07-27-2010, 12:06 AM
Gonzo this is in general response to your posts...
It would be impossible for you to be just you alone in a void from beginningless time. But try now to imagine it. You may ask, "why would I even want to do that?" Or even if you don't ask this, I'll ask it...
Why? To prove you are individual essence. Or, if you prefer, then to prove you can have personal notions.
First it cannot happen. Not in your body...which was composed by family DNA, not in mind which was shaped by friends, family, teachers, co-workers, partners. Not in perception which knows only interaction in phenomena (all your memories up till today that gives a sense of identity)...at no point can you be in a void alone, just you, as a personal entity without ever having been connected with everything else. If it can't be done, then it can't be so. In other words, there is no personal you that stands alone. And the criteria of individual essence (personal notions) is it must stand alone. No-thing stands alone. You cannot show me anything that does this.
There is a sense of "I" and that's not in contention here. I've stated it previously as the mere I, and this I is dependent, just look at how your body and thoughts are dependent ...so its by proper definition not truly an I, just the mere appearance of one. Not to say its valueless, on the contrary, I see it as a vehicle, just as you do, but you try to impute it with essence it does not have, cannot have, because it does not stand alone.
It would be impossible for you to be just you alone in a void from beginningless time. But try now to imagine it. You may ask, "why would I even want to do that?" Or even if you don't ask this, I'll ask it...
Why? To prove you are individual essence. Or, if you prefer, then to prove you can have personal notions.
First it cannot happen. Not in your body...which was composed by family DNA, not in mind which was shaped by friends, family, teachers, co-workers, partners. Not in perception which knows only interaction in phenomena (all your memories up till today that gives a sense of identity)...at no point can you be in a void alone, just you, as a personal entity without ever having been connected with everything else. If it can't be done, then it can't be so. In other words, there is no personal you that stands alone. And the criteria of individual essence (personal notions) is it must stand alone. No-thing stands alone. You cannot show me anything that does this.
There is a sense of "I" and that's not in contention here. I've stated it previously as the mere I, and this I is dependent, just look at how your body and thoughts are dependent ...so its by proper definition not truly an I, just the mere appearance of one. Not to say its valueless, on the contrary, I see it as a vehicle, just as you do, but you try to impute it with essence it does not have, cannot have, because it does not stand alone.