Once looking at the rain sensing windshield wipers, I noticed they didn't really work properly when there is a drizzle. No matter how good the program is, it still has a finite set of rules and events. The program can have feedback loop to improve its behavior but its still based on finite types of feedback. The program cannot change itself, it cannot understand its own deficiencies that its not programed to understand.
Then it struck me that human brain is also a program but complex. It reacts to a certain stimuli in a certain way. We react consciously or subconsciously react to various inputs/events like weather, position of planets, people and other energies.
We also have feedback loops and accumulate knowledge and learn to react differently (slightly) to various stimuli. But in order to really change our program in the material world we need to tap into the spiritual realm.
Friends I would like to read your comments about this post. I will post new topics for discussion frequently.
13 comments:
Vinks, Congratulations for the first post of the first blog !!! We have embarked on a long journey and I am sure we will reach there.
The first paragraph can be related to the following: (1) What we know we know, (2) what we know we don't know and then (3) what we don't know we don't know. The feedback loop can help us reach the 2nd level but to reach the 3rd level, we require either external intervention or self-revelation.
Will post more comments when I have more revelations :)
Very Interesting post !! In few words, you have brought forward certain engrossing (and complex) aspects of life.
I see that man has created most of the things based on nature. Same way as you said, he created computer program based on human program.
Then few questions arise in my mind: What created the Human Program? What is the purpose of this Human Program? Is spirituality the path to changing the Human Program or is it the path to something else...
As Tushar mentioned in his comment, this seems like the start of a long journey :-) Kudos to you guys!
As Steven Covey said, "You cannot ignore the spiritual aspects of life. You just cannot.". Tremendous progress that mankind has made was not just a result of any feedback mechanism or 'mechanical' learning. Luck, serendipity, chance discoveries have all played an important role in making this world what it is today.
I often wonder are animals spiritual at all? Love, affection, connection and attachment are all spiritual aspects. So maybe some are. But according to Hindu mythology humans are born after 8.4 million different 'yonis' or births and that makes us all unique and special. I think the spiritual aspects of life make us real human beings and superior. Otherwise even insects live, work, have fun and die.
We often use terms ambiguous terms like spiritual which tends to cloud our intended meaning.
As you can see from the definition below:
spir•i•tu•al
adj.
1. Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material. See Synonyms at immaterial.
2. Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul.
3. Of, from, or relating to God; deific.
4. Of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred.
5. Relating to or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.
n.
1.
a. A religious folk song of African-American origin.
b. A work composed in imitation of such a song.
2. Religious, spiritual, or ecclesiastical matters. Often used in the plural.
I think it’s safe to assume that your intended meaning of Spiritual does not relate to religious folk songs. But are you referring to a relationship with a deity and some external non-material force? Or are we using it because we are unsure of the nature of the phenomena we are discussing.
I beleive tha reprogramming the human mind must start with language. If our vocabulary does not have the word or words to express a concept, how can we describe it to someone else, or even conceive it?
If the words we use are ambiguous or inappropriate, how can we communicate meaningfully?
Buckminster Fuller, described in one of his books, (I think it was "Ideas and Integrities, a Spontaneous Autobiographical Disclosure") how he had to reprogram the way he spoke.
By adopting a more precise way to speak he found that his though processes were much more coherent.
He gives the example of using words like sun rise and sun set, when we now know that the sun does not rise nor set not only re-enforces an erroneous concept.
This entails that at some point our children have to unlearn their initial understanding of the phenomena.
This brings me to the intended subject of my post. There have been a lot of studies that indicate that meditation can physiologically alter the brain.
(see Well-being_affective_style)
This is equivalent to modifying the hardware, not just the software of the human mind.
I think by combining Bucky’s software reprogramming approach and meditation, we can go a long way down the road.
I think what you're saying relates to Gödel's incompleteness theorems which prove a limit to what can be known or computed within any formal logical system.
(see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godel_theorem
)
However, it can be argued that humans don't suffer from this type of limit because we can continually expand our programming. Since we are self-modifying prgrams, any input can do it. In this context, meditation or other spiritual experiences are just more radical inputs than most.
The limitation is more subtle. People do learn and or discover new concepts and language does adapt. New words are created or adopted from an other language/culture.
However, language does bias a person's thinking processes.
Does our programming really expand and evolve beyond our lifetime?
Theoretically, wouldn't a baby born thousands of years ago if taught everything a baby is taught today would become as materially and spiritually smart as people today.
So, has the human program really changed or evolved or is it just an effect of learning and sharing new language (as Guy suggests), new culture etc?
My understanding is we're talking about the programming of an individual, not the whole species. My view is that each individual is being continually reprogrammed with each new experience. The programming of the species as a whole is also changing but slowly enough that we hardly notice it.
Guy what would you call the experience of enlightenment. I would call it spiritual, but based on your definition it seems inappropriate. So what else would we call this phenomena?
I was trying to suggest that the program perhaps doesn't change. The change in behavior with new learning is part of the program.
I think only meditation and other spiritual experiences can change the program. No matter how hard we try we will get angry in a provocative situation.
And I think if every experience was really changing the program then why doesn't the base program change for the next generation once the current generation has new learning? What do you think?
I think a major hurdle that we have as humans is the idea that we are better or different than animals because we have this brain that conceptualizes things.
Our base programming or instinct is based on survival not unlike any other animal. That is our only purpose on this planet.
I believe that any other purpose is either directly related to survival or it's created or manufactured by us.
The human mind is capable of many things such as ignoring excruciating pain or manufacturing visions of aliens or crying statues or gods (God?). This doesn't make us any better or more deserving of purpose than any other animal.
Our base programming doesn't change noticably with every generation because WE don't change noticably with every generation. A human being who was born 5000 years ago, if magically teleported to modern times and raised in modern society wouldn't be any different than anyone born now.
Meditation can help us transcend our human bodies and maybe provide us with internal peace but I wonder how easy it is to change our instincts of fight and flight, our most basic survival mechanisms.
Vinks,
Not having reached 'Enlightenment' I'm not in a position to qualify it as being spiritual. I'm also not sure what the term spiritual really means. To my earlier point, it's meaning is too vague.
My gut tells me 'Enlightenment' is a state that is reached by a person, it is a physical manifestation, not necessarily meta-physical.
My current belief is more or less a simplified Buddhism: The human system consists of several interlocking subsystems. We have the low-level hardware that provides input and instinctual fight/flight responses. We have a large central program that is often referred to as the ego. This program is designed by evolution to maintain the physical body. It is extraordinarily flexible and to a large extent self-modifying. However, it often oversteps its capabilities. For example, the ego creates a model of the universe and itself (a world view or belief system). Unfortunately the ego has trouble distinguishing between attacks on the body and attacks on its model. For example, if I believe that universal health care is the best medical system and you tell me that we should privatize for greater efficiency, it feels almost like you’re attacking me with a knife. The ego maintains itself through a continuous running inner dialog. This is frequently counter-productive as the ego attempts to solve problems in the past – reworking old conversations - or it attempts to solve problems in the future that may never happen. This creates unnecessary stress in the body. However, I do think that many psychological/self-help techniques can reprogram the ego at its own level. On the other hand, meditation/spirituality moves beyond the ego. The program is simply turned off. No more dialog. Beliefs, words, systems of thought become irrelevant. In this regard the word “enlightenment” means just what it sounds like. Our mental/stress load becomes a little lighter.
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