God exists subjectively?
November 6, 2016 at 1:57 pm
(This post was last modified: November 6, 2016 at 2:00 pm by henryp.)
We view ourselves as our consciousness, I believe? While physically, we exist in the true physical world, our consciousness only experiences our perception of the true physical world. And that perception of the world is stored in our brain. What sound does a dog make? "Bark." Of course, sound doesn't really exist, that's just a wave that we only perceive as what we think of as sound in our head after our brain gets a hold of it. So is sound real or not? I'd say subjectively, it is, even though it's not?
So we live in two worlds. The physical world that obeys the laws of physics, math, logic, science, etc... And the perception of the world, which does it's own thing. If I think I can fly, in my perception of the world, I can fly. At least until I try to fly, at which point I will fail, and the laws of the world stored in my brain will change "Flying" from "yup" to "nope."
The same goes with Santa Clause. As adults, we know more about the 'real' world, to know that the physics of flying reindeer and traveling the earth in one night, etc.. isn't possible, and that's reflected in our perception of the world.
But a kid's perception of the world isn't governed by those things yet. So in their mind, Santa exists. And you could theoretically point to where he exists in their reality in their brain. Much like a dream, the rules that govern our perception are iffy. In a dream, you could fly, because in a dream you are fully creating your reality outside of the reach of the true physical world, even though you are still inside the true physical world. Sort of like writing a book. Bob can fly in the book. People can't fly, and Bob doesn't exist, but Bob exists in the story, and he can fly. So what's Bob, and can he fly?
Is God any different. For a person that believes in God, God exists in their perception of reality. And our consciousness experiences life through our perception of reality. So it is real to them. To the point, theoretically, we could point in their brain where God exists. We know God doesn't exist in "true reality" because we've updated our perception of reality with more rules and laws than they have. But believers perceived realities aren't affected by that.
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I made this about God, because that's what people here like to talk about. But my real interest is how much credence we should give to our perception of reality vs. reality. Which is more real to an individual? How should we treat the physical aspect of our perceived reality that exists in our brain, and how should we treat others' perceived reality?
If we were to view our perceived reality as valid, we Atheists could also get some things we want (or already haev thanks to this). Morality? Boom, got it. Value? Sure, got it. Meaning? Heaps of it! Those things are just more perceived ideas that don't exist in the real reality, but exist in our perceived reality.
So we live in two worlds. The physical world that obeys the laws of physics, math, logic, science, etc... And the perception of the world, which does it's own thing. If I think I can fly, in my perception of the world, I can fly. At least until I try to fly, at which point I will fail, and the laws of the world stored in my brain will change "Flying" from "yup" to "nope."
The same goes with Santa Clause. As adults, we know more about the 'real' world, to know that the physics of flying reindeer and traveling the earth in one night, etc.. isn't possible, and that's reflected in our perception of the world.
But a kid's perception of the world isn't governed by those things yet. So in their mind, Santa exists. And you could theoretically point to where he exists in their reality in their brain. Much like a dream, the rules that govern our perception are iffy. In a dream, you could fly, because in a dream you are fully creating your reality outside of the reach of the true physical world, even though you are still inside the true physical world. Sort of like writing a book. Bob can fly in the book. People can't fly, and Bob doesn't exist, but Bob exists in the story, and he can fly. So what's Bob, and can he fly?
Is God any different. For a person that believes in God, God exists in their perception of reality. And our consciousness experiences life through our perception of reality. So it is real to them. To the point, theoretically, we could point in their brain where God exists. We know God doesn't exist in "true reality" because we've updated our perception of reality with more rules and laws than they have. But believers perceived realities aren't affected by that.
---
I made this about God, because that's what people here like to talk about. But my real interest is how much credence we should give to our perception of reality vs. reality. Which is more real to an individual? How should we treat the physical aspect of our perceived reality that exists in our brain, and how should we treat others' perceived reality?
If we were to view our perceived reality as valid, we Atheists could also get some things we want (or already haev thanks to this). Morality? Boom, got it. Value? Sure, got it. Meaning? Heaps of it! Those things are just more perceived ideas that don't exist in the real reality, but exist in our perceived reality.
