The "emergence" of consciousness

The “emergence” of consciousness from the brain/body is (presumably) not magic, it just hasn’t been explained yet!

That’s assuming consciousness actually emerges from the brain.  We don’t really know.  It's certainly associated with brains, but whether brains are it's cause is anyone's guess!  After all, consciousness cannot be seen, it can only be experienced!  So maybe a tree or a rock is conscious.  How would we know?  It's not as if they can communicate the fact to us. At least not in a way commonly recognised!

Similarly, we are yet to explain how the universe "emerged" from nothingness, or God, or whatever word which we wish to give to that which apparently "caused" it.

Brain chemicals and emotions

"Does the body rule the mind, or does the mind rule the body?  I dunno..." Morrissey

Many people will say that changes in body and particularly brain chemistry are the cause of our emotions (and every other experience a human can have).  But is this full story?

The main evidence for chemistry being the originator of emotions is that if we alter brain chemistry- by taking MDMA (ecstasy), for example, we feel good and full of love.  Therefore this suggests the feeling of love is purely chemical based.

But is this whole story?

If we watch a movie that makes a sad, is it brain chemicals making us sad or is it our interpretation of the movie that made us sad?

People will say: our interpretation of the movie is a purely biochemical event happening in the brain that leads to additional biochemical events which result in us feeling sad.

This seems fair, but where in the brain ca we say the interpretation occurred? Can we be sure such interpretation doesn't happen in a non-physical mind which is simultaneously reflected in changes in chemistry and electrical signals in the body?  We cannot.

Clearly, chemical changes in the body can affect subjective awareness but so does subjective awareness affect bodily biochemistry.  Causation seems to flow both ways.  I understand many people in the modern age enamoured with physicalism like to view everything as flowing from the physical but do we really know this is true?

I would suggest that generally it is the "non-physical" mind that is the driver of emotions and that more rarely the introduction of chemicals or strong electromagnetic fields that are the causative factor.

Consciousness, the brain & materialism

In the eyes of some materialists
 consciousness is an illusion.
But if consciousness is an illusion
 does that mean everything in consciousness
  is also an illusion?

For example, the world exists within consciousness,
 therefore if consciousness is an illusion
  then so is the world?

If consciousness is an illusion
  but the body is real
   (although we only know it exists
   because it appears in consciousness)
 then does that means thoughts and emotions are also illusions?

If we place primary (or solitary) focus on the physical
  then we could say all subjective experience is illusion.
Thoughts, feelings, dreams, visualizations...
  all illusions.
Even though it is these things that give rise to behaviors
  that impact on the material world.

For example, a man visualizes a building in his mind.
Nowhere does this building exist in the physical world
 only in the man's mind.
He goes about designing this building and then gives this design
  to builders who build according to the design.
Now we have a physical building resembling the visualization
 the man held in his mind.

So which is "more" real:
 the visualization or the physical building?

Which of the two can be studied by science:
 the visual image in the man's head
or the building made out of wood, steel and hempcrete?

A scientist does an MRI of the mans's head while we is visualizing the building.
Does the scientist see the building?
The scientists sees a representation of the man's brain
 with certain area showing more activity than others.
These areas showing greatest activity are said to relate
  to the man's visual capacity.
Does this mean these areas of activity are the building?

How does the man's consciousness know to interpret these areas of brain activity
 as a building and not as something else?

Are we even close to answering that question?

Do we really know diddly about how the brain and consciousness relate?

Why governments are corrupt. (1) regulatory capture

Regulatory capture is a form of government failure that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.

When regulatory capture occurs the interests of firms or political groups are prioritised over the interests of the public, leading to a net loss to society as a whole. Government agencies suffering regulatory capture are called "captured agencies".

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture

Comment on the brain, NDEs and consciousness

Written in response to a question posted here.

We need to bear in mind than many people report enhanced states of awareness during near death experiences, when brain function is reduced to sometimes unmeasurably low levels.  That is, they feel their experience is more real during the NDE, when brain function is minimal, that during daily life when it’s functioning normally.

This suggests the brain may be more of an inhibitor to awareness than its creator.  This supports the view of many spiritualists, who hold that we are more conscious when the spirit leaves the physical body than when it’s ensconced within it.

We are multi-layered beings

Physical beings are like Photoshop documents- multi-layered. That is, they have a physical layer, an etheric layer, a spiritual layer, etc.

That’s what make eternal life not only possible, but actual.

And just because you can’t see more than one layer at a time, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist!

The physical realm should be servant to the self, not the other way around!

The soul or self should not be a slave to serve the physical realm; rather the physical realm should serve the self.  That means the creations of social structures that serve to liberate the individual rather than enslave them.

In other words, the soul should not have to become a slave to a social machine to have the needs of the body met.  Additionally, laws should not exist which demand the individual cow-tow to a system designed to enslave them.  That means no military draft and no compulsory schooling either!

The real purpose of the drug war and other corrupt wars

The “drug war” is one of those clever facades created by dark forces to distract from its real purpose which is:

(1) to fund criminal networks that feed vast sums of untraceable money into the shadow government (the power elite, the cabal, the NWO, Illuminati, etc.), and,

(2) to create negativity and fear (which the shadow government feeds on), more broadly, throughout the community.

It could be argued that most, if not all wars, concocted by the US government have a similar purpose.  The “war on terror” channels vast sums from the public purse into the military-industrial complex and the “war on cancer” channels vast sums into the medico-insurance-pharmaceutical industries apparently controlled by secret government players.

This shows the power than can be gained by controlling government policy.  It enables the vast transfer of public wealth into the hands of the few who control the various corporations that are form the military-industrial complex.

Another advantage of the drug war for the power elite is that it enables them to outlaw products that could compete with their own highly profitable ones.  For example, industrial hemp production is banned in the USA as a result of the drug war (although hemp is not a drug just a relative of the cannabis plant) to enable chemical products, which it would compete with, to flourish.

This is just one example of how unhealthy, petrochemical-based chemical products are promoted at the expense of the well-being of the population and the planet.  And the list goes on and on.  Basically, petrochemical based products, which can generally be patented and generate super-normal profits, are promoted, at the expense of natural products which cannot be patented and cannot generate super-normal profits for the power elite.  It is a sick game that these people have gotten away with for too long and it is time to put an end to it!

See also: Political corruption and the banning of hemp
The Illuminati and BREXIT

A free society?

People say: "It's a free country"
But it's only free if you are willing to go to jail
And be totally unfree!

Otherwise, there are an endless amount of rules and regulations
You are supposed to live by.

No doubt some of these laws are quite sensible
But there are many that are totally unnecessary
And corrupt in nature.

Such corrupt laws limit people's freedom
Without providing any significant benefit to society.

It's these laws
That should be struck from the books
If freedom and justice are truly desired!

As a scientist

As a scientist, I understand
Everything must be weighed and measured,
To be understood.

Physicalism demands it!

Social control through taboo creation

One of the powerful ways society is controlled is by "taboo creation".

This may not stop all people thinking of a certain topic but it will stop most people expressing it.

And when something is not openly expressed it becomes unknown and disbelieved by the majority of the population!

And when it is expressed, it is openly vilified by the people and forces that wish to control our minds due to their own fears and their desire to big note themselves and gain acceptance among their ignorant peers!

See also: Taboo: Discussing 911 with an alternate narrative