Posted by smokeymadison on July 29, 2005, at 12:54:02
In reply to A Realist Aspect to the Interpretation of Selves, posted by alexandra_k on July 21, 2005, at 18:48:10
The Brain--is wider than the sky--
For--put them side by side--
The one the other will contain
With ease--and You--beside--The Brain is deeper than the sea--
For--hold them--Blue to Blue--
The one the other will absorb--
As Sponges--Buckets--doThe Brain is just the weight of God--
For--Heft them--Pound for Pound--
And they will differ--if they do--
As Syllable from Sound--Emily Dickinson
alexandra k,
is it fair to assume that what we consider the mind to be contains our "self," real or imagined? if so, and if the mind has no bounds, as implied in this poem, then how can our "selves" have bounds, or even exist as closed systems within the mind?-are we are capable of what our mind is capable?
-how can we be studied with traditional scientific methods if we are not closed systems?just some thoughts...
i have said a lot about memory as a key factor in the structure of what we think of as our self. another idea--memory itself is not purely a personal construct. much of it depends on the environment to be formed and then to be retrieved. an event has to be significant enough (the environment provokes a response) to be "stored." in order to retrieve the memory, something in the environment has to trigger an association in order for us to remember. so even that which we tend to think of as "us," based upon our memories, depends greatly upon that which is beyond our physical brain.
not sure how logical this all sounds...
SM
poster:smokeymadison
thread:531091
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20050621/msgs/535300.html