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Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

sheldrake.org

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Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#261
post #208

If the sun is conscious, that could explain why humanity believes in a powerful god that can, eg, send floods. Perhaps the flood was caused by a coronal mass ejection that boiled a section of the ocean, causing extreme rains in a valley region. Let's imagine that the consciousness field of the sun encompasses all of our minds.. so thinking about it might let us talk to it. So prayer could be real too. They can probab…

> Let's imagine that the consciousness field of the sun encompasses all of our minds.. so thinking about it might let us talk to it. We can of course imagine whatever we want, but what does "consciousness field" mean? (Or perhaps we imagine consciousness fields in general before we imagine anything about the sun's?)

Speaking only about human consciousness here, there’s a perspective that many people don’t contemplate. Most of us feel like we’re inside our heads. We’re looking out at the world “out there”, and our eyes are like windows to that outside world.

But it seems that instead everything we see is rooted in consciousness. A projection based on the combined raw inputs of our sense organs all made into this continuous experience by our brains. So when other phenomena “out there” occurs, it’s not just something we “see”, but it’s also something we are, e.g. a bird flying in the distance isn’t just “out there”, it’s rendered fully by our own minds, alongside the other processes of our brains and within the same conscious space that contains all other aspects of experience, both internal and “external”.

I’m not saying I believe the sun is conscious, but for sake of argument, let’s say it is. Whatever it means for the sun to be conscious, one could theoretically conclude that to whatever degree our thinking minds cause physically measurable phenomena, and to whatever extent that phenomena is “detectable” by or interacts with other conscious entities, some form of “communication” could occur.

But since we don’t know what consciousness is, and whether it is truly an emergent property or as some on the fringes believe, a more fundamental property of the universe, the term “consciousness field” seems mostly meaningless outside of our own first-hand subjective experience of being conscious of the world around us.

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#262
If there's really a "recent panpsychist turn in philosophy", then my first thought wouldn't be that philosophers spent a long time thinking about it so maybe the sun really is alive, it's that maybe the institution we call "philosophy" is slipping away from credibility.

There's value in considering these kinds of things, but maybe only a little more than exploring the lore of a fantasy novel. Maybe elves really are related to dragons but it feels safe to assume the universe where that question is relevant is far away from us and I'm not invested at all in the speculation.

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#263
I think panpsychism might be explained as an observation of prevalence of goal-oriented behavior [1]. In a nutshell, as M. Levine said (paraphrasing) "evolution doesn't create solutions but rather it creates problem solving machines", so it is natural (to me) that we can expect evolutionary systems that are old enough (biological lineages, and star systems) to accumulate behaviors that we now see as "goal-oriented" where the goal is perceived by us as a problem to be solved or a set of problems to be solved, in a particular way that is related and explained by the evolutionary trajectory of the system being studied but might not be "justified" outside of this particular historical frame.

1. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2021.7206...

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#264

When you pray to the sun god it won't hear for 8 minutes, and then you need to wait for another 8 minutes for the response. Just basic physics. If it's an emergency the sun can't help you, better luck praying to the moon.

Rookie move. My prayers with the sun are entangled.

Entanglement happens at the speed of light though.

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#265

I'm an extremely strong believer that the sun has consciousness. I think there exists quantum processes that causes consciousness and that suns, gravitons, etc. all have it. I likely won't be alive to ever find out, but if someone does discover it, I hope a historian finds this thread :)

You missed out the bit about crystals, and how our vibrations influence our aura.

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#266

When you pray to the sun god it won't hear for 8 minutes, and then you need to wait for another 8 minutes for the response. Just basic physics. If it's an emergency the sun can't help you, better luck praying to the moon.

Near-death experiencers almost always describe a bright light. The sun is a bright light. The math checks out. Sun is God.

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rookie move. My prayers with the sun are entangled.

Entanglement happens at the speed of light though.

Thow of little faith. But yeah, relevant discussion: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chadorzel/2016/05/04/the-real-r...

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#268

If there's really a "recent panpsychist turn in philosophy", then my first thought wouldn't be that philosophers spent a long time thinking about it so maybe the sun really is alive, it's that maybe the institution we call "philosophy" is slipping away from credibility. There's value in considering these kinds of things, but maybe only a little more than exploring the lore of a fantasy novel. Maybe elves really are r…

Luckily, “philosophy” is about as monolithic as “the tech industry”. To briefly defend this discourse, even though I don’t find it helpful: the point isn’t that the sun is like a person, the point is that people are objects. AKA this essay is about ChatGPT’s ability to have rights, ultimately.

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#269
This universe is an imagination of the cosmic mind behind which there is immutable conscious just like our dreams are imagination of our mind. Just like our dream, the universe is simulated inside the cosmic mind only.

At the subtlest level, we're one with that cosmic consciousness. Realization is experiencing that oneness (aham brahmasmi).

Just like in lucid dreams, we become aware that we're inside a dream and not a reality. upon awakening, one realizes the dream-like nature of this world. Then only, one becomes free from suffering which is caused by identification (attachment) to false (imagined) entities.

Only with experience the realization dawns and the mind is freed from its ignorance; intellectual understanding can neither brings such experience nor can break the ignorance of the mind.

Re: Is the Sun Conscious? (2021) [pdf]

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a strong believer that humans only experience a limited amount of the full experience that is available with consciousness. We have no idea what perceived sensations a start might have. Maybe stars operate on a quantum level that we don't understand yet.

I am extremely skeptical about all things regarding consciousness, and nothing stated in this thread has done anything to reduce my skepticism. We barely know anything about human consciousness, I feel we are under qualified to speak with conviction about anything else's level of consciousness.

> I feel we are under qualified to speak with conviction about anything else's level of consciousness

You don't need to feel that ... that's the truth!

There is not a human being alive on the planet at the moment who can explain consciousness.

Not even Chalmers.

"David Chalmers - Is Consciousness Fundamental? - Closer To Truth"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDHN6A8y6qY

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