“The soul, as commonly understood, we cannot discuss scientifically. Not so with consciousness, and the closely related Self. Isn’t the experience of consciousness and Self an illusion caused by those trillions of neuronal connections and electrical and chemical flows? If you don’t like the word illusion, then you can stick with the sensation itself. You can say that what we call the Self is a name we give to the mental sensation of certain electrical and chemical flows in our neurons.”
ALAN LIGHTMAN
9
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CURATED FROM
Probable Impossibilities: Physicist Alan Lightman on Beginnings, Endings, and What Makes Life Worth Living
themarginalian.org
23 ideas
·663 reads
IDEAS CURATED BY
Beginnings and endings, or what we see as a beginning and an ending, like the coming of a New Year and the going of the “Old” one, unnerve us all. Here is an idea to foster and to share: “What exists is precious not because it will one day be lost but because it has overcome the staggering odds of never having existed at all.”
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The idea is part of this collection:
Learn more about motivationandinspiration with this collection
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Out Of Your Mind
The word 'ecstasy' in Greek means 'to stand outside' of oneself. It is this emotional, unreflective state that we seek out through a diverse range of pursuits - an absence of self consciousness, of being 'abandoned'.
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