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Can you exist without a body?

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    Can you exist without a body?

    Rene Descartes said "It's certain, then, that I am really distinct from my body and can exist without it."

    In your opinion, is the mind seprate from the body, or do they have to go together?
    Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.


    #2
    Re: Can you exist without a body?

    How would anyone factually prove this? I say with an astounding 100% accuracy..dunno.
    Satan is my spirit animal

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      #3
      Re: Can you exist without a body?

      Well a body can exist, sort of, without a mind, but generally when this happens a person is considered "dead." i.e. vegetative state. Properly brain dead people are difficult to maintain and do not recover. so I don't see how a mind could exist w/o a body... in some form. It certainly could'nt be considered "alive" by any existing definition. So scientifically I guess the answer is no, IMO, based on the little bit I do know. Nothing along these lines is even remotely provable outside of a persons own experience, so it seems like a loaded question from too many sides... You like posting these strangely awkward "questions" don't you B. de Corbin?
      http://catcrowsnow.blogspot.com/

      But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness.... Which could obviously only be redeemed by passing through the fiery inferno of my digestive tract.
      ~Jim Butcher

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        #4
        Re: Can you exist without a body?

        In my opinion, people/creatures/animals at artworks (not pictures, I'm talking fictive persons) can exist without a body. they exist in our thoughts, our imagination. I know, then they doesn't LIVE, but they EXIST in a sorta... wierd way. It's hard to explain....
        ~ flowers are our only garments
        only songs make our pain subside ~

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          #5
          Re: Can you exist without a body?

          Originally posted by Medusa View Post
          How would anyone factually prove this? I say with an astounding 100% accuracy..dunno.
          Actually I think medusa makes the best point of all...
          http://catcrowsnow.blogspot.com/

          But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness.... Which could obviously only be redeemed by passing through the fiery inferno of my digestive tract.
          ~Jim Butcher

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            #6
            Re: Can you exist without a body?

            I wonder what a mind would be like if it wasn't awash in hormones coming from other parts of the body...
            Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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              #7
              Re: Can you exist without a body?

              Nah... especially when the person is dead. I don't think that the consciousness can exist without a body; that's how I'd put it.

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                #8
                Re: Can you exist without a body?

                It's a beautiful sentiment and a very appealing philosophy. In fact, it tends to be similar to the ideas of afterlife. Or, to put in simple terms, is your mom no longer your mom, once she's passed away? I'm absolutely certain that I am separate from my body, distinctly and completely. The collection of cells that create the different tissues, of my body, do not have any real identity without my personality, feelings and experience, etc. Without my mind [et all], my body is just an anomaly. A transport vehicle that is only there, peripherally and cosmetically, as a facade. A store window. Substantial. Physical.

                The number of accurate descriptions for 'who I am' fall into two categories, the physical and the non-physical, or more ethereal. The ones that truly define me, as a person, are not the physical descriptions. Overweight, 5'4", hazel eyes, disabled... Not a single person on this forum knows me by those descriptors. They need a name or maybe, for those that are far more familiar with my posting history, just a brief example of the behavior, habits and tendencies, in the writing, to tell them that it's me. Nuance. Ethereal.

                What goes on in my mind is a far cry from what my body can do and what goes on with my body is a far cry from what my mind can do. Two distinctly separate entities.

                It's a wonderful view of the world, that stands in direct opposition to my omnipresent cynicism. Never judge a book by its cover, it's what's inside that counts. Right? Why is there a difference, there, if they were the same entity?




                "Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it." - Ayn Rand

                "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." - Marcus Aurelius

                "The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice." - Mark Twain

                "The only gossip I'm interested in is things from the Weekly World News - 'Woman's bra bursts, 11 injured'. That kind of thing." - Johnny Depp


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                  #9
                  Re: Can you exist without a body?

                  Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.


                  I don't agree with the entirety of this video but the analogy has relevance and I enjoy the phrasing.
                  life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

                  Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

                  "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

                  John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

                  "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

                  Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


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                    #10
                    Re: Can you exist without a body?

                    Well.....there are bodies that exist without minds - just watch any reality show & you'll see bunches of them! LOL Seriously: in a way, if someone's deep in a coma they are sort-of a mind without a body. Or if someone's paralyzed. But I guess that's as close as it gets. Interesting topic!
                    sigpic
                    Can you hear me, Major Tom? I think I love you.

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                      #11
                      Re: Can you exist without a body?

                      Exist, yes...experience, no.

                      And I think the latter is the point of being alive.
                      Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
                      sigpic

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                        #12
                        Re: Can you exist without a body?

                        Scientists actually believe that it is possible. However other scientists say that the mind is a thing made by the computations within a human brain.

                        "I think, therefore I am" The premise of this is beautiful. His thought experiment was brilliant. (IMHO)

                        I believe personally that a mind can "Live" without a body and thus exist.
                        But I also believe that whichever calculations/computations the brain makes add to the consciousness of said mind.
                        But then. My definition of "Life" is different from most people.

                        I believe "Mind" to be another word for that elusive "Soul" some talk about.

                        Cheers
                        D/H

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                          #13
                          Re: Can you exist without a body?

                          Yes, I think we can exist without a body, I just think it'll be unlike anything we've experienced withIN the body. Our existence on Earth is viewed purely through a human lens that is bogged down with so much noise - hormones, chemicals, survival instincts, bodily functions, emotions - that who we are without all of that is almost an echo while we're in these bodies. I think that when the body dies and our energy is released we become pure existence... no pain, no fear, no joy, no sadness, no excitement. We just ARE. All of the noise is gone and we see and experience everything as it is: vivid and clean, without bias.

                          As a side tangent, I think it's ok to not expect to experience "joy" after death. I feel like as humans, the idea of a lack of happiness is terrifying, because there would be no counterbalance to the sadness we all experience in our lives. But if you exist in such a way that you don't experience sadness, then you lose nothing by not experiencing joy. If THAT makes any sense

                          Me personally, I hope to connect with the cosmic pervasive energy/force/spirit/god that fuels life and just know EVERYTHING. Maybe one moment I can be a solar flare, then the next an insect on a distant planet, and maybe eventually come back around and try on another sentient existence for a while.

                          Oh man, this just led me down a rabbit hole of new thought. Really awesome topic.

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                            #14
                            Re: Can you exist without a body?

                            Originally posted by Raphaeline View Post
                            Nah... especially when the person is dead. I don't think that the consciousness can exist without a body; that's how I'd put it.
                            I believe that consciousness goes back to the great Unconscious, but then I thought, are we talking about the same kind of consciousness? Hmmm, interesting.
                            It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.
                            Ram Dass.

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                              #15
                              Re: Can you exist without a body?

                              I think consciousness and mind are the same thing. What is the difference? What is consciousness?

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