!

The mind is a crook and the mind is only a tiny bit of our intelligence. We are that much familiar with our mind that we cannot imagine something else. Most people stay here until they die, without to have questioned the mind.

I did! There were too much inconsistencies. This is the spirit of research! This is living curiosity! Something that is common to question. To evaluate and to see if something could be 'improved'.

I then practised techniques to strengthen awareness. I wanted to observe the mind with awareness. And I figured that something is sick. When I can only act in present, when I can only live in present and I ever am identified with my mind and mind are thoughts which are past do I live then really???

I have experienced that there is a point where the 'I' idea arises and then all the other ideas and thought follow.When you awake every morning and you can be aware of it then you notice that firstly there is no mind, then the 'I' idea arises and then the other thoughts....

When have learned a technique to remain presently, to have focus of and awareness of the present what do you think happens?
Then (your) relative time slows down. Yes! So that what is actually happening very fast becomes slowed down! So you can be aware of the process, it's just like slow motion. And it's logic, because the present has no time. The amount of distraction of the present determines your relative time.

So when exercising awareness I can be aware there where thoughts arise. I can notice the process of becoming. I can remain at being. I can be aware how something that is unformed becomes form. I can be aware how the original 'self' becomes all different kinds of facets. The process is: Something that is as it is flows through the mind, and level by level it loses it's originality. It becomes relative ideas and relative feelings. This happens all the time unaware.


When one looks at the table does one see 'the table' or an idea of it?

Habits are responsible of the lack of awareness of the process. When one does not know what a table is one could never see a table. But the one does also not see the table as it is. The one assigns his idea of that something to it. You know these pictures where two items are in one, it's just the way they are perceived what gives a total different object.

It is a massive bunch of thoughts that are assigned to the table: Wooden, brown, 4 stakes, sheet on top, solid, grained, old, massive, expensive. Each new term has its own bunch of thoughts with it.
And it is always related to the 'I' idea.: The 'table' is different to me. I can touch it, I can use it. It doesn't hurt me when I damage it.

So 'how' real is this perceived table? How real is this table when 'I' refer it to an illusionary 'I'. And how real is that table when I perceive actually its idea from the past?
How real is my life when I am identified with the past?

There is something that is you. That what says I am. And that is now. And that is only real at present. The 'tiny' movement of what I have spoken is just to be aware there where the thoughts arise.There is your Self and from 'this' your thoughts arise and builds your mind. When staying there the 'I' thought has no effect. It happens when the mind is calm enough (and you don't have to watch his program atm).

I am Yen turns into I am. So I live presently and conform to that what the 'I' idea really is, an illusion. That what one really is is not restricted to the body mind, so how can there be anything different to me?

I recognize myself in a flower, but anything I can see with my eyes is not me.
I am the sun and the sun is me. When these oddnesses vanish then you have got what I mean.

So what is that now that I have posted? It is the most normal thing to rediscover that what we really are. It's no teaching, it's a post of intimate experiences.

The mind cannot get it because the mind cannot get the present, it is beyond the mind. It cannot have a meaning, since it has no meaning. It has no meaning, because the present is meaningless. To live presently means to life without an idea of it. Being before it becomes.

I bet now our good old friend the mind is catching this up and is trying to 'think about'. Then you have lost the present, you have lost your Self, you are your idea again.

So what could one do if interested to evaluate what I have wrote by oneself?
To exercise. The only way.

Everyone has a voice in his mind, evaluating anything. It's the active mind. Watch it and watch the mind how he tells you stories. With that you gain gap. To be the observer is the first step to gain gap from the mind. One needs to cultivate awareness, awareness it the only measure.

Try to dis-identify you from your thoughts. When the mind is telling you a story like: Tomorrow I have to work 20 hours this sux, I rather would like to join the family. Let them go. Don't be affected with it and get angry already the day before.
Why? Because it makes no sense. You cannot change the future, there is no future to think about. Be aware at present, go to sleep get up and work. When be aware working (you really work when you are working) then you pay no attention to your thoughts.
And the work will be over without that your idea 'it sux' could be thought again. And then you are happy, because the mind wanted you to see that the work sux, but it didn't thanks to your new awareness.

Eat when you eat, walk when you walk, have fun with your family when you have fun. Ignore the odd mind wanting you to watch his program from the past. Live now. Enjoy every moment. Focus your live there where it happens, it happens now.

You need to make a huge effort. You soon will forget to be aware, you soon will forget to watch the mind. You soon will forget to eat when you eat and you will start to watch mind TV. The mind is that much familiar that we turn soon our Self towards him...and you are dreaming again...

I am the sun and the sun is me. That what sounds odd now will be normal. Living the own self is not located. One cannot imagine what it means because to imagine you need the mind that offers an idea of the past to define it.

Next time watch the sunset. And say: I am the sun and the sun is me. And then the mind starts to tell you a story. No I am not the sun, the sun is far away and completely different, this is odd. No normal human would do that.

Evaluate what really makes you feel odd. Why you are not the sun. Why you are separated and if there is a valid reason to be separated. It is the 'I' idea that says I am not the sun. But that is a past idea. When living absolute presently then there cannot be a difference between you and the sun. I am

And when experiencing that the first time you might cry. I have tears of joy when writing that. It is only a tiny movement which such an immense effect. There is no doubt about anything.......it IS. The world is self-explained and yes nobody wants to hear that. Why? Because the mind wants to tell us stories.

The reality ever was and it IS and will be.



I hope I could communicate what I mean. I wish from my heart it will take a little effect. It is the greatest openness to tell about all that I can have. I open my Self which is your Self which is the reality. It is the most intimate and the only real thing.

It becomes to that what you think about. Don't let it happen. Live IT.

 

I fully agree with it. The body reflects thoughts as emotions, for instance. Mind-body and physical body are a unity.


"You should, Yen. You may actually learn something from others... You know, like others who know less than you in Chemistry - learn from you. You know less than me in Philosophy. It's not that difficult to understand the fundamental flaw in your "thinking" on the subject... Just change your attitude, man... It's poor, in this regard... Just like my German father-in-law, the all-knowing-never-listen-to-anyone-(Why should I?!? I am German!!! []) chemist..."

I am at work and have almost no time. When I have written at my last post I don't care what others think about, then I exclusively mean posts about: "See the things as they really are".

 

No problem, thanks for reading anyway.
I have no claim that one respects my post. My previous post are experiences and my reflections about. To figure if there is truth in them, one has to make own effort.
If not interested then skip it. And to argue against experiences with studied matters leaves me ice cold.
When I experience thoughts as the past then I do. When I experience that the only time where we really can live is the present then I cannot change that fact.
That what you call future is an idea. The past is over. All actions at the past had been made presently. And the future never will happen. That what will happen in future will happen presently.

You have studied Philosophy, I have made practical experiments myself. I have learned mind observation techniques. My post contains experiences I have made the past 15 years.
Your Philosophy is based on study, ‘my’ is based on practical experience.
And when you discover ‘faults’ or nonsense in them, then it is OK. It are your faults and it is your nonsense. To me those don’t exist.
My simple Philosophy ever had been. If you want to know who you are, then observe.
Why should I study theories? Why should I say I think therefore I am is true, when my experiences are different?

I cannot deny my experiences and when these experiences don’t match Philosophy then I deny Philosophy.

And when you say : I know it better.

Yes I know it better. But not absolute better, better for myself.
The same claim as you have, to know it better. No need to assign ‘German’ attributes to it.

That what sounds as pure arrogance is just the right to have own experiences.
I have shared those, if there is nothing useful in them then one can skip, if there is something useful then I am glad.

No real issue. Never mind.

OK, something completely different.

T90, cool , I have the T85 with only 5 LNB’s….be careful not to fall down the roof. I slipped when I adjusted it……and have fun assembling it.