Am I my brain?

So this question has been on my mind for the last few weeks and I cannot stop thinking about it... Am I my brain?

I know that I cannot be one of my human parts because we could lob off a leg, or two... a few arms and other parts and we can all gree that those are not me... because i still exist without them. So that leaves me with my heart and my brain that would possibly be me? I know about heart transplants and that doesnt put one person into another so why would the brain? So am i my brain? what about brain transplants when they become possible? what happens then? Someone please help me with this!

Ryan



a comic relating to this.

No, silly, you are what you eat.

Seriously, YOU are more than random firing of neurons.

But to enlighten you as to what you really are would be too overwhelming and hard to believe.

Take it on faith, or the lack thereof, when you die, you'll know for sure.

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
No, silly, you are what you eat.

Seriously, YOU are more than random firing of neurons.

But to enlighten you as to what you really are would be too overwhelming and hard to believe.

Take it on faith, or the lack thereof, when you die, you'll know for sure.

edit on 4-6-2011 by Fractured.Facade because: (no reason given)

So i reside inside of my brain then? Also thank you for the prompt response, im feeling very inquisitive at the moment.

You are what your brain can interpre at this given time. Push it and find more of yourself!

You never know what is hiding around that cortex corner

reply to post by rudeboyrave


That question depends solely on what you mean by "I" ?

Ask yourself, what am "I"?

In short, continue to self inquire, this leads to the root of the query.

Mind, body, spirit -- that's what you are.

In different terms: consciousness, image, and essence.


The brain is a receiver, like a radio, or TV, or modem.

Why does it feel like i am inside of this person?

reply to post by rudeboyrave


You are what you think you are, you think what you are, are you what you think i think you are, what are you ?
oh snap.. recursive loop.. its turtles all the way down from here...
but i love the comic strip, made my day,
just remember thinking grown up thoughts like these only lead to one place, insanity..
go back, turn around before its too late..
I came to the conclusion it dosnt matter what we are where we came from or where we are going, it ust is.
the moment, your in it or your not.
the rest is just a light and sound show. so you paid for your ticket, enjoy the ride.

I know what you mean about the insanity thing. I have friends who cant even bear to listen to these kind of topics, i dont know if they think its delusional but it sure feels that way! I just want to know what i really am, i know i am not this body... so why am i living this "life"?

Originally posted by rudeboyrave
Why does it feel like i am inside of this person?

Some view this temporary mortal life as a prison. Some also view school as a prison.

Get it?

To the best of our knowledge, yes.

I wonder why it's such a hard thing to accept?

Originally posted by Epiphron
To the best of our knowledge, yes.

I wonder why it's such a hard thing to accept?

The fact that you accept it so easily is scary.

Originally posted by AdamsMurmur

Originally posted by rudeboyrave
Why does it feel like i am inside of this person?

Some view this temporary mortal life as a prison. Some also view school as a prison.

Get it?

I have considered school as a reason for it all. But i think that we would know everything already because this cant be so new. So why keep it up? Entertainment in a lonely "universe"?

Originally posted by rudeboyrave
Why does it feel like i am inside of this person?

This might help much more than my own words....

These are the first six questions in a very short book called "Who am I?"

1. Who am I ?

The gross body which is composed of the seven humours (dhatus), I am not; the five cognitive
sense organs, viz. the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which apprehend their
respective objects, viz. sound, touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not; the five cognitive senseorgans,
viz. the organs of speech, locomotion, grasping, excretion, and procreation, which have as
their respective functions speaking, moving, grasping, excreting, and enjoying, I am not; the five
vital airs, prana, etc., which perform respectively the five functions of in-breathing, etc., I am not;
even the mind which thinks, I am not; the nescience too, which is endowed only with the residual
impressions of objects, and in which there are no objects and no functioning’s, I am not.

2. If I am none of these, then who am I?

After negating all of the above-mentioned as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, that Awareness which alone
remains - that I am.

3. What is the nature of Awareness?

The nature of Awareness is existence-consciousness-bliss

4. When will the realization of the Self be gained?

When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realization of the Self
which is the seer.

5. Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there (taken as real)?

There will not be.

6. Why?

The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake. Just as the knowledge of the rope
which is the substrate will not arise unless the false knowledge of the illusory serpent goes, so the
realization of the Self which is the substrate will not be gained unless the belief that the world is
real is removed.

There are 28 in total, I highly recommend reading on as it gets much deeper... PDF book link

Originally posted by polarwarrior

There are 28 in total, I highly recommend reading on as it gets much deeper... PDF book link

Oh thank you for this. It is just what i was looking for!!!!

reply to post by rudeboyrave


I had a melt down a few years ago think big questions like this, and others .. like does the universe have a soul or consciousness?
are we all just one mind in different bodies talking to ourselves or is there many separate minds here..
many have asked these questions before us, and many will ask them again in the future.
my councillor told me i wasn't crazy, and most people were too scared or unconcerned to ask hard questions like this.
The fact you feel like your inside a body is just one aspect of sensing reality, its bought on by internalizing everything.
Try sitting outside in the forest (park) and feel the breeze, allow your mind to follow the flow past the limits of the sense of body, allow the eyes and ears to extend you mind to the world around you, externalize yourself, but that can be just as scary too.

reply to post by sprocket2cog


I have been getting much atmosphere lately... and it is very helpful.
I hope you never stop asking questions like this... they may be scary but they are necessary. dont you think?

Alright. What you percieve as the world "outside" is in your brain. When the signals from whatever the environment is enter the eye, ear, nerve endings, etc., the brain must select from (I've read) 100 million bits of data and create the world inside your brain according to your experiences, expectations, emotional response to past incidents, etc. Even your "head" is inside your head (author Robert Anton Wilson wrote lots of data about this). Then there are the psychic read-outs of other people's experiences, which, in my experience, exists as a reality. So if you can "read out" the images of other people in your brain, then there is a possibility (probably a reality) of both seeing the future and, if you can see it, change it. So there are signals entering your brain which totally exist as what we perceive as "outside" our heads, and this is the elephant in the room for biological scientists.

You are more heart than brain. In the womb, after only a few days, cells multiply and form a hollow ball. This is your heart. All organs develope out from the heart. The next organ that appears from the heart is the tongue. (speak from the heart). Your heart beat is the rhythm of life.

The brain continues to form and develope even after birth, in fact, mine is still developing. How about yours?

Think from the heart, speak from the heart. The brain is trained to listen to it.

reply to post by rudeboyrave


Yes, i try to think big thoughts all the time, but i balance it out with the little ones and base it in reality. so i try to help others as though they were me for example.
I think there for i am.
Just remember we are in good company with our thoughts, the ancient philosophers would be proud their legacy lives on.
I dont think that the answers are the real gold we seek, but rather the roads we travel in the search for them
the people we meet and the conversations and debates we have are the real gems.
i wont stop asking the hard questions for myself until they walk in with the cup of hemlock