Our thoughts, our consciousness, do they have any meaning, or are they just a byproduct of our physical activities?

What if you don’t matter? What if all of your thoughts, precious feelings, great dreams, and terrible fears are completely, utterly, spectacularly irrelevant? Might it be that all of your mental life is just some pointless spectator, looking on as your body does the important stuff of keeping you alive and running about? What actually is the point of a thought?This is the view of “epiphenomenalism,” and it might just be one of the most disturbing ideas in all of philosophy.

What if you don’t matter? What if all of your thoughts, precious feelings, great dreams, and terrible fears are completely, utterly, spectacularly irrelevant? Might it be that all of your mental life is just some pointless spectator, looking on as your body does the important stuff of keeping you alive and running about? What actually is the point of a thought?This is the view of “epiphenomenalism,” and it might just be one of the most disturbing ideas in all of philosophy.In this theory, consciousness is something that emerges from the sum of our cognitive processes — or, more specifically, th<warningtag>e “capacity of a system to integrate information,” as </warningtag><a href="https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-5-42"><warningtag>Tononi </warningtag></a><warningtag>writes. In other words, consciousness is a net product of all the other things our mind is doing, such as synchronizing sensory inputs, focusing on specific objects, accessing various types of memory, and so on. The mind is an overseer at the center of a huge web and is the result or byproduct of all the incredibly complex things it needs to do.</warningtag><warningtag>But if epiphenomenalism is correct, it means that our thoughts don’t add anything to the physical world that isn’t already ongoing. It means that we are locked in our heads. All the thoughts and feelings are ultimately pointless or nonsense. We are like children pretending to drive a car — it can be great fun, but we are really not in charge.</warningtag>

According to epiphenomenalism, we are like children pretending to drive a car — it can be great fun, but we are really not in charge.

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Epiphenomenalism: One of philosophy's most disturbing ideas

In asymmetry lies the real mystery

The Universe has an asymmetry, but that's a good thing. Imperfections are essential for the existence of stars and even life itself.

Symmetry is beautiful, but asymmetry is why the Universe and life exist

Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful Earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.” These words delivered by Swami Vivekananda at the Art Institute of Chicago on 11 September 1893 have left an indelible mark across generations.

Swami Vivekananda On Sectarianism

Swami Vivekananda and Maharaja Ajit Singh Bahadur of Khetri exchanged several letters that showcase the special bond between the two. In one letter Vivekananda even calls the Maharaja his ‘true friend’

Epiphenomenalism: One of philosophy's most disturbing ideas

Symmetry is beautiful, but asymmetry is why the Universe and life exist

The Bond That Moved Swami Vivekananda to Say 'You Are (my) Only Friend in This Life'

Rajeshwari