OK, Let Me Try This… WHERE Am I?
I’ve tried this before. Negating my way to what I think is the barest of physical existence. I’ve figured out that the body is not me, which is funny because if you ever ask someone to point to their self, they invariably point to the center of their chest. Why do we do that? What is in the chest that can serve as a personal identity? The heart? It certainly does it’s part in keeping the rest of the body alive, but as far as I can tell, it isn’t the center of my being. By deduction, I’m fairly certain that I can still exist without the heart. I’ve deduced for myself that I exist as a function of the brain, and that if I could somehow shed the body and keep the brain alive, I would still exist. Quite morbid, I understand, but I think I would still exist. So I’ve negated all but my brain as being “me”, and I don’t know how to break it down from there. All I can say after that is that I don’t know.
I’m sure that I could lose a great deal of the brain, given that much of it is tasked with controlling certain aspects and behaviors of the body. I could certainly do without the portions that control breathing, or translate optical signals, or process any of the other sensory inputs. No need for motor control, or problem solving if I’m just a brain floating in a tank. So then, in which part of the brain do I exist? Which part of the brain is the command center. And if the command center can be located, where is the commander?
I found this small article that may prompt further reading, but it’s late, and I’m really tired. So I bid adieu, and bon soir.
I guess existence pared down to the absolute has nothing to do with any manifestation, not even that of the brain. It’s what makes the brain possible, or anything that seems to exist. The absolute essence of “I am”, that sense of existing. It’s in there. Somewhere!
I guess, then, I can say that the experience of this mind-body compilation is seen through a very narrow portion of the brain, and that that is witnessed (for lack of a better term) by whatever it is that makes it all possible? That just doesn’t make any sense to me. Whatever that is, it exists when I’m asleep, yet I have no recollection of being when asleep. I could die in my sleep, and I wouldn’t know it. As far as I know, I would cease to exist. OK, more to think about. (It took a while to read and respond to this… dealing with viruses today.)
Peel it back. The essence is behind it, and also is it. Whatever it is! I don’t understand it either. Pure consciousness, maybe, the labels always let it down.