Oh boy, this is a good one.

Lots of us have struggled with finding our purpose in life. In my particular case, I have suffered for it as well.

All of us yearn for a higher purpose, no matter if we admit it or not. For a longer time, I tried to find it, to no avail:

• Science is great in order to explain “how” you arrived here into this world (biology, evolution, yadda, yadda) but rings hollow as to “why”. Survival and reproduction hold very little meaning for most people, myself included.
• You might try to accept your society’s values and climb the social ladder searching for a higher social status, whichever form it might take. This is the “default” state of most people (and so was mine as well), if you just surrender to inertia, this will become your aspiration. In Western societies, it meant“strive to earn more money”. That was deeply unsatisfying for me: You are, in the end, following other’s people purpose, not your own. The same goes for fulfilling the expectations of your family, whatever they might be. Social constructs are not “you”, even if you adopt them willingly.
• You might turn to philosophy, read lots of books, and build huge intellectual edifices of a made-up purpose that your core personality deems to be “beneficial” or “good” for you. I did that, but in the end, like all things built by our minds, all of that is illusory, false. Ego-driven. At some point, your personal philosophy will fail too.

So what’s left for us?

There is, indeed, an instinct or intuition that tells us why we’re here or what’s the purpose of our particular life. But this instinct has been eroded from the human consciousness, and that is a tragedy.

Mystics have talked extensively about the human “Heart” (with capital “H”).

When they talk about “following your Heart” they are not telling you to adopt an emotion-driven, irrational decision-making process, but rather, to try to keep in touch with that primordial “guiding instinct” that we all have (even if most of us have it atrophied).

That instinct, or “perception organ” as some call it, acts as a mediator or link between your conscious and subconscious mind, hence why you feel a huge “drive” if you gain access to it: it is something you want with your whole, entire self, rather than with a part of your psyche.

It manifests as an instinctual, deep “need”. It is neither rational nor emotional. It is more of an impulse or reflex. A second-split decision, so to speak. Think of back when you were a child and sang or draw with crayons for no reason. Sorry if that sounds vague, it is hard to explain.

I am not gonna lie, it is very hard to access to it. God knows it has been hard for me as well. I needed years until I was able to re-establish a wobbly link with my Heart. I needed to meditate a lot, and shed a lot of what I considered to be “my personality”. But the good thing is: deep down, the human Heart is still there in all of us, even if we have muted it by pouring our ego over it.

Good luck with your inner search!

I doubt it.

I recently read a book on the origin of life, called “The Vital Question” by Nick Lane. In it he theorizes, based on decades of research, that bacterial life is very likely to be common on planets everywhere in the universe, but complex multicellular life is probably a result of a very rare chance event. It’s a great but challenging read.

If he is correct, the fact that our multicellular form of life has evolved so far as to have even a very dim understanding of reality is rare and precious. Of course, given human psychology, it’s very easy to become absorbed by our daily lives. Getting food and shelter, establishing and maintaining relationships, etc. We tend to lose track of just how improbable the big picture is. And our species, capable of making these discoveries through sophisticated social cooperation, hasn’t even been in existence for very long. Crocodiles, by time measurement, have been far more successful.

In that sense, we have already realized our potential, that of being able to develop some dim understanding of the world beyond ourselves. What do we do with it? Most people utterly ignore it. Especially, we seem to be very good at ignoring when we are staring into the face of species extinction. What a colossal shame that this rare (maybe unique!) organism will very likely look the other way as the curtain falls on it and planet Earth goes back into its billions of years long sleep!

Yes we are. We are in the process of self discovery. That’s why we observe MORE of the negativity in the world. We are letting everything on the table to make the final decision which way to go.

The ultimate point is to go with the process of self discovery based on simple set of instructions:

1. act on your highest excitement at any given moment
2. to the best that you are able
3. with no insistence, assumption or expectation of the possible outcome
4. remain in a positive state to get the positive result from it.

When just following that our true passion, our best outcome will apear and life will become the fantasy of joy and happiness :)

It’s more than just possible…it’s probable. We’re products of evolution via a regime of classical mechanics. While growing up in that world, we developed some clever insights about it. In fact, we were clever enough that we were able to realize that the classical realm could/did not, in fact, constitute the entirety of our existence. Our cleverness with math enabled us to peer at the workings of a different realm…the quantum. We peer…but we don’t fully understand. And that’s how it should be if the quantum truly is a different realm—it should be difficult to the point of being impossible to make sense of. The classical realm allows us to pin down speeds and locations of objects with extreme practical precision. On the other hand, the quantum realm relies on probabilities and realities that fly in the face of classical intuitions. We may be able to harness a lot of benefits of the quantum realm, yet forever be woefully ignorant of how it truly functions.

But it doesn’t even take a wholly different realm to trip us up. We’ve become so clever that we now can create machines that produce results that we are unable to understand. Google’s AlphaGo/AlphaZero was given only the rules of Go and Chess and then trained against itself for roughly several million games. Each now outperforms all other humans and other extant respective game machines. How? We don’t know. Will we ever understand how? Maybe. We might be able to clever-up a workaround…maybe build a program that can evaluate the intricacies of those machines and then reduce them down to human-level understanding. Or maybe that will only ever equate to having the greatest math teacher in the world trying to explain addition/subtraction to the smartest dog in the world. Some dogs are super clever.

AlphaGo/AlphaZero are only the beginning—the leading edge of a big wave of other similar black-box products—producing results/analyses/outcomes that are well beyond our ability to understand…and on matters more significant than games. Our classical world upbringing has equipped us for existence only in that realm. It should come as no surprise that that upbringing doesn’t serve as an adequate foundation for gaining a full understanding about all things. And, relatedly, don’t mistake cleverness for insight or wisdom. That, too, is something that might forever remain beyond our ability to understand.

Most likely not.

If anything we meat-bags are:

1. Barely intelligent creatures who fail to grasp basics.
2. Troubled by primitive emotional algorithms.
3. Handicapped by a short life-span.
4. Limited by identity mechanisms that get in the way of bias-free thinking.
5. Restricted in our perceptions of space-time.
6. Physically weak.
7. Mentally fragile.
8. Not naturally prone to abstract thinking.
9. Dumb—even at “maxed” IQ.
10. Slow.
11. Pathetic.

Yet for all our biological hardware, we might actually be in the sweet spot of what is possible given our constraints. Which was more than enough to dominate the local ecosystem and produce marvelous works of art and science.

For more advanced entities we would merely be interesting ants.

“Oooh, look at this one. It can do multiplication with its meat parts. Cute!”

The human brain has but one purpose, and that is survival. The brain manages a complex set of chemical systems to that end. The human brain is unique in that it has a survival system based on “words,” that is, thoughts made of sounds. Words are the legos of expressive language. These words turn awareness into consciousness by giving the thought of a personally unique existence a name, consciousness. But, consciousness is simply the brain's way of more efficiently seeking to survive by using a thought and communication system based on words and expressive language.

By using the words of expressive language, the brain translates the pain and pleasure of existence into hormonal action. The brain genetically GROKS the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It “knows” that pain leads to death and pleasure to life, and it pragmatically guides it's organism to survive by releasing hormones. For us humans, expressive language is critical for our survival. If you doubt that words are your consciousness, ask yourself, “Self, if I had no word to describe my self, would I exist? Would I care?” Renée Descartes says “No, if I cannot think [with words], I would not be.” He would probably add, “Nor would I care.”

I think very likely if my theory is right. All biology is aware. Even bacteria and plants. This is due to the fact everything has needs. So it needs some form of awareness to react to conditions. As single cells created larger biology more awareness was required. Eventually the system was so large it needed a central control system to keep the cells alive and meet their needs.

Brains created far more complex awareness, and what we call consciousness.

So consciousness is just complex awareness. Simple. And humans have billions more neurons and a great vocal chord. So 150000 years ago we started developing language, and standardizing it, and thus each word is a complex concept. And part of our brain started thinking in language instead of just feelings and images from previous experience. : The left hemesphere. The right still thinks like all animals.

So that created human style consciousness which gives us massive advantage.

And you get your feelings from the subconscious. Your consciousness lives .85 seconds in the past. Your limbic system gets sensory info first. Then it sends you emotions and an auto response based on your genetic predispositions set against collective learning/experience. Everything you learn goes to auto. Learn a new skill. At first you have to think a lot about every aspect. As you get better you need to think less. Eventually it becomes an extension of self. You just know what to do. You don't have to think. If a musician had to think about every note, breath, finger position, they couldn't play on stage or improvise. Thinking is too slow.

A ball is coming at your face. If you play ball you'll likely just catch it. If not you may just move. But think about it and it's already hit you. We use auto response 90 plus percent of the time. If you don't know something, or you get contradictory emotions/auto responses, and you have time, you can reject the auto response and deliberate, research, what ever, and if what you end up doing works, you've adapted and probably changed your auto response for next time.

To me there’s nothing hard about it.

An excellent question. The mind can NOT Recognize anything beyond its own limited Awareness… by design.

Our Higher SELF, Infinite Consciousness.. which is the Source of all non-local / non-physical finite minds CONCEALS ITs SELF from the mind on purpose.. all for the sake of Creation.

Higher SELF is All Pervasive… and so can GO Nowhere, for is ALREADY THERE. In ordered to APPEAR to GO places and DO things our Higher SELF (which we all share) plays a cosmic game of Hide & Seek.. with ITs own SELF.

At some point in our existance our ‘veil of spiritual ignorance’ is ripped away, our ‘false’ ego is shattered, and we finally REALIZE our True and Infinite SELF. This is the STATE of Enlightenment, where it is RECOGNIZED that Creator and Created are ONE and the SAME.

Until this Awakening takes place our Awareness remains stuck in the dualistic Thinking Mind which is programmed to percieve Difference everywhere, when ‘Ultimately’ there is no difference in Anything.

There is an ancient, mystical saying…

“The one who is seeking IS The ONE being sought”

ONE = ONE …. Not Two

🪷

Because it is not useful, it is a matter of evolution. Why would it be good for the caveman to look up at the sky and immediately have the notion that "this night, 12,583 stars are visible, 5 less than yesterday"? Much more useful would be for his brain to have an oversized part dedicated to logic so that he could invent a spear to confront the lion. Human brain did not evolve to imagine large numbers, but to be able to survive with intelligence...and, eventually, invent a machine that calculates for him.

Indeed, after the count of one hundred, human being has an enormous difficulty in imagining quantities, so that, not infrequently, numbers may assume for us exotic or definitely fictitious values.

Millions, billions, and trillions can be, and indeed are, shuffled and exchanged quite easily and without the least ceremony.

How many particles of flour are in a pound of flour? Thousand? No, probably more. Maybe a million? Or a billion? And if it's a trillion, would it be any surprise? Can you get a good idea of ​​the distance between you and something that is a million miles away? And if someone says a comet is not a million miles away from us, but, sorry, I was wrong, it's a billion miles, does anything change? What if it were a trillion miles? This enormous difficulty in imagining large numbers exists also for infinitesimal magnitudes. What is the size of a particle of refined flour? A millimeter? A micron? A trillionth of a millimeter? Something in the middle, whatever, because even if someone told us, we would not have the slightest idea of ​​this dimension.

To begin with, I want to introduce a word that you probably already know: “ineffable”. Something is ineffable if it cannot be expressed in words. For example, some people claim that the color red is ineffable, because you could never explain to a congenitally blind person what the color red looks like. You have either seen it, or you have not. Something is ineffable if it cannot be put into words. Some people claim to have had mystical experiences, either from meditating or doing yoga or taking drugs, that cannot be expressed in words. I’ve met people who think that having an orgasm is ineffable.

Now, I want to draw your attention to something funny about this word: it’s a logical contradiction. If you say that something is ineffable, you’re describing it with a word — a word that means, “a thing that cannot be described with words.” If it’s truly ineffable, then you shouldn’t be able to call it ineffable. You shouldn’t be able to call it anything. You shouldn’t be able to call it “it”. Prima facie, the word “ineffable” (along with this entire paragraph) is manifest nonsense. This is the problem Kant ran into when he tried to define what the noumena were; you cannot define the noumena because, by definition, the noumena are whatever is there before our cognitive apparatus does its thing and constructs our reality. Kant tried to get around this by saying that his conception of the noumena was liminal, meaning that he only said what the noumena were not, so that all of his claims about the noumena were really just claims about the limits of human cognition. This is dicey, though, because transcendental idealism seems to suggest, however faintly, that the noumena are the source of your phenomenal experience, the impingement upon your sensibility. You know only the manner in which you are affected by (presumably noumenal) objects. But there’s no way to define this relationship because any specific relation between two things (such as logical implication or causality) is constructed by your phenomenal consciousness, and is necessarily a product of your mind.

That’s the big problem: whenever you try to define ‘what reality is before your mind touches’ it, you wind up bringing your mind into the picture. Kant wants to say that there is a noumenal realm (despite is-ness or being or existence or whatever being a category of the human mind) but if you press him on this and say that there is no way to define the noumenal realm, he will retreat to saying that it’s just a liminal claim about human cognition. But if that’s the case, why posit the noumenal at all, or phrase it in that way? Why not just say that there is nothing until your mind arrives on the scene?

That last step is the killer. If you’re gonna say that all of your experiences are constructed by your mind on some level — that there’s no “raw data” underpinning your judgments — then you run the risk of cutting yourself off from any extra-mental reality whatsoever, what John McDowell calls “frictionless spinning in the void”, because your position makes the very idea of extra-mental reality incoherent. And there are powerful philosophical and empirical arguments to this effect. There is a thing called the Myth of the Given, which is a very sophisticated a priori argument against the epistemic efficacy of “raw” empirical cognition. There is evidence for preconscious inferences on perception from cognitive psychology. There are semantic issues with explaining what it would mean for something to be “outside of language.”

And yet, for all the rigor of people like Immanuel Kant and Wilfrid Sellars and John McDowell, something is lost. It’s that thing I mentioned near the beginning. “Ineffable” would seem to be a logically contradictory word. And yet, we can use that word just fine, and we all seem to understand it. And the fact that it is a logical contradiction, curiously enough, simply doesn’t bother most people. The instinctive response of the layman is to shrug that off as a peculiar quirk of philosophical analysis, not to take it as a serious challenge to the intelligibility of the word. The philosopher will say that the layman is incautious and un-rigorous. The layman, however, will respond that the philosopher is simply pedantic.

We can’t tell the difference between the following situations:

1. The brain cannot comprehend itself.
2. The brain does not comprehend itself yet.

There is no scientific or philosophical argument that established the inability of humans to understand themselves. There are other limits to human knowledge, particularly in the domain of logic, mathematics and computation, but we have no idea if such limits are relevant to understanding brain and mind.

Below is an excerpt from an earlier answer I wrote:

There are various kinds of apparent limits to rational inquiry. Here is a partial list:

• Limits of logic, such as paradoxes
• Limits of mathematics, such as Gödel's incompleteness theorems
• Limits of computation, such as uncomputable functions and nonpolynomial problems (complexity)
• Limits of experimentation, such as inaccessibly high energy states in physics, or (perfectly reasonable!) ethical limits in biology
• Limits of theoretical determinism, such as randomness and chaos theory
• Limits of the scientific method(s!), such as the major problem you mention — bridging the subjective-objective 'gap' in order to understand consciousness and its relationship with reality

For an excellent general overview of these limits, I recommend the book The Outer Limits of Reason by Noson S. Yanofsky. We might add one more limit: limits of the imagination itself. Perhaps there are aspects of the universe that our minds simply cannot comprehend.

Read the whole answer here:

What can the human brain truly know about itself and the world around it?

1. After Graham’s number, there is no logical reason to use those numbers, and likely won’t need to use a number higher than that.
2. The universe is several billion light years long. You don’t use centimeters, or short units of measurements, because it’s too hard to understand how big the number truly is. Also, you will be filling up space on the paper for literally nothing, with a near endless amount of zeros.
3. 566743477888347346788888886677545677
   I typed this number into Google translate and started a stop watch, and it took thirty seconds for a robot to say. I’m not going to count three place values to the left, and try to figure out what the number is, with the commas, and try to say it for 20 minutes. After a certain number of numbers, Google gives up and just counts for you. 56784676763464555946946837457575758585858585858585857455844422233552366423358355335655678467676346455594694683745757575858585858585858585745584442223355236642335835533565567846767634645559469468374575757585858585858585858574558444222335523664233583553356556784676763464555946946837457575758585858585858585857455844422233552366423358355335655678467676346455594694683745757575858585858585858585745584442223355236642335835533565567846767634645559469468374575757585858585858585858574558444222335523664233583553356
   five, six, seven, eight, four…
4. If a robot can’t process the information, which technically is supposed to hold a near infinite amount of information, how can I?

We, human beings, are the greatest creation of Nature and the human brain is the most evolved brain. It is generally believed that the most successful people use only six of their brain, mind, consciousness, and potentials for the entire life and the rest of the brain goes through the misuse and disuse atrophy.

Now, let us explore, enumerate, and explain the above statement with scientific evidence.

Brhad-Aranyaka Upanishad (I.5.14) states that there are sixteen Arts (Sodasa-Kalah).

According to the ancient Indian wisdom, Lord Krishna was the master of sixteen Arts.

According to Akhand Sutra, the sixteen Arts are associated with sixteen parts of the brain.

The Scientific Evaluation: Electroencephalogram (EEG).

EEG is a graphic representation of the sum of the electrical activity of the brain and the influence the sub-cortical structures have upon the cerebral cortex of the brain.

EEG is a record of the rhythmic fluctuations in the electrical potentials in the brain and is recorded from the scalp.

With Power Spectrum Analysis of EEG recorded from sixteen major parts of the brain, we can show and prove that we use six percent of the brain.

The Normal EEG:

In a normal healthy adult, we notice a predominant alpha rhythm of 10.5 Hertz from the occipital region of the brain when eyes are closed and the mind is at rest.

The rest of the brain does not show the predominant alpha rhythm.

When we think or open the eyes, the slow alpha rhythm is replaced by the fast beta rhythm.

This normal physiological phenomenon is called the alpha-block or de-synchronization of the brain electrical activity.

The Scientific Explanation:

The alpha rhythm is the reflection of the better blood supply to the neocortex of the brain

The vision is the most powerful sense and it increases the blood supply to the outer three layers of the neocortex of the occipital region of the brain.

As a result, we notice predominant alpha rhythm from the occipital region of the brain with closed eyes and the mind at rest. Hence, it can be said that we use only six percent of the brain with closed eyes and the mind at rest.

The rest of the outer three layers of the neocortex of the brain are not fully activated and integrated with the rest of the nervous system.

The Scientific Evidence and Proof:

1. My EEG:

With the regular practice of Akhand Yoga, I am able to activate the three outer layers of the neocortex of the brain and produce the predominant coherent alpha rhythm of around 8.5 Hertz throughout the brain with closed and open eyes. As a result, I am able to control the fluctuations of the senses mind, and consciousness and also able to synchronize the brain electrical activity.

For various reasons, the above research design has not been explored and used by the leading neuroscientists of the world.

This new research design is part of my Ph.D. Thesis; “Physiology of Kundalini Yoga Power Spectrum Analysis of Electroencephalogram” awarded by the University of Madras in 2001.

2. The Revelation of Divyank, the Divine Constant:

Divyank is represented as ((22/21)10.34419) = 1.618034.

1. The number, 22/21 represents the first stage of creation.

2. The number, 10, represents the ten stages of development.

3. The five digits, 0.34419, represent the last stage of maturation.

4. The sum, 1.618034 represents the most economical algorithm of Nature.

5. It represents the most approximate decimal value of the Golden Ratio.

6. Divyank should be called The Divine Mother of the Golden Ratio.

7. With Divyank, we can resolve almost every unresolved mystery of the universe.

For Optimum Utilization of the Entire Brain:

With the right knowledge and understanding of Akhand Vidya, Chakras, Kundalini, Kundalini Awakening, Kundalini Yoga, Tantra Vidya, Yantra Vidya, Mantra Vidya, Akhand Gayatri Mantra, and Akhand Yoga, we can easily make optimum use of the entire brain and produce the predominant and coherent alpha rhythm of around 8.5 Hertz frequency throughout the brain.

For detailed knowledge, please download and read Akhand Sutra from Akhand Vidyashram.

The eBook is free.

I am a terribly unskilled mathematician (real ones please feel free to comment here but not crucify me for what I am about to suggest!), and I obsess over a couple of topics in the philosophy of mathematics. One of these is the nature of Zero - the Thing that represents Nothing. The other is the Set which gives Zero as its value: the Null set - Wikipedia

I propose an unprovable proposition: The Null Set is the Set of All Possible Magnitudes.

Of course, a reasonable answer to this suggestion is ‘that's dumb, the Null set contains no elements’, but I suggest that (given Godels proof that for every recursively enumerable set there exist members that are not recursively enumerable) the fact that Zero serves as a Limit for the Lengths of covers in analytical terms and it represents the value of the Set there then exists a recursive self-referential relationship.

In this sense, it is then logical to suggest that the ‘non-enumerable’ members of the Set may include all possible enumerations, hidden from view by the nature of the self-referential enumerating method.

The Null set is portrayable as Nothing, but that ‘nothing’ may be functioning as the ‘selected foreground’ to an invisible Everything by the nature of the definition.

Hence, yes, Emptiness is an Irony that may be an accurate representation of the Infinite.

Quora User’s answer is eloquent and accurate.

For me, your question has a fundamental flaw in its premise: the flaw is based on the old zombie factoid that we only use 10% of our brains at any one time. If we were somehow able to unlock this potential, we would be capable of incredible feats of brain power. (I use the term zombie factoid to illustrate that this idea is dead, and wrong, but no matter how often you kill it, it keeps getting back up).

The human brain is finite in structure and capabilities, but those limitations are imposed, not by humans ourselves, but by anatomy and physiology.

And humans are always pushing their brains to the limit. Take chess, as an obvious example of a brainy activity. When Garry Kasparov was ultimately defeated by Deep Blue (chess computer) the computer was absurdly powerful: it was one of the 500 most powerful computers in the world at that time (1996).

It was as if Kasparov were on a bicycle and they pitted him against, not just one Formula-1 racing car, but over a hundred racing at once. And he still won some games.

This was an extraordinary feat of human computing prowess. Computers of course have continued to advance, while elite chess players have themselves benefited from the improvements in deep analysis which computers bring to the game.

Chess aside, every human endeavour requires a functioning brain all the time. Neil Armstrong had to land a lunar module, running dry on fuel, onto a surface nobody had ever seen, in gravity that no human had ever experienced, with (literally) the eyes of the whole human race on him. The number of variables he had to calculate in real time was astronomical (see what I did there?) and yet he managed it flawlessly. Shortly afterward, he delivered one of the most famous quotes in human history.

And when we consider any realm of human achievement: science, music, sport, exploration, the human brain is an inescapable component.

In short, humans don't limit our own brain power: instead we stretch and push and test the limits in every way, all the time. The human brain is the most complex machine in the observable universe. We should celebrate its achievements instead of believing pseudoscience mumbo-jumbo about limits.

The question is:

If everything is controlled by human brain, then who exactly are we? Whats our existence?

You have seen very clearly that there is no “you”.

The next question is: What is it in me, behind me, in front of me and around me that is ALIVE?

ALIVENESS is undeniable, intensely intimate and axiomatic.

ALIVENESS cannot deny ITSELF.

The sure signs of this ALIVENESS are the 5 sensations and the constant chatter of thoughts.

A stream of thoughts are creating the “me” on the fly, sustaining it and killing it along with themselves.

There is zero evidence for a “me” as a static, tangible and autonomous entity with any semblance of an identity, free will or volition.

All of this is very plain and obvious.

What is the nature of this ALIVENESS that is within my imagination?

If there is a deep yearning to know this simple but profound secret then focus on the ALIVENESS, NOW.

It will be SEEN as a very direct cognition that, this ALIVENESS does not recognize any name, form, dimension, cause, beginning, end, destruction, locality, temporality, personality or individuality for ITSELF, but IT simply knows ITSELF as being self-lumious and self-evident unto ITSELF.

Also, IT does not recognize any subject and object division in the field of perception.

IT encompasses the entire field of perception, and by logical extension, the entire creation, as ONE UNDIVIDED WHOLE HOLOGRAM.

This ALIVENESS IS at once the subject and the object!

This is awesome, and at the same time very ordinary, and available to you NOW.

The human brain is a pretty powerful mega-computation device.

To start off, it’s the only thing in the whole world that discovered itself. There isn’t any specific history of the first discovery of the brain, but the first mention of it in history was in the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, an Egyptian medical book detailing surgery created in the 17th century.

Also, it has a massive capacity of around 2.5 petabytes (according to Scientific American). In case that sound out of context for you, I’ll put it into gigabytes, the larger storage unit used on most phones. The average brain can hold 2,500,000 gigabytes of information. That’s equal to 156,250 16GB iPhones. To get even bigger numbers, we can convert this to bits, the 1s and 0s that make up technology itself. To have the memory of the brain on a computer, that computer would need to be able to encode 22,517,998,136,850,000 1s and 0s. That number is 22 quadrillion, 517 trillion, 998 billion, 136 million, 850 thousand.

The brain can also do things that nothing else can. it can process senses, control our whole body (except some parts the spinal cord controls-reflex arcs), and think. The reason we have philosophers, teachers, students, engineers, et cetera is due to the massive power of the brain.

To add to the craziness, we have to remind ourselves that this organ that is about 3 pounds (1.3–1.4 kg) on average that has so many parts came from a single cell in the beginning of life, just makes it even crazier.

Or maybe you’re referring to telekinetic potential like Can Alkoclar was. Well then, there is no brain power.

Hope this helped! :)

Not close at all. It is a fascinating study, and it seems the more we find out, the more amazing it is!

Here are my observations on it.

The human mind is outside the realm of science to explain. Our brain is more than a wrinkled walnut inside our skull. More than a physical thing. It is what sets Mankind separate from any other type of creature.

Even incredibly intelligent animals like the Octopus and dolphins and whales pale in comparison to a life that totally dominates the earth and everything on it. Nothing can stand in man’s way or thwart his plans except the laws of nature, and in most cases he can adapt machinery to overcome those as well. I think of flight, here, within and without earth’s atmosphere.

Man alone, has the power to destroy the earth and cause his own extinction. (Something he seems hellbent on doing, right now). Man is godlike in this.

Man is inherently a spiritual being in that more than having a concept of a higher power and a need to ask the big questions of life, he can think abstractly.

Mathematics is a prime example of the insurmountable gulf between man and animal.Man alone has a concept of eternity and a desire for eternal life. Hence the fact that for thousands of years, he has sought the Holy Grail, the Fountain of Youth, the reason why we get old and die before our time, a way to extend our lives. He rails against death and grieves his loss.

This fact, the human mind, is a powerful argument against evolution which is a reactionary process by definition, not an anticipatory one. Like cruise control in a car, it reacts and adapts to environmental changes, it does not look into the future.

Intelligence comes from intelligence, as life comes from life…

Intro

“Science answers how. Religion answers why. The two don’t exactly have to argue.”

The answer to what exactly? Or which question rather? Let’s try to both guess the questions, and try to answer them.

Why can we think about life, but not understand it? Maybe we can think about life in order to understand and know further down our own evolutionary road. Whether that road be our own subjective progress in the “spiritual sense” or that road being better understood in the strict Darwinian sense — either or.

Maybe we can think about life’s mysteries but not know the answers because the mystery is the point of it all. We couldn't sense the mystery if we weren't aware enough to ask the questions, and then find out that we dont know said answers. Simply put, there is no mystery without both components — asking questions and not knowing answers.

There is also third option, knowing the answers could make you powerful in the game and that ‘power’ needs to be earned; this is a thought I go a little deeper into within the paper below.

Table of contents

1. What I really think…
2. When it all breaks down;
3. How do we not know already?
4. Super powers much?
5. Three levels of being
6. Summary

What I really think…

In short, my best guess would be…

“We don’t actually want the answers…”

What I mean by that, when I say “we dont want the answers”, is not just silly New Age nonsense. I truly believe that these answers, to these difficult existential questions, would ruin our little video game like experience of life. Similarly to this very simple thought experiment. Sit down with your girlfriend and watch a movie. Watch Titanic. But every 4 minutes remind her;

“This is just a movie. That’s a CGI boat. That’s just James Cameron’s interpretation. DiCaprio didn’t really die Lauren.”

See how quickly no one wants to watch a movie with you.

Now, to be fair, just because the metaphor makes sense doesn’t mean it’s true for what it represents. In this case, it represents the answers to life’s wonky questions. I don’t know exactly. This is my deep rooted gut feeling. Which are sometimes just the spicy Thai food I ate last night.

This idea plays off one of the openers, the mystery is the point of it all. The emersion into the little game we are playing — on this floating ball of water — with a brain made of the same ingredient.

The idea of ruining the movie actually suggests two points; we dont want to ruin our own little dream, and we might be inclined to ruined the little mental bubble of others. Imagine a kid in math class. Timmy knows all of the answers and also tries to help his best friend Adam cheat. Here comes the teacher to kick Timmy out and send him to the principals office. Simply put, we cant ruin the game for others, and this might be why the monks run away to the hills — just an idea.

When it all breaks down;

When it all breaks down we don’t know that much as a human. Almost zero of the true fundamentals of our existence. What I mean to say is we don’t know;

1. Who we are
2. What we are
3. Why we are
4. How we are
5. When we are… going to die.

We dont have any meaningful answers to any of them; the who, what, when, where, or why’s of life.

To be fair, that last one on the list might be hidden for a reason. Not too sure how much good would come from knowing when we are going to die. How much benefit would there be in knowing our expiration date? So I added that in one more or less as a joke. Science, as an enterprise, does try very hard to tackle the hows of life — with all of their “Well you see, there is the nine month gestation period with your DNA embryonic sack” type of language.

But when it all breaks down, and you yourself break down in the mirror, it quickly becomes apparent that we know nothing of our existence. We can try to fall back on our 3rd grade understanding. “Come on Zack. Humans are bipedal hominids. We all know this. Earth evolved 20 billion years ago.” But I promise when I say, that’s just a place holder. Much of that 3rd grade serves as a place holder that we put in place in order to hold your psyche… in place.

Sit in a room for 12 hours with nothing to do, eyes closed, and I can virtually promise that all of those pseudo-science thought trains will not settle your internal panic — not even remotely calm you down.

“You dont even know how you move your own hands Greg. But dont worry, you learned the phrase electromagnetic impulse in order to calm yourself down.”

How do we not know already?

To be honest, this is one of the first questions that got me into philosophy and theology in the very beginning. How do we not already have these answers, like objectively proven answers?

We have roughly 400 cultures worldwide, some of which have been around for 10,000 years. We have had roughly 100 billion humans on this space rock and let’s say we have had 50 billion since true civilization started. Billions of people and thousands of years asking the same universal questions, “Is there a god? Why are we here? What is the mening of life? Are there aliens?” You know, the basics.

So we run the math on that and it’s wonky as f*ck that we still collectively walk around thinking, “No one really knows Steve, that’s your opinion about Jesus or whatever.”

We have a few possible options, and anyone that knows me knows just how hard I try to stretch my brain and create a truly comprehensive list — checking all of my blind spots.

1. There are no answers. (This would be something akin to the atheistic approach.)
2. We are not meant to know the answers, for our own sake.
3. Some elite “high-society types” know the answers and they won't tell us.
4. You are meant to find the answers to life mysteries on your own — in your own time.
5. God is a d*ck hiding from us. I mean? That is on the list somewhere.

Super powers much?

Okay, time for another belief of mine. A substantiated belief, but a belief all the same. Quick note: I will always present a paper with its proper header — fact, idea, new thought, belief, or opinion. This section is a belief.

“Twenty percent more self-control and you become a god to everyone else in your life.”

There is a decent chance that we could grow quite “powerful” if we achieved any spiritual insights or answers to these hard questions. Even 4 years of psychology at Rutgers can give Jarod the upper hand in all of his future business and relationships. Think manipulation for example.

People become quite difficult to deal with when we see their inner workings. HINT // most people will be unconsciously living out their last week for the next 20 years of their life. Brenda has been working on her self esteem for 10 years, Bob has hated his accounting job for the last 18 years, and James has been trying to “quit the bottle” for 36 years. Even this basic insight into how every single human operates almost gives up the game entirely.

“Show me 10 people who learned how to walk through walls over night? And I will show you 10 new bank robbers. Show me 10 people who learned how to walk through walls over 30 years? And I will show you 10new sages.”

The idea is just this;

The lottery curse is a real thing. Getting too much too quick can ruin you. Whether that is too much money, in the case of the literal lottery curse, or something as simple as Stephanie drinking too much alcohol — too quickly. Or Lauren marrying her first boyfriend. Sometimes that is beautiful? But sometimes, she needed to date a few more guys to learn about herself before getting into marriage “too quickly”

“What are you saying Zack? I’m lost?”

If you woke up with super powers tomorrow? They would probably ruin you. If you woke up with some actual insights into life's mysteries tomorrow? They would probably ruin you, Humans are incredibly quick to believe they would be the super-hero of their story. When you might actually turn out to be the Joker — dont be so sure.

If you woke up with the ability to shoot fireballs out of your hands tomorrow? How quick until you use that super power to get laid? I mean really? Tinder’s logo is already a flame — so the metaphor is rather “on the nose” already.

Three levels of being

There are, in my best estimation, three levels of being. Three levels of being that we can all act out — in this order of development.

1. Unconscious player // “Drunk playing beer-pong”
2. Conscious observer // “Sober while watching your friend play beer-pong”
3. Conscious player // “Being sober while you play beer-pong”

Consciousness is a real hard topic to talk about without sounding like your completely lost in the new-age crystal silliness. But we can try by using the analogy of sober verses drunk. Sober meaning aware and drunk obviously meaning unaware — or unconscious.

Drunk people tend to lack awareness, motor skills, self control, and basic memory functions. For all intents and purposes? A drunk college b*tch is the walking, no the stumbling, definition of unaware and unconscious. Explaining levels of awareness is hard, and it always sounds so “airy fairy” when we try. But we all seemingly understand awareness when we go down the number line into the negative — one beer, down we go with 2 beers, deeper into 4 shots, and then we bottom out with a bottle of wine. So if awareness can be lost? It is possible, not proven, but its possible that our awareness levels can also go up — and find the true answers to such existential questions.

“Want to explain light? Put someone in a dark room. That sort of thing. Drunk being the dark and sober being the light here. Drunk being unaware, and sober being conscious here.

Now why say any of this in this section? I think the answers lie at the end of this developmental road.

It’s not just about beer pong. Take an argument for example. Inside the heated yelling, you are an unconscious player. Walking outside for a 10 minute breather, checking your thoughts and emotions, you are the concious observer. Coming back in, to talk to your wife calmly, you are the conscious player.

Sometimes we want answers to life. But sometimes what we really want is just a better life overall. Now I can weave up a lot of nonsense, albeit poetic nonsense, but this right here, playing the game of life as “aware” as possible, will probably get you extremely far — in this Mario-esqe video game.

Summary

• “Science answers how. Religion answers why. The two don’t exactly have to argue.”
• Maybe we can think about life in order to understand and know further down our own evolutionary road.
• “We don’t actually want the answers…”
• Sit down with your girlfriend and watch a movie, watch Titanic, but every 4 minutes remind her; “This is just a movie. That’s a CGI boat. That’s just James Cameron’s interpretation. DiCaprio didn’t really die Lauren.”
• See how quickly no one wants to watch a movie with you.
• We dont have any meaningful answers to any of them, the who, what, when, where, or why’s of life.
• Sit in a room for 12 hours with nothing to do, eyes closed, and I can virtually promise that all of those pseudo-science thought trains will not settle your internal panic — not even remotely calm you down.
• “Twenty percent more self-control and you become a god to everyone else in your life.”
• There is a decent chance that we could grow quite “powerful” if we achieved any spiritual insights or answers to these hard questions.
• “Want to explain light? Put someone in a dark room. That sort of thing. Drunk being the dark and sober being the light here. Drunk being unaware, and sober being conscious here.

More to come later…

The question is:

What are things we know exist that the human mind/brain can't fully comprehend?

Human beings can detect solids, liquids and gases through their 5 senses.

Anything other than solids, liquids and gases is pure imagination for the human being.

The fundamental forces are all beyond our 5 senses and so they are all incomprehensible.

However we infer their presence or rather imagine their presence through their effects on totality that are within the domain of our 5 senses.

Example: Gravity is an invisible cause. When we see objects getting attracted towards the center of our planet we imagine the presence of this invisible cause that we have labelled as gravity.

Time and space are entirely beyond our 5 senses both directly as well as indirectly through their effects on totality, if any!

It is therefore very clear that the fundamental forces, time and space are incomprehensible to human beings.

Thoughts are mysterious because they are beyond our 5 senses however thoughts are undeniable, self-luminous, self-evident, very intimate and axiomatic.

Nobody can prove thoughts or comprehend thoughts but then nobody demands proof for thoughts.

Thoughts must logically emerge from memory and so thought is the recall function of memory. thought and memory are one and the same in essence.

No human being can prove memory but then memory is axiomatic.

Nobody demands proof for memory.

So it is blatantly obvious to our intuition (which is again incomprehensible to us) that everything other than solids, liquids and gases and that includes the fundamental forces, time, space, thoughts, memory, Math, Science etc. etc. are all incomprehensible to us.

However it is these mysterious thought/memory that imagines or intuits all of these realities.

Using these imaginations we have sent man to the moon and invented GPS and smartphones!

What does this tell us?

Our intuition or imagination is our only reliable tool!

Because instincts are automatic behavioural mechanisms incapable of answering existential questions.

There’s more to our existence than what our instincts can ever “tell” us. We are blessed, or cursed, with self-awareness — the awareness of not only our own existence but also our own mortality, as well as the experience of loss, grief, and the ultimate transience of everything. Our instincts drive us to continue to exist, but our collective wisdom, intelligence and empathy are needed to figure out why we should, and how to make the most of it.

Well I can tell you from personal experience that we are definitely NOT the body we inhabit. I know this from experiencing Astral travel. I was able to roll out of bed and move freely around with my body left behind in the bed. It actually felt surprisingly natural, but initially a bit frightening, because it occurred to me, “What if I can't get back in?” However, there is no need to worry, because any hint of fear, drags you back into the body instantly, in fact faster than you would believe possible. I sat bolt bolt upright, heart racing, barely able to believe what had just happened!

It is true that my physical body was alive and well, so I don't know how it would feel, (probably just the same) if it was dead, but I'm fairly certain consciousness it is indestructible. Spirits can't be harmed in any way. Our esoteric form is made out of very tenuous“stuff” whatever it is, (plasma?) hard objects go straight through it as if its not even there. If it is made of some form of matter, at our frequency it's not even a gas or vapor, but at a higher frequency surrounded by other things that are at the same frequency, I gather it is at least semi solid and visble. What fascinates me is what material things make up the zone between lives and where does it come from or who makes it. This is one of the questions I was intending to ask Richard Martini before he blocked me for asking, shall we say, “inconvenient” questions like that.

Do humans have the mental capacity to recognize and rectify the errors of speculation about how the universe work??. Do humans have the rational ability to correct the mistakes of past generations.??

Do you accept the premise that Schrodinger’s Cat is simultaneously ALIVE and DEAD??? Neither ALIVE or DEAD?? Is that how the universe works - despite the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics???

Do you accept the premise that Time dilates wherever Length is contracting due to velocity??? Do you accept the premise that Length contracts due to velocity??

Do you accept the premise that the Observer in this solar system is NOT in the center of the observable universe??

Do you accept the premise that the universe is isotropic (despite the Northern Circumpolar Stars, the Southern Circumpolar Stars, and the stars/constellations of the sun signs/zodiac)??(despite the sidereal year)??

We do fully use the human brain … well kinda. But see, the beauty of the human brain is that it’s flexible. There’s this thing called Neuroplasticity, which means that neurons can grow more protein receptors for various neurotransmitters and more dendrites+synapses as well. That’s how learning works.

And even more beautiful, it’s been noticed that if a certain part of the cortex is missing or damaged from birth, the impulses from the body nerves(olfactory, visual, auditory) can simply connect to different areas and create vision/sound/etcetera there. How much flexibility there is we don’t know yet for sure, but there were cases of entire hemispheres missing and the rest of the brain picking up the tab, occipital lobe damaged/missing and vision being processed elsewhere. The brain is flexible indeed.

Why? What kind of answer are you looking for?

The human mind is a small improvement (mostly) over the minds of our near-peers (say, other primates, but others too). It’s impossible to separate the physical factors that make us unique (dexterity, vocal ability, etc) from the ways our minds are superior.

The human mind is just a set of capabilities for brain behavior. It does not “exist” in any physical sense, which is how “exist” usually is used. There is not a spirit or mental energy. Those are just metaphors, and like metaphors, they are non-physical and therefore non-existent.

Why do you think we are “searching”? The fact that we do not fully understand something doesn’t mean we’re still searching for it. The only challenges to further understanding the mind (consciousness in general) is that brains are complicated and our instruments are poor.