The Burden of Human Consciousness

[RascalPuff]

With the possible exception of porpoises and whales (and perhaps some primates), that we know of, humanity is the only creature that carries the burden of consciousness, otherwise known as - and in the sense of - self awareness, and, thinking about thinking.

Any other animal beholding its own image in a mirror, perceives another animal.

Whereas, the human animal recognizes its own image; plunges through the (Lewis Carroll’s) looking glass - has (metaphorically) imbibed in the fruit of Knowledge, ingested the apple and it’s core...
Has the capacity - and the will - to transcend Nature itself; unhinge Pandora’s box...
Enter the good, bad and oogly...

A cat, rat, dog and bat, etc., are fairly well destined, with some variations, to be what nature programmed them to be.
Not so with homo sapiens...

They - human beings - can be anything.
The blessed and the cursed.
The best and the worst.


Enter the virtuous, the proud, and the profane.
The responsible and the berserked.
The natural, supernatural, and the unnatural.

The vanity and profanity.
The mentality of mortality.
The advantages and disadvantages of only humanly being.

Were a list of the pros and cons written up, regarding the burden of human consciousness, what features - what observations - might appear on that list?

What issues might emerge in a list, essay, or doctoral, based on this titular theme (The Burden of Human Consciousness)?

Best regards,
- RP

[Tina]

[SIZE=2]

Were a list of the pros and cons written up, regarding the burden of human consciousness, what features - what observations - might appear on that list?

What issues might emerge in a list, essay, or doctoral, based on this titular theme (The Burden of Human Consciousness)?

Best regards,
- RP

Consciousness!!!

first to distinguish between non-human and human;

The non-human has one primary motivator and that is instinct.

The human - whilst retaining remnants of instinct has two primary motivators - emotion and intellect.

But the non-human is not automaton - it is unified self - it is a wisdom - it knows what to do and when - no conflict - it follows the feeling within and is true to itself - it does not try to be what it is no.

The human on the other hand is divided self (mutated instinct if you want to GUESS at a cause) It is the combination of intellect and emotion that give rise to our particular type of consciousness. That is the ability of individual feelings (emotion) and the ability of individual interpretations of those fellings (intellect). It is the combination of these two things that give rise to the physiological feeling of THOUGHT/AWARENESS/RATIONALITY. It is the heart (a sensory organ that filters all input from all other senses) and then pumps differing degrees of neuological chemicals into the brain - thought is the physical result of these chemicals acting on differing parts of the brain - language is what we use to describe the activity these chemicals create. Memory is simply caused by chemicals reactivating sites where they had previously been.

The first items I would like to add to your list are Emotion & Intellect = Consciousness

[austintorn@aol.com]

I can never share a mind directly,
For there is no access; we are alone.
Mind melding works only for the Vulcans.
This loneliness leads us to company.

The unbearable solitude of consciousness
Is relieved by literature, social clubs,
Movies, caring, friendships, discussion, writing,
And other sharing acts, but, mostly, by love.

[Tina]

I can never share a mind directly,

And other sharing acts, but, mostly, by love.

Beautiful poem....what the mind needs now is love - sweet love...not just for some but for everyone.

[Profpat]

Hi RP and all;

I believe the elephant is a recent addition to that wonderful list of self awareness.

Self awareness, ( consiousness ), is the only way to travel RP.
Especially if Tina is right and ( Emotions + Intellect = Consciousness ).

Best to all,

Pat

[Tina]

Hi RP and all;

I believe the elephant is a recent addition to that wonderful list of self awareness.

Self awareness, ( consiousness ), is the only way to travel RP.
Especially if Tina is right and ( Emotions + Intellect = Consciousness ).

Best to all,

Pat

Profpat

There are 6 identified instinctive emotions ie - necessary for survival) that are common to animals and humans:

Anger/disgust/saddness/surprise/fear/happiness

We manifest these emotions in various degrees and intellectually describe them as seperate emotions and feelings: eg mild "fear" of strangers = shy

The animal experiences these things but does not intellectualise them: eg
A dog sees a stranger - wary - sniffs around to determine your emotional felling and if does not sense "fear or anger" will wag its tail "happy" and hope for a friendly Prof-pat.

[Profpat]

Hi Tina and all,

Yes they would find a friendly Profpat, however I'm not thrilled when they sniff my genitals and then blow their nose.

I've been thinking about the six emotions you introduced to the forum.

I was trying to incorporate them in my Venn diagram Idea, with love being in the white center and hate being the black emptiness, but I am having problems in that they don't appear to be complementary.
Happiness and maybe surprise being the only positive ones, the others appear to be negative.

Could you solve this for me please.

Best,

Pat

[Tina]

Hi Tina and all,

Yes they would find a friendly Profpat, however I'm not thrilled when they sniff my genitals and then blow their nose.

I've been thinking about the six emotions you introduced to the forum.

I was trying to incorporate them in my Venn diagram Idea, with love being in the white center and hate being the black emptiness, but I am having problems in that they don't appear to be complementary.
Happiness and maybe surprise being the only positive ones, the others appear to be negative.

Could you solve this for me please.

Best,

Pat

Dogs runny nose = allergic reaction to your nether-regions!

These six emotions are recognised in Psychology - just developed my own ideas on them.

Now Prof - I told you before - love is an intellectual response that informs and tempers - emotional responses.

Take Anger - something has triggered an angry response in you eg: a dog sneezes on you. Now assume your initial inclination is "damned dog and you want to scream at the "stupid" animal! Now the angry response is generated so too late about that your heart is pounding and it is hard to overcome the physical intensity - but intellectual response than can temper it by realising the dog meant not wrong " Oh the dog couldn't help sneezing - it was an accident - or he did it on purpose cause he's mad at me, but that is OK -I'll see if I can make it up to doggy". Multiple responses are possible. But with idea of love in your heart prior to dog sneezing episode - guards emotional against likelihood of overreacting - we see this in "loving" people like myself!

Please take my advice and not include love as emotion - see it as an intellectual mindset which filters through and determines type of emotional responses. Same with hate - these are fundamental attitudes, not instinctive emotions but expressed through emotions.

If you must do charts - do one that places differant feelings into
one of the 6 emotions classes. eg Where would you put sulking/crying/frustration/curiosity/boerdom.

Yes happiness SEEMS to be the only positive emotion - that's probably why it eludes us so easily...But I'll discuss that next forum.