Someone here

Long read ahead..so go make some coffee This question is actually one of the deepest philosophical questions one may think of, and I am not absolutely sure if everyone who provided their answers in this topic fully understands the underlying thought of this question. It is a very intriguing question, and it is very hard to formalize in words. “Why am I me?” is indeed the best possible wording if we try to put it into English, but it still fails to provide an immediate clarity of what this question is about. Let me share with you some of my personal experience around this question first. I do not remember exactly when I asked myself “why am I me?” for the first time in my life, but it definitely was before my 5 or even before my 4. One of my very early memories related to this question was a sudden “discovery” that all adults (including my parents) were blind. Literally! OK, let me explain. I was a very young child (I do not even know what my age was, but I remember myself lying in a baby bed) when my mom came to my bed and started talking to me. And when I looked at her face (specifically paying attention to her eyes), I surprisingly discovered I could not see the world from her location. I cannot explain why, but back then, I expected that presence of someone else’s eyes would have immediately resulted in my ability to perceive the world from their point of view. It may seem ridiculous to you (and to present “me” as well), but at that time I probably failed to fully understand that my perception was only “my” perception .. I expected a somewhat “global shared field of perception” to exist. Of course, I did not (and could not) put this logic into words then, it was merely a vague “feeling”, but I do remember it well. And more and more observations of other adults at that time led me to a conclusion that they just cannot see, their eyes are somewhat “empty”. That funny story was not like directly asking “why am I me?” yet, but it was a kind of a “prerequisite” to it. Much older, when I already possessed a more “adult” understanding of the world (i.e. I already knew other people could see as well, I already knew I had not been always existing , as I initially used to think, I already knew children and adults were just different stages of aging, and not two “fundamentally different sorts of people” as it seemed to me earlier), but still being young enough (no more than in my 4 or 5) this question came to me for the first time. I did not have any wording for it yet - back then I just called it this question for myself. Much later, I found a somewhat suitable verbal form for it ..and it was “Why am I me?” . This question was so strange, so hard to explain, so hopeless to be ever answered, that it made me feel helpless every time I tried to think of it for long enough. It was sometimes even scary to think of it deeply, but at the same time my curiosity made me come back to it again and again. And today ..I'm finally able to find the answer to this question for myself. How ? Well,I noticed a very strange and unexplainable thing (and also it was somewhat frightening): I am “the center” of perception, “the center” of consciousness, “the center” of self-awareness. That was not anyone else but me. It made me feel as I was a very special, a very unique human being on the whole Earth.Why me? How come I was born such an unusual creature, not like anyone else? But on the other hand, I already understood that no one would believe I was special if I dared to tell it to anybody. So, I kept my “discovery” in a deep secret. And, frankly speaking, it did not feel that bad at all to be the unique center of perceptionBut I realized I would probably never find any explanation to that fact - and it was depressing. I am the center of perception in the Universe. At least, it is the way I feel it. Although I know that any other person feels the same, this knowledge comes from my daily practice. I can never be 100% sure that other people are conscious. Theoretically, there is a possibility that all other people are philosophical zombies.they act as if they had consciousness, and even if you ask any of them if that person is conscious, they will undoubtedly say “yes” .but it does not prove they are conscious .. they can be “programmed” this way. Of course, it is merely a theoretical possibility, but it cannot be scientifically disproven. As to myself, I am fully aware that I am conscious and not a philosophical zombie. Then a few months ago ..I stumbled upon Leo's solipsism video ..and since then my whole life changed and there is no going back . I awakened to what Leo calls "Absolute Solipsism " I can go even further then the classical concept of solipsism, and I can also deny time .which seems logical (later you will see why). Time is also an illusion produced by my mind and specifically by my memory. It is not possible to prove that the past existed . everything may have appeared just now, with the current state of my memory which cheats me. And it is not possible to prove the future will exist for the same reason .I know about the future based on my previous experience. But if all my previous experience is nothing more than a trick of my mind, then it is very likely there will be no future (as there was no past). All that exists is my mind at the present moment. Period. And so now I'm satisfied with my conclusions. I'm finally at peace of knowing why am I me. Because I'm God. The only being in the universe.

@Breakingthewall i think reality is capable of infinite Self-Understanding. if I'm God and I created it all but I forgot how and why and where and when etc ..that doesn't mean I can't remember all that and have access to all that. Although I agree with you that it cannot be understood via the finite mind .we must expand our consciousness to understand.

Over the 2021 year ..I suffered from anxiety disorder and panic attacks .and I made few posts about it here on the forum . I tried therapy of course. I saw a psychiatrist and he prescribed me some SSRI’S. Namely Prozac, Invega, and zyprexa. They have some nasty side effects (dry mouth ,needing to pee constantly, erectile dysfunction and lack of sexual interest). But they are 100% worth it . Try these medicines for few weeks and notice how your anxiety will subside effortlessly. Thats the physiological aspect. Also you want to eat food that helps the brain to release feeling good chemicals (serotonin, dopamine etc). Like fish . The psychological aspect is not less important. What I did is I tried a meditation technique called (watch the space between thoughts ). I" invented" this technique myself. I talked about it here : Give it a read . What this meditation technique does is it blocks away the whole story of your past and the whole story about your future. And makes you 100% grounded in the present moment. And there is no anxiety to be found in the present. Anxiety is always about what's gone and what's coming. So when you block away every single thought about your history and your future and just stay with what's present...you will feel safe and secure. I have moved from being a fear based person to being a love based person. Anxiety is a form of fear. I can not have fear and faith at the same time. I choose to walk in faith and put myself in the arms of God, where all is safe. I identified each fear and released it replacing it with love and grace. Today, I live in the moment which is a gift and why it is called The Present. There is no fear in the “Now”. Everything is just like it is supposed to be and I enjoy the moment. So in conclusion.: try these medications mentioned above +try this meditation technique +put your trust and faith in God. The only place who you can let go and enter the kingdom of heaven. If you have any questions. Let me know.

You said there is a difference between consciousness and what you call "sense perceptions ". Are these two separate things ? If not then what's your point exactly? Because you brought this point to @Thought Art when the guy asked you about the "illusion of solipsism ". OK..take your time ..fully express your point..so that I can understand it fully ..and then I will see what's up .

You are an indivisible unit forever. Full circle unity . You are universal consciousness. For the rest of eternity. You exist alone forever, as a formless entity. The product of your perception is shared. Your perception is an inevitable part of you, but not “you” in its full profundity. You are not what you see, but the seer that sees it all in its whollity As a sun that you are, you keep chasing your own light and trying to save that light because you are ignorant of your own being which is an ever present light. More bright than the sun in a summer day . You are ignorant because you wanted to be, it is not an accident. Or coincidence. It is your willful decision to be ignorant. You conceal yourself and then you reveal yourself to yourself. Hide and seek. That is what we are doing every day. Discover, explore, having fun. Without our willful ignorance this game is impossible. See,hear, touch and smell .Once you awoken the whole world wil be at your disposal.

Nope . You got it wrong Again . Everything is consciousness but we can still differentiate between different objects . A cat is consciousness. And a dog is consciousness. Yet the cat and dog are obviously different. So they are the same and they are different simultaneously. The truth is, consciousness and perception are two sides of the same coin. They are directly proportional to each other, when you understand their true meaning. Consciousness means; “ the fact of awareness, by the mind of itself and the world.” Consciousness is fluid, malleable and changeable. You can be more conscious or aware in one moment and far less conscious or aware in another. The whole universe is contained in a field of consciousness. This consciousness of the universe, is itself fully aware and intelligent. The "sense perceptions" you are talking about are part of consciousness. They are not something else entirely different from consciousness (because consciousness is all there is ).

Honestly, I don't care anymore whether these are SSRI’S or not .the thing is they work . I don’t know if depression can be cured in all people. What i do know is my life changed for the better substantially since my doc prescribed to me these medications. That was five months ago. I have felt real good ever since. I learned how to get myself better. Also Mindfulness helped me a ton . and like I said I don't take them anymore.. if i miss on dose of my meds? Depression is back? He'll no. The transformation i underwent just by finding a nice blend of three drugs is incredible. I learned happiness. Joy. Peace. I feel that almost every day. I do not choose to worry about my dependence. My depression has alot to do with a chronic disease diagnosis when i was young. I take insulin every day. Adding the anti-depressant dependency? None of us are perfect. I don’t mind the dependencies that keep me alive.

Dude ,look ..What you call “ sense perceptions ” is just the conscious awareness of the body. Conscious awareness only perceives through the senses of that body. There is only one Consciousness and all bodies are in it and not other than it. Just like when dreaming at night, a dream character has its point of view due to its senses…and yet the entirety of the dream is you and there is no one else there. If the dream is about being chased down an alley, it is you chasing yourself…there is no one else there. Each body has its own sensory awareness and conscious awareness, but it is all of one Consciousness.

Great stuff .thanks for sharing .This is akin and reminded me about the measurement problem in quantum physics. You can't measure the state of a system without disturbing the system. More accurately, whenever you measure a system, you are merging with it, to create a hybrid system. You can't disentangle the observer from the observed. It's all tangled up in itself lol

But I'm God cosplaying as a human ..this "human perspective " is the only perspective there is . So if I'm God and I'm the only one that exists..then I will definitely have to face my infinitude and taste every single goddam thing ever ...who else is there but me to experience that ? Exactly. So are you making a distinction between actual infinity and potential infinity ? Like..there is probably infinite potential to God's capability of dreaming ..but the question is will every single possibility be actualized? Thanks .that brings up some clarity.

What kind of pain ?what exactly are you referring to?

Leo, does that mean that somewhere sometime in this eternity we are stuck in ,there will be an indescribable suffering and pain ? Because I can think of these possibilities that she mentioned..imagine being burned alive for 10,000 years without taking a nanosecond off or without dying ...is that an inevitable part of Absolutel Infinity ? if the answer is yes then this destroys my whole life .how can i be a sane functional person if I already knew that ?

There is no way to disprove solipsism, because anything that is non- contradictory is logically possible. So unless there is a contradiction in solipsism, it's possible that only you exist. For the same reason, it is also possible that the “Simulation Hypothesis” is true, or that we are all “ brains in a vat” (Hillary Putnam's update of Descartes' “evil demon”), or that we are all in a teacup about to be drunk. Logical possibility is one thing, but judgments of probability/plausibility will, of course, differ. I don't know how would you go about proving an external world. You are projecting the idea that what you are experiencing right now has a deeper independent reality to it. Which you call the external objective world. You Believe the world exists when you are not perceiving it. recognize it’s a more of convoluted belief system that requires extra mind baggage that careful and direct study of experience and reality does not need. In fact.. if you studied your direct experience long enough you’d notice all sensory perception has no solidity to it at all.. it’s just a fluid.. spacious.. fluctuating field of is-ness popping into and out of a void. the “objective” reality science thinks is out there is quite literally impossible if they knew what they were actually studying, which is perception. The thoughts that think there’s an objective layer are also popping into and out of this void. This requires an extremely stable...mindful concentration of what is really happening vs what your mind thinks is happening. Again all this is off topic. I want someone to explain to me why am I me and not you ? I provided my explanation. Do you agree or disagree with it ?and why ?and what is your take ? Are you consious of the brain ,or are you brain of conscious ?? Which is first order and which is secondary? Which is actual and which is conceptual? Thousands of years have passed and science can't solve the mind-body problem. Because they are coming at it from the materialist paradigm.

I think you are really conflating cessation with nirvana or liberation . Although this is taking us away from the original issue in this thread (why am I me and not you?). In Buddhism , Nirvana is the extinction of emotional defilements. Cessation is the disappearance of all sensory perception when going deep into meditation. . But extinction of sensation is not realisation of YOUR TRUE SELF. Actually in Buddhism THERE IS NO ANY KIND OF TRUE SELF ANYWHERE TO BE FOUND . So are you aware of that?

Don't worry ..I know why I'm taking these medications and I knew about their side effects before taking them . I take them because they are necessary for my condition. I suffered from depression, mood swings, anxiety, panic attacks and felt like I was losing my goddam mind . 2021 was pure hell for me . And now I'm finally healed thanks to these medications. Also I'm pretty sure Invega and Zyprexa are SSRI’S. I'm on both because my situation was severe . I was so miserab,I was suicidal. So the 3 types of SSRI’S were mandatory. But thanks for your gentle reminder.

Correct .but remember that this was just an analogy . In our case here with consciousness..there is not the equivalent of "radio station" that is displaying the radio waves . Consciousness doesn't arise from the brain or from atoms or any physical substratum ..consciousness IS the substratum. I can't really convince you that what you're conscious of right now is the only thing that exists (aka solipsism). Just Sit down and look at your hands for hundreds of hours until you realize that this hand is all that exists . The problem is you already know this ...but the mind comes up with constant stories and conceptual overlay that contextualise the present moment. For example you believe that you're in a house right now ..in a country ..in a planet ..In a solar system..in a galaxy..in a universe etc . None of that is actually true .there is nothing outside the walls of your house .until you decide to move out .just like in a video game. The frames appear only when yon enter them .

Sorry i didn't see your previous post . Well,"cessation " in Buddhism has a very specific and concrete definition..unlike what @Carl-Richard suggests. Its the passig away of all sensory experience until all you are left with is a void . And this is actually a very distinct thing than ego death and Samadhi. And it requires incredible degrees of mindfulness and you gotta go really deep in meditation before you manage to stop even your thoughts and emotions. Actually...it's not that these STOP, but that they stop controlling you. Thoughts, emotions, feeling and perception never stop while we have a functioning brain … they are part of the human condition. What Buddhists learn to do is to relax and not be pushed around by those things .. to reside in full and open awareness of the moment instead. Which is very difficult because all our HABITS are to be constantly distracting outselves FROM the qualities of this moment, and sometimes that includes dwelling in the past or hoping tomorrow will be better. Anyways ..to get back to the original topic of this thread ..what is your explanation that you see from your eyes and not mine ? Why are you ,you ? And not me ?

No .they are not the same thing. this is a mistake, a mistake based on misunderstanding.dependent arising, and the word nirodha (mistranslated as “cessation”), and in general misunderstanding the way the Buddha taught the rhetorical methods. Sorry but you don't know what you're talking about . I studied Buddhism for years and I know the difference between terms such as "enlightenment ","cessation ","samadhi ","shunyata "etc. Cessation of perception and feeling is described as one of the meditative attainments in Buddhism, the one leading to liberation. However, not all Buddhist monks anddescribed in the suttas experienced this meditative state, indicating that it’s not something needed for liberation. Cessation in brief is to introduce a meditative state called Jhana and from there on build into a state where the perception (notion) of the body is not present anymore. The mind is fully occupied with ‘mental’ work which will shut down all notions of sense impressions which includes bodily sensations. Also false. That's duality .consciousness is sense perceptions. You are carving out that distinction based on what exactly?..there is only one substance out of which all of reality is made ..and that is consciousness/perceptions/awareness/ being ..etc call it whatever you want. Anyways..I want to get back to the original topic of this thread because we've been losing track of the original question. I explained why I see from my eyes and yours because I'm the only conscious being in existence at the moment. And you are me in a different timeline. That's my explanation. What's yours ?

Yes . I understood what you said. You asked if the world still exists when we are not perceiving it ...and I told you no .it ceases to exist if you are not perceiving it . When you wake up from a dream ..you don't assume that the characters in your dream were conscious or exist outside of your mind. Why is that ? Can you answer this question? Consciousness is a field that all beings are connected to, like a receiver is connected to airwaves. What we recieve and are aware of depends upon our perceptual apparatus. Just like a radio .. It could be AM, FM, TV, Microwave etc..so if your consciousness is not displaying for you Japan or China at this precise moment..then China and Japan literally don't exist right now ,anywhere. Except as a thought . It's obvious..if you take away sight ..the visual field disappears. If you take away hearing ..the adutory field disappears and so forth. So what happens if we stripped all sense perceptions? The answer is rather simple but quite radical at the same time ..simply the entire world will disappear. Because it was not an object. It was a perception. An image in consciousness. Just like a TV ..if you switch it off ..the whole movie disappears.

Yes the world ceases to exist if you are not perceiving it via any medium. If you see a full bottle of water..then that's what exists. A full bottle of water. If you see half a bottle of water then that's what fucking exists ..half a bottle. Reality is precisely what you are consciousness of fully at any given moment .the mistake is you are imagining an external objective world that is the underlying source of perceptions/consciousness. But go ahead and prove to me ..if a tree falls in the woods and there is no one around to hear it ..does it make a sound ? And for whom ? A blind person loses only visual perceptions. So the visual field doesn't exist for a blind person. But If he moves around ..he may hit the walls of the room..touch things ..smell and taste things etc ...because now his consciousness has been reduced to only that .

Cessation is ALL of that ? What a Flexible definition. Because these things you mentioned are not the same thing . Ego death is when your sense of self dissolves . Samadhi is when you experience oneness with everything. There is no comparison to an alteration of relative reality with an awareness of ultimate reality. Consciousness is purely subjective and that is the main reason why humans have a hard time seeing its true nature as all pervasive. In fact consciousness is not a substance but it is a concept. It is a concept that points at wakefulness which is basically perceptions namely, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling and thinking. What you conflated as "sense perceptions ". Consciousness cannot be separated from perceptions. In deep sleep, there is no time, no space, no cosmos, no observer and no consciousness but just silence and stillness and LIFE in a state of deep peace and un-manifest POTENTIAL. This deep sleep is the ground state and all the other known states of existence namely, wakefulness, dreams, swoon, coma, death, NDE, OBE, hypnotic states, yogic trances and altered states of consciousness induced by drugs, come and go in the ground state of deep sleep. Now the million dollar question is “Who or what is it that actually sees, hears, smells, tastes, feels and thinks?”. Very few humans can come up with a meaningful answer to this most fundamental question. Do you have an answer to that question?

OK I apologise. Didn't know it will come off as that . @Leo Gura please lock this thread .

I'm talking about 9s and 10s ..those women who make you open your mouth like an idiot and you dream of making out with them . I'm talking about those absolutely stunning glamorous women who are the dream of every man.... anyone in this forum have dated or had sex with such women? If so please confirm and I will follow up with a question. Thanks

Why it's the hardest? Have you been to America before ? I heard that you have to have a consistent job or studying in one of US universities to get the licence..but I'm not sure . Anyways I'm doing my research these days and will see what will happen . Going to to America is one of my greatest dreams.

And how should I know who's from India here? Do you suggest to make a survey (open a thread asking if any Indian fella are here ..show yourself). I think it's a good idea