Mind vs Body

[Indignant]

doppelgaenger says:

"Everything we experience is part of the world around us, and that is how our mind and body develop. Physical strength and endurance are a result of gravity. Without it, there would be muscular atrophy. Our bodies developed to suit our needs in this world, that's why we are vagrant beings with developed minds and respiratory systems. A human in a vacuum wouldn't have such a developed mind as a civilized person from postmodern culture; you'd find that they share primal psychological development with animals and not much further. Our thought process, cognition, and our personality all develop dependent to the world around us.

Of course, this isn't some zen shit, as if we are one with the earth or something like that. I am saying that without experience, you are nothing. Without thoughts, the mind is useless. Without forces of the earth, the body serves little purpose."

you're still trying too hard. Our surroundings influence our mental and physical development, but it's our brains which are ultimately responsible for determining who we are. Take a person from one environment and put him in another, and he still retains a sense of individuality. This has been demonstrated in case studies involving identical twins who are reunited after several years only to find they share many similar qualities. However, remove a portion of your brain and you essentially change who you are all-together. A book was written by a neuroanatomist in which she describes her path to recovery after a severe stroke left her crippled. In it, she asks "don't hold me to being the person I was before. I have a different brain now."

argh, but there are thousands of people who have similar qualities

[NeoSeminole]

Indignant says:

"argh, but there are thousands of people who have similar qualities"

okay...

[qwertz]

but isn't our mind useless as is? we spent years convicing ourselves and others of some truth that we find to be logical and rational, just to have it crushed in less than 5 minutes by someone else.

for example let's take girl's problem. she has spent years convincing herself and her boyfriend that watching porn is logically and rationally wrong. and then she has a bunch of people telling her that what she thought all those years is wrong, and it is actually her mind is her biggest flaw.

that points out that mind is useless and everchanging, but her appearance is what people will know and accept her by.

only because that is the first recognisable thing about someone.

I had a friend in college, she was great, bubbly, outgoing and very genuine and a 'nice' girl.
She was involved in a road traffic accident in which she sustained brain damage.
She returned 18months later and as soon as i saw her i went to do our usualy greeting as by looking at her she was her 'normal' self.
Over the next few days i came to realise she was a totally different person, negative, aggressive tendencies and just not the same 'nice' girl i knew.

I know this wasnt her fault and the damage was done to her mind..she couldnt help the way she was but she was a different person to how i knew her even though she looked exactly the same.

When it comes down to it, the mind is the over riding factor in everything. Our bodies are just a shell and a machine to keep or minds working.

[ecojeanne]

this depends on the circumstances. there is a lot to be said about a fling with someone hot and knows how to use their hot body. one can last a while with someone who is thick as two planks whereas it's impossible to be with someone who has a scrawny body or at least unnattractive body, he can become my bezzie (best) mate instead---total friend zone. i have to be attracted to the guy as well as ideally having the smarts. my ex was ridiculously stupid on many many occasions, but he was hot and sweet and smiled and was like a sweet puppy that i couldn't resist. oh well. smart people tend to be ugly and miserable quite frankly. i prefer hot, stupid and ridiculously happy. it can be tiring after a while, of course. but so far i haven't met a guy that fills all the blanks. last guy i dated was smart but fcking miserable beyond belief.

so i guess the more good looking one is the more likely they are to have a good reception from the people around them throughout their lives, therefore are used to a good life mostly, and therefore inclined to be happier people...?

stupid people tend to be nicer happier people and therefore more innocent and wouldn't purposely hurt others...?

ugly people spend more time alone and miserable and tend to have more time to develop their brains rather than killing their brain cells by the social life the lookers have?

just a theory

[Junket]

But it doesn't take much to scramble or even destroy our minds.

[qwertz]

doesnt take much to destroy our bodies

[ecojeanne]

they are both connected when it comes down to health. i reckon a stupid person can be trained to be smarter with a healing brain diet such as omega's etc. there have been studies that show the links between diet and brain fuction and IQ

[flea]

I agree with doppel, we are a product of our surroundings and experiences. this is forever changing, as are we. so as to the debate over brain-damage, etc. I think it's inconsequential. if you have damage to your brain, you cease being the old you, and become the new you. it's still 'you', just a new you. this new you then experiences things from its perspective and adds layers to this new being, developing it further. meaning of course that the brain does not dictate what or who we are....circumstances do. it's just the motherboard for our bodies.

let me qualify this by saying that if you were a balloon, and you got popped, you cease to be a balloon and become a worthless pile of shrivelled rubber (a new you). the content of air sustained the old being, and now it is something else, yet still recognisable in some way as the original product.


conclusion? vessels or not, the body is how we are identified. you don't hear of police taking brain samples from unidentified murder victims for identification purposes, do you? they take DNA, dental imprints, etc. we are physical beings, NOT subconscious entities.

[IndiReloaded]

I interpreted Dopple's comment to simply mean that our mind is like a blank canvas. Our experiences w/the environment are the painting on the canvas.

What's interesting is how every person's painting is slightly different. Even given identical brains (e.g. identical twins), you end up with a different interpretation. People can experience the same event and come away with very different conclusions. This is one reason why eyewitness reports are very unreliable.

I remember reading about a study done on natives who were given common objects (but that don't exist in their culture) and they were asked what they were for. The answers were very interesting and different.

[BoredGeorge]

Mind = part of body = constructed by genetic instructions (DNA) which are a protien i.e part of your body. SO sorry, you are not special, your just a fluke. Enjoy !

[IndiReloaded]

DNA isn't a protein, sweet. DNA is a nucleic acid that contains the information to code for things like proteins (and lots of other stuff).

I agree, tho. The original composition of our brain is not a fluke. If we had a good enough computer program, we could (in theory), predict how we would respond to our environment.

[flea]

I interpreted Dopple's comment to simply mean that our mind is like a blank canvas. Our experiences w/the environment are the painting on the canvas.

isn't that what my first sentence said?

[IndiReloaded]

Not nearly as elegantly as I did.

[NeoSeminole]

IndiReloaded says:

"I interpreted Dopple's comment to simply mean that our mind is like a blank canvas. Our experiences w/the environment are the painting on the canvas."

in other words, our brains are the medium through which we express our individuality. Isn't this basically what I said?

[Indignant]

But we are not all that individual after all.