Thanks for coming back and giving me your feed back. I do understand your argument. Very well put and expressed, and I wish I could write like you can. Here is my counter argument:
Mind, or thought, is inherently continuous. It does not see the beginning or the end. Can you stop it from being continuous? No, you have no choice. So, it sees itself to be immortal. Because we identify with our own mind, by calling it "I", we believe that immortal is better, and that what is immortal is ourselves. For instance, you say, "physically, there is probably not a single atom in my body that was there when i was say, 12 years old. however, in my mind i still feel some semblance of continuity with the 12-year-old me" Your argument here is that whichever is more consistent, or more continuous in time, is "me". Why? Because your thought, which is inherently continuous, is telling you so. My concept of "I" is not continuous. "I" am certainly not the same person that some people, including myself, called "I" 10 years ago. My "I" is everything including my body, which exists now at this moment and no more. The past and the future both exist now. There isn’t any "I" outside of it. So, I do not feel trapped in my body. In fact, occasionally my body feels trapped in my mind. Mind often does things that are, from body’s point of view, obviously stupid, but the body has to put up with it. Body is often so much smarter than the mind, and I feel sorry for those bodies who are stuck in the stupid minds.
A Random Comment from December 28, 2001
Hi bucket rider,
Thanks for coming back and giving me your feed back. I do understand your argument. Very well put and expressed, and I wish I could write like you can. Here is my counter argument:
Mind, or thought, is inherently continuous. It does not see the beginning or the end. Can you stop it from being continuous? No, you have no choice. So, it sees itself to be immortal. Because we identify with our own mind, by calling it "I", we believe that immortal is better, and that what is immortal is ourselves. For instance, you say, "physically, there is probably not a single atom in my body that was there when i was say, 12 years old. however, in my mind i still feel some semblance of continuity with the 12-year-old me" Your argument here is that whichever is more consistent, or more continuous in time, is "me". Why? Because your thought, which is inherently continuous, is telling you so. My concept of "I" is not continuous. "I" am certainly not the same person that some people, including myself, called "I" 10 years ago. My "I" is everything including my body, which exists now at this moment and no more. The past and the future both exist now. There isn’t any "I" outside of it. So, I do not feel trapped in my body. In fact, occasionally my body feels trapped in my mind. Mind often does things that are, from body’s point of view, obviously stupid, but the body has to put up with it. Body is often so much smarter than the mind, and I feel sorry for those bodies who are stuck in the stupid minds.