There is no "I" in "You"

[Edwardo Piet]

Quip, I appreciate how you haven't ignored any of my questions so far, you have answered every one. I appreciate that.

Karma - no not beyond causes and effects.

Rebirth - Yes. As opposed to reincarnation (a subtle but important distinction)

Could you elaborate on these?

Emptiness - Sunyata 

Anatta - no self

Could you differentiate these?

Thanks.

[quip]

Sorry if I'm unavailable to rationally enumerate the inadequacy of reason for you.    Though it takes two to Tango...ya keep refusing all requests to dance.

Strange, I remember trying to answer each of your questions in earnest, even after if became apparent that you were a fraud.  In fact......there's even this thing called a forum, upon which records of conversations are kept - to which you could refer.

You simply refuse to contemplate/meditate upon an irrational proposition (koan) ...leads the horse to water......

I'm still not convinced of the thought processes that concluded with "liar" here..but I digress.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't make myself clear?  You're here to troll and tell we unenlightened atheists how wrong we are...about whatever it is you think we're wrong about....not for any of the reasons you've claimed in this thread.  

We discussed why I'm here....you see what you want to see.

That seems to be wholly directed by you. You claimed I was saying nothing...I simply agreed with you, yet now I'm not!  Would you make up my mind?

I am pretty good at pulling troll-strings.  I have alot of practice.

Congrats. Mom must be proud.

[The Grand Nudger]

You simply refuse to contemplate/meditate upon an irrational proposition (koan) ...leads the horse to water......

-What- irrational proposition?  If I keep asking you. I'd like to know what it is I'm refusing. Does that seem strange?
(-again, that's not what a koan is...I don;t know who told you that;s what a koan was, you're shitting on buddhism....don't believe me? Look it up.)

We discussed why I'm here....you see what you want to see.

This song and dance is so very familiar.  We have discussed it, your contributions do not align with your claims.  You could change that at -any- moment.

Congrats.

Thx man, people rarely take the time to congratulate, you know...and it's not like I didn't have to work to get good at it.

[quip]

-What- irrational proposition?  If I keep asking you, and you just keep saying that I'm refusing without any elaboration...........

[facepalm] The OP for starters...ya know the "woo" that commenced these continuous rants. 

This song and dance is so very familiar.

I bet it is!

We have discussed it, your contributions do not align with your claims.  You could change that at -any- moment.

Sure, it's not my fault you refuse to accept or understand them.

[The Grand Nudger]

I'd fire a messenger who constantly blamed the recipients for their failure to deliver the message.  How about you?

What's irrational about the OP..as a proposition?

[quip]

Karma - no not beyond causes and effects.

Rebirth - Yes. As opposed to reincarnation (a subtle but important distinction)

Could you elaborate on these?

Emptiness - Sunyata 

Anatta - no self

Could you differentiate these?

Thanks.

That would require a separate thread...and a Red Bull

[Thumpalumpacus]

I've already given you an example which you've neatly ignored. I've laid out how my own body has changed, and how that has affected my mentality.

Rather than address that, you seem to prefer bandying words.

I thought I did address that one...and a kudos to boot!

Scroll back a bit...I would but I'm too lazy! 

I've scrolled back through the intervening posts. You didn't address my point; feel free to link me to your post where you feel you did. A "kudos" doesn't answer any question, does it?

Now you can scroll back and address it.

Bear in mind that your integrity will be assayed based on your effort.

[quip]

I thought I did address that one...and a kudos to boot!

Scroll back a bit...I would but I'm too lazy! 

Bear in mind that your integrity will be assayed based on your effort.

Likewise my stubborn capacity to refuse manipulative, hoop-jumping.

(It was going well up to that latter part)

[Angrboda]

Anatta is bullshit.

The self is a composite model which the brain maintains composed of things like our history, body knowledge, goals, and plans. It is not available to introspection as such and we access it seamlessly through a kind of recall. It is a dynamic model and thus is constantly changing as new data dictates it change. We 'are' the model.

Where does my sense of self come from exactly?

I'm of the opinion that much of the problem of trying to pin down the self comes from assuming that it need have an objective existence, either as a thing or a process. What if the self is just an idea in the mind, an idea that we have no control over, a model of something that the mind creates for us? If we imagine a pony in our mind, we can turn that image around, stand the pony on its head, put its head where its feet should be and vice versa — the image of the pony that exists in the mind's eye is nonetheless "real" to the mind.

In the same way, I think the self is "real" to the mind, being a model of who and what we are, generated by the subconscious. In some ways, we can analogize it to the phenomenon of blindsight. In some people with damage to certain cortical pathways or centers associated with sight, the patient no longer has conscious awareness of visual perception; yet these same patients, when tested, can demonstrate considerable knowledge of what occurs in their visual field, despite having no conscious awareness of sight. It's theorized that visual perception is handled by two separate systems in the brain, and in the blindsight patient, the visual system that leads to conscious experience of sight is damaged, but the other system is intact.

My suggestion is that our self is a model generated by the brain, like an invisible mental image of a pony, and it ties together things like intangible resources (character traits like patience or smarts), our history (recent projects, activities and goals), and the other aspects of self/control (like our body and its state) to form a cohesive model that the brain can use to manage and predict its own behavior. Like the models of the solar system in which you turn the crank and the planets revolve around the sun, the self is a continually updated model of those resources we have control over, generated by the subconscious, and presented to the conscious mind, similar to blindsight, in an "invisible way" — the conscious mind isn't aware of where the information is coming from, but it can access aspects of this model to determine things like, "Do I have a smart brain?" and "Do I have a limb which can grasp this apple?" and "Do I have the skill to play the violin?" It's an invisible model of who we are, combining both durable objects (like our bodies) with intangible traits (like our skills) into a whole that the brain can use for planning and coordination.

(To be precise, I suspect the brain has several of these models, each being used for different types of planning and coordination activities.)

[Thumpalumpacus]

Bear in mind that your integrity will be assayed based on your effort.

Likewise my stubborn capacity to refuse manipulative, hoop-jumping.

(It was going well up to that latter part)

Suit yourself, kid.

I gather you couldn't be assed to scroll back and see you didn't answer my point, either.

Your loss, not mine. Peace, brotha. I'm done trying to interact with you ... got no inclination to interact with the insincere.