Stephen was (as usual) explaining a philosophical concept to me. Thank God for him, else I would be a total ignoramus. The Hard Problem of Consciousness in The Philosophy of Mind is this. You can explain in molecular detail the chemical composition of Coca Cola, but you cannot explain what it is like to drink it. This is the problem ' we can't explain what it is like to have an experience, whether it is listening to music, tasting chocolate mousse,...
Do you ever behave in a manner which leaves you wondering what the hell you were thinking? Something came over you? You were possessed? You are not the master of your own house. You must have had that experience where the wrong thing pops out of your mouth and you are so embarrassed that you wish the earth would open up and swallow you. Or you lose it and scream like a banshee at someone. Or you are confronted with a dilemma...
In one sense, at least, life is quite simple. At any point in time you are either busy being born or you are busy dying. In the world today this is usually understood in a physical sense- our identification with our bodies is absolute. This is the reason for the obsession with youth and youthful appearance that frequently endures long past when such a 'youthful appearance' is appropriate or attractive. The inescapable truth though is that nature is a bitch. That beauty...
Do you not intuit in the darkness the eternal sources of our transient being- Freidrich Nietzsche, Being or Existence. Do you have the capacity to still be astonished by life, by this world we live in, does the profound mystery of your being occur to you as you lie awake and alone in the dark, does the majesty of nature, the courage of the human spirit, the sublime melancholy of great art, and the glorious symphony of timeless music fill your...
In considering the psyche it is important to take into account that the psyche is fundamentally an irrational entity. What I mean by this is that the psyche is not at heart driven by rational forces. The concept of reason is a cultural concept which whilst immensely valuable does not describe our psychology. This was in part the great breakthrough that Sigmund Freud made. He saw through the illusion of man as a reasonable and respectable creature....
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