What are we actually? Well, obviously we are what we know. However, that is arguable. After all, we could be just that- the mind. Take the concept of consciousness, for example. Makes sense. After all, the state of unconsciousness is as if we are only confined to the mind. We virtually don't know about anything else. Our own essence. Does it mean we are contained only in the mind? If we were to never become conscious, then we wouldn't know at all about anything... except perhaps there may be the possibility we would be "aware" of our own mind. Maybe not aware, but we would certainly only be solely in the mind. In some sense, this is essentially the only thing that's a part of us. We may be able to live without this or that, however, this is not the same with our mind. Once that goes, we are left with nothing. Zero. Everything that we sense, is LITERALLY all that is in the mind. That being said, it is a perplexing idea which is being pondered by some, whether this mind of ours is capable of "magic". That is, if we can use our mind to overcome physical pain, not just the emotional aspect of pain. Can we shape our thoughts/mindset to make us think that a stimulus is not exactly how we are currently experiencing it? We would pretty much do this by telling ourselves that something is not "hot", for instance. It might then be "warm". However, in order for such a thing to work, we must first convince ourselves that this world that we are experiencing will now differ from the one that we are usually used to. If we were to imagine consciousness as art, this would be easier. Then we would have a good analogy. We can try to convince someone that a painting is ugly... even though the painting is fabulous. The same kind of idea might even be applied to our five senses. Could such a thing be possible? So in this instance, if our senses indicate that something (a stimulus) is causing pain, that is then akin to an ugly painting. (It'll be easier in this example if we call upon someone else to be our guest.) Now, let's try to convince the guest that the painting is fabulous. Did it work? If not, then let's move on. Our efforts have been idle. If so, then that painful perception is now converted to a happy one. Or any other kind of perception one might think of.
As I might have written before, the mind is one of the greatest mysteries even in this modern era of ours. Unlocking its secrets has been anything but simple. It's proven to be daunting. After all, our brain IS us. And therefore, it is the exact same thing we are using in order for us to know more about, well, the world around us. And also about the human brain itself! There might not be a more paradoxical conundrum in the history of mankind. Or at least this far we have not yet come up to such an issue in our lives. The very fact that knowledge is nonetheless, effectively ineffective, at least as far as we are concerned. This is a common aspect to our existence, Or to our quest for knowledge. Everything we gather about the world is based on how our brain processes this information. In other words, most everything that we now know is subjective, to a greater or lesser extent.
This has been as summary of my thoughts on philosophy. A little bit here and there, and we will still know about the stuff. Some of the questions posted about on Y! Answers are neat, and have inspired me to write more. ~"And what a going, when & what..."~
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