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[_ Old Earth _] What Is Consciousness?

WIP said:
Interesting. Looks like I learned something new today. Do you think animals have the ability to believe in God and put their faith in Him?
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I share my heart with animals and with creation. Don't you? Kindness, affection and sharing with animals or by caring for nature/plants/gardening is reciprocated by them beyond any doubt. Animals are not just dumb beasts. They too change with love and affection. They NEED it just like we do.
 
I share my heart with animals and with creation. Don't you? Kindness, affection and sharing with animals or by caring for nature/plants/gardening is reciprocated by them beyond any doubt. Animals are not just dumb beasts. They too change with love and affection. They NEED it just like we do.
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Of course. They aren't smart as we are, but mammals pretty much share our emotional states. Dogs and cats seem to have chosen to associate with us, rather than by capture, and it's probably no coincidence that they seem to be most emotionally tuned to us.
 
Barbarian said:
So far as we can determine, no animal other than humans, has an understanding of good or evil. Apes might be dimly aware of it, as a little child might be. But they are innocent as children are. Only we have been corrupted, and need salvation. It's a difficult theological question. In becoming so, we become like God. But not being truly good, we are unable to handle this knowledge, and thereby do evil. Which is what Jesus came and died for.

If anyone says he completely understands this, I think he's fooling himself.

On the other hand, I would not harm an ape unless there was a very pressing need to do so. They are capable of surprising understanding, and God must surely love them.
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post of the day
 
Even my dog knows that we have rules in the house that he must obey. And even my dog can be willfully disobedient. And even my dog expresses shame when in violation of said rules. But my furry 4 legged friend also understands that love overcomes and we also share that. Animals can share a lot of things about creation and consciousness. Ya just have to notch yourself down to their shoes to see how they see things. All creatures are engaged in the creation in their respective forms of consciousness.
 
I like that. I do not trust people who aren't kind to animals. Too many of them are also not kind to other people.
 
Rollo Tamasi said:
The title of this thread.
Can we give it a definition?
Does the Bible address this?
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I only read the first page, so forgive me if I may repeat what someone has already brought up. :)

This has been tossed around before and I have been thinking about it lately so thought to dig up one of these threads and put it back on top of the table. It is my understanding that while the scientists and doctors have the brain pretty much mapped out...that they really don't know where consciousness stems from.

I've come to the conclusion that, before the fall of man, that we did not "think" with our brain. So Spiritual beings must think another way that we simply do not understand (yet). When I first considered this I immediately thought 'center of being'. Which brought to mind the heart. This makes a lot of sense to me. Instead of thinking with our brain, we think with our heart, or...turn our heart towards God.

I believe that there is scriptures which may indicate that this is so. In fact, I think that we may still be able to think with our heart! (Hey, all those teenage girls are right, lol!)

Here's a couple scriptures which speak of the heart:

Proverbs 4:23
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life./KJV)

Luke 6:45
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks./(KJV)

Keep thy heart with all diligence? How do you do that? Be careful what you think about and dwell on! Maybe that's why they can't find consciousness in the brain, because they're looking in the wrong place? The brain is probably just a memory card? Every thought and every word that you have ever thought or spoken is on record in your brain. So perhaps we need to learn how to think with our heart instead of our head?

I tried to (consciously, lol) think with my heart instead of my head to see if I could feel a difference...and it immediately became apparent that I was going internal to the heart (to my spirit man?), and then it dawned on me...The Lord said that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, and that Christ is in us and us in Christ...so this would fit, wouldn't it?

:thinking
 
Wow, just for the hey of it I decided to google the question do we think with our hearts? and found this;

The Intelligence of the Heart:
"The idea that we can think with our hearts is no longer just a metaphor, but is, in fact, a very real phenomenon. We now know this because the combined research of two or three fields is proving that the heart is the major center of intelligence in human beings. Molecular biologists have discovered that the heart is the body's most important endocrine gland. In response to our experience of the world, it produces and releases a major hormone, ANF -- which stands for Atriol Neuriatic Factor -- that profoundly effects every operation in the limbic structure, or what we refer to as the "emotional brain." This includes the hippocampal area where memory and learning take place, and also the control centers for the entire hormonal system. And neurocardiologist have found that 60 to 65% of the cells of the heart are actually neural cells, not muscle cells as was previously believed."

-Joseph Chilton Pearce//

http://schoolofthedeepheart.com/teachings/the-science-of-the-heart.html

Kewl! So if our consciousness is in our heart, then it would be the blood which takes the processed thoughts to the brain for filing and storage?

Leviticus 17:11
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul./(KJV)

So consciousness is sentience, or perhaps more accurately, the ability to think and have thoughts? I think so.
 
I heard some stuff before that, the heart radiates an electromagnetic field out to around 12 Ft., (which they can actually pick up and measure with instruments!)...so...hugging the wife (or someone) would bring two heart fields together...and maybe the embrace and the transference of the magnetic energy from one to another is what makes hugs feel so good?
 
Edward said:
I heard some stuff before that, the heart radiates an electromagnetic field out to around 12 Ft., (which they can actually pick up and measure with instruments!)...so...hugging the wife (or someone) would bring two heart fields together...and maybe the embrace and the transference of the magnetic energy from one to another is what makes hugs feel so good?
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Great stuff.
We believe this, now science proves it.
Great stuff.
How many likes can I give you for this?
 
ANP is produced in the heart of most mammals. I don't think other animals have it. It is produced in response to high blood pressure, and acts to dilate the blood vessels, lowering the blood pressure. It is a diagnostic indicator of high blood pressure, being produced when pressure is too high. It acts directly on the blood vessels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrial_natriuretic_peptide
 
I disagree with his theistic evolution belief (which can be proven wrong) but this is an interesting video on the topic.

 
two things
Some animals God created have Nephesh (will, emotion, intellect) and some do not...
as for the OP I see consciousness as the awareness of self/other which occurs as a result of the spirit of man being channeled though the brain (like a tuner to radio waves)...which equals sensory awareness. There are different levels and types of sensory awareness specific to the creature. Creatures are not or do not possess "ruah"....this is what separates us!

I like Job 12 where it says “In His hand is the life (nephesh) of every living thing and the spirit (ruah) of every human being.”
 
kiwidan said:
Its quite interesting. Science has got it nailed down materially, good stuff, but because conscience is not material how can it ever be answered by science who is the only hope to get the answer. It must be what the bible calls the soul or spirit or whatever.

String vibration?. I think i want to study string theory.
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I'm starting to think that consciousness is in the soul.

When we die, our spirit goes back to God and our body gets buried. Since our soul gets saved this must be where it is. We'll be judged upon on very thoughts.

Matthew 5:27-28
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart./

This also explains we reap what we sow scripture.
 
As a wise man once observed, the mind is not a mere epiphenomenon of the brain. But it might be partly that. If anyone says he understands consciousness and where it is, I would like to see the evidence for that.
 
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