Comment by carlosjobim
2 years ago
> The human is computation also, unless you believe in souls or other worldly mysticism.
I think it is incredibly sad that a person can be reduced to believing humans don't have souls. Do something different with yourself so you can discover the miracle of life. If you don't believe there is anything more to people and to the world than mechanical processes, I would challenge you to do a powerful spiritual activity.
By spiritual practice, do you mean something like studying the Skanda's or the 5 Aggregates? Or do you mean to open myself to the love of our lord and savior? It does make a difference in how you approach the world if your spiritual practice encourages insight, or if you are blinded by faith in a spiritual entity that is directing you.
A powerful spiritual practice like challenging your own limits and fears to the maximum, or meditation and fasting, or immersing yourself in a completely different environment from what you are familiar with until you know it truly. Or if these things sound too abstract, to take a strong dose of psychedelics alone or with others.
Religious texts are something that can be interesting after sensing some spirituality, but probably not before. I don't think anybody who is not spiritual can become so by reading religious texts.
It's just that you said I was sad because I don't think their is a soul. Because, I assume, you think that there is some mystical entity that is directing the body that is you, and a spiritual practice would lead to that conclusion. The soul would be some essence that is beyond the physical world, (a being from alternate universe maybe?). But then you speak of meditation and fasting. I would say that meditating has been what lead me here. Meditating, examining, observing ones own mind helps one see that there is no self, thoughts arise on their own. There is no core, non-detectable, mystical soul.
We give our minds too much credit, we keep arguing if AI is, or can ever be, conscious, without ever defining what consciousness is. I would say that humans aren't conscious in the way we think we are. There is no free will, we don't decide what we think about, if you think about thinking, where does the first thought come from?
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What is a powerful spiritual activity you’d recommend?
I'm pasting my response from above:
A powerful spiritual practice like challenging your own limits and fears to the maximum, or meditation and fasting, or immersing yourself in a completely different environment from what you are familiar with until you know it truly. Or if these things sound too abstract, to take a strong dose of psychedelics alone or with others.
What's sad about it?