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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Thought Of The Day

ResBaby requested a post from me. And it so happened that as I was washing the dishes a thought popped into my noggin. Indulge me, if you will.

Cogito Ergo Sum... my ass. This is Latin for that well-known phrase attributed to René Descartes, except for that my ass part, which I shall shortly expound upon. The phrase translates to I think, therefore I am. Here is why I appended my ass to it.

Most everything that exists does not, in fact, think. A chair exists, yet it does not think. Therefore, eh, well, that's just a stupid statement.

Self-awareness comes from the ability to be aware of things apart from the self, thus setting the self apart - an entity unto itself. If I was absolutely the only thing that existed, how could I know that I exist? What would there be to think about if nothing else existed?

This is consciousness, being aware of the existence of OTHER things. Only then can we be aware of ourselves. I'll not get into God's existence here except to say that He is the self-aware I AM. You know, being made in His image and all, that makes us self-aware, conscious beings, with free will. And being such, we are responsible for how we relate to other things. Unconscious things are not responsible for what they do. Volcanoes have killed a lot of people, but they are not going to be judged.

A conscientious person is highly aware of others. A self-conscious person is highly aware of themselves with respect to others. An unconscious person is not aware of anything, therefore not aware of himself. A rock is not aware of anything else, it is therefore not aware of itself. It is not conscious but it certainly does exist, although it can't realize this. A single-celled organism reacts to outside stimuli, but it is not aware of anything beyond that with which it can interact, as are most things in nature. There is no consciousness. An animal is aware of many things outside of itself, therefore it has set itself apart, therefore it is conscious.

Can I be aware of things outside myself and not be at all aware of myself? I don't think so. Although, I have lost myself in thought, many times. You know, I used to work in the chemistry lab at school, and everybody learned to make lots of noise as they approached me because I'd be so far gone into my little world that I'd literally jump and throw things if someone just walked up to me and started talking. When you're working with chemicals and breakable things that can be dangerous...

Ergo, Taylor says, "If am not that thing, then I am this thing, therefore I am some thing" or something like that. What the hell do I know. That'll teach you to ask for a post. I shall go away now.


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