The epoch of ritual and language is coming to a close.

Of course the neuronal firings came first. I’m only saying that the mind interprets neuronal activities as parables. I’ve been accused of solipsism by asserting that the kingdom is within, that is to say we are equipped with internal or endogenous activities from which we intuit external spiritual realities, Schweitzer thought so. In other words, we are created to believe in a Creator.
I’d recommend the book “What Makes Us Think” by Changeaux and Ricoeur . In that book a neuroscientist and a philosopher debate about whether or not ethics can be traced to physical events, the firing of neurons, etc. It’s a short book, well worth the reading time.

Just read a bit about Schweitzer and “What Makes Us Think” by Changeaux and Ricoeur. For me, they simply amplify the well known shortcomings of human language … indirectly related to the theme of this thread.

Neuroscience tells us neurons fire … create identifiable pathways and circuitry. So a group of neurons fire … and another group of neurons … or perhaps the same group … fire … the consequence being the creation of some human language intended to communicate the “message” to neurons in other human brains.

If true … this confirms the ultimate futility of human language.

Apparently the human brain has about 100 billion neurons. Apparently our galaxy has about 100 billion stars. Maybe this is where the intuition “the kingdom is within” comes from. :slight_smile: Though how many galaxies exist in the universe?

Is the anatomy of a neuron consistent across all life forms?

Still seems rational that neuroscience is a harbinger of an epoch change in human communication … neuron to neuron communication bypassing the need for human language. :slight_smile:

My neurons are still firing away! :smiley:

The human brain is simply a receiver/transmitter device.

The mind is a completely separate and distinct entity.

Lends credibility to the ancient Greek intuition of a universal mind … “nous”

Perhaps the notions of “will to live” and “will to power” need to be re-examined … perhaps. :slight_smile:

Words are vehicles. Meanings and intuitions are their passengers. Other than by telepathy, which does not seem to be headed toward replacing the known vehicles, what could we use to communicate intersubjectively?

Trust expressed through the host of other vehicles such as body language through touch or simple gestures. We do so love to complicate life with our verbability. :evilfun:

Ierrellus … I love your metaphor … it’s so poignant! :slight_smile:

Reminds me of some Indian folklore:

  1. The Indians were baffled when they learned that “human words” could travel by making marks on a piece of paper … they had no written language at the time.

  2. The Indian term “talking wires” at the emergence of telephony.

… and the explosive evolution of technology:

  1. The initial excitement with fax machines … the intro of digital transmission of pics.

  2. The initial excitement with cell phones … the transmission of voice without wire.

  3. The initial excitement of smart phones and their much expanded functionality.

  4. The viewing of brain activity on computer screens.

Perhaps todays’ super techies can answer your question … perhaps. :slight_smile:

Nice to hear from you Wendy … with the year of the Fire Rooster coming to a close seems you still have considerable oomph … your post is profound! :slight_smile:

  1. Apparently we have 2,000 or so sensors on the tip of our index fingers … presumably these sensors have bidirectional functionality. A gentle touch of the index finger can send powerful neuronal sensations to the receiver … though no conscious understanding of the “message” .

  2. Trust is the roadblock … and a yuge roadblock at that!! Apparently the presence or absence of trust seriously impacts the outcomes of telepathy experiments. May also explain why telepathy experiments involving dogs are much more successful … dogs aren’t so cheesy with their trust. :smiley:

The problem with words is that there are too many passengers per vehicle. For example the word “love” is bloated with diverse meanings.
So is "communication’.

Bingo! :slight_smile:

… and adding to that … too many vehicles!

Traffic Jam.jpg

Excessive traffic … words … undermine trust … bring real communication to a crawl.

Trust and communication are intrinsically interconnected … no trust … no effective communication.

The “Fake News” meme is a classic example of an attempt to undermine trust … on a massive scale.

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Source:

patriotrising.com/2018/01/09/sma … %EF%B8%8F/

Was it Marx who first said … “religion is opium for the masses”?

We all know religion as “opium” hasn’t been working so well for a while.

What’s the replacement?

Must be one … the masses cannot be allowed to think for themselves. :smiley:

Today … rather than a preacher on every corner and a church in every village we have a smart phone in every hand and the published content … censored and controlled … is the “dogma/doctrine” du jour. :slight_smile:

Doctrine Du Jour expressed eloquently by Jon Rappoport

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Source: jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2018 … interface/

It was an old abandoned Orient Express, left to rust… of which there are many. I wonder if those involved with their life cycle ever thought that they would end up like that… left to decay from rust and neglect?

There’s something beautiful in decay and destruction…they’re irreversible for one, but they can be fixed - is the imagery envisioned a metaphor for a need to be fixed? and how would we know of what? In my case I had reached the end of the line, and saw a need for my chassis to be revamped and my spark plugs rested. The process is well under way. :slight_smile:

Why temptation? Of what? Of daily responses to things/thoughts?

Reminded of a old joke in which a person had heard certain jokes so many times that he numbered them. 32 ha ha ha. He would hear the number and would laugh. So instead of silly love lyrics, why not 6 4 3? That would be about as effective as shana na na or rama dama ding dong (actual 50’s song lyrics.) Did all this start with hey nonny nonny? But I digress… . . say 75.

The amount of cases of anxiety have risen drastically… is that because we are in your aforementioned age of transition but without knowing the consequences that will follow?

Mags … thanks for your thoughtful response and in particular sharing how your personal experience seems to fit the image of the train. Familiar imagery is often our best resource when attempting to describe/explain the ineffable. Let me propose another image intended to represent neural pathways.

Neural Pathways.jpg

If the above image is a fair rendering of neural pathways one could argue the “old abandoned Orient Express” image you shared earlier is a consequence of crumbling communication infrastructure … ergo … crumbling existing neural pathways.

For me , this “crumbling” is a prerequisite of what is often labelled a conversion experience … the call narrative. In secular terms … a radical change in one’s personal world view.

Until recently my definition of “temptation” was confined to … a personal desire to do something I know I shouldn’t do … a simple example being continue to indulge in my poor eating habits.

Somewhere in the time line delineating this thread I realized temptation as a moral imperative doesn’t exist … OTH a neural pathway that embodies the notion of moral imperatives does exist … either as the result of social constructs or hardwired in the human species DNA … or most likely some combination of the two.

Similarly I now see the term “inner voice” as neuron activity in my brain … caused by some external energy source.

Removed for reasons of lack of clarity.

I wish the stats were available … I believe what you described as “risen drastically” would better be described as “off the charts” literally … and seems it’s a global phenomenon.

Your second comment is equally profound … psychologists have long confirmed the roots of anxiety/fear are so often found to be the “unknown”.

An over simplified example … should we encounter a tiger in the woods … with full knowledge that the tiger posed no danger … would anxiety/fear of the tiger still exist in our mind? Seems to me there would be no market for visiting caged zoo animals if this was true.

T. S. Eliot, in his later years, converted to Catholicism because he found ritual to be a necessity–for him that is.

Ritual constructs neural pathways in our brain … a basic building block … lego comes to mind. :smiley: