Maybe The One Thing We Have Control...

[Bruno]

Some days ago Leo uploaded a video affirming that free will doesn't exist and determinism is right. We don't have control of our thoughts, nor of our actions, and I agree with all of that. But today one thought came up to my head while discussing with a friend :

What about consciousness ?

Do we have control of where we put our attention ?

Even when we are thinking, there seems to be an underlying filed of consciousness watching that thought.

Maybe that's why the sense that we control our thoughts is so real.

We don't have control of our thoughts, but we seem to have control over where we put our awareness to lead those thoughts.

What do you guys think about this ?

Edited February 26, 2016 by Bruno Sousa

[Emerald]

2 minutes ago, Bruno Sousa said:

Some days ago Leo uploaded a video affirming that free will doesn't exist and determinism is right. We don't have control of our thoughts, nor of our actions, and I agree with all of that. But today one thought came up to my head while discussing with a friend :

What about consciousness ?

Do we have control of where we put our attention ?

Even when we are thinking, there seems to be an underlying filed of consciousness watching that thought.

Maybe that's why the sense that we control our thoughts is so real.

We don't have control of our thoughts, but we seem to have control over where we put our awareness to lead those thoughts.

What do you guys think about this ?

I don't believe so. I think consciousness just is and it is everywhere within the field of awareness as it is the field of awareness itself. But the illusion that is given is that it's limited because beliefs and thoughts get in the way. Plus, our putting our attention on something is directed by thought.

[Ayla]

5 minutes ago, Bruno Sousa said:

Some days ago Leo uploaded a video affirming that free will doesn't exist and determinism is right. We don't have control of our thoughts, nor of our actions, and I agree with all of that. But today one thought came up to my head while discussing with a friend :

What about consciousness ?

Do we have control of where we put our attention ?

Even when we are thinking, there seems to be an underlying filed of consciousness watching that thought.

Maybe that's why the sense that we control our thoughts is so real.

We don't have control of our thoughts, but we seem to have control over where we put our awareness to lead those thoughts.

What do you guys think about this ?

Somehow, you think there is either this or that... That there's a separation between consciousness and "you". No there is no control in the consciousness. "Stuff" just arises in a perfect harmony. It is all consciousness. As if it was especially designed for you. That's where greatness of God can be perceived! Especially when you think how many of us there are, and animals, and mountains, and planets...  

3 minutes ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

But the illusion that is given is that it's limited because beliefs and thoughts get in the way. Plus, our putting our attention on something is directed by thought.

When using the concept "illusion", mind might think of a kind of an underlying thing that is playing in the background when in fact, it is a sort of a "concoction", a dance of arising and going away 

Wish I could explain this in a better way ... 

[Bruno]

28 minutes ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

I don't believe so. I think consciousness just is and it is everywhere within the field of awareness as it is the field of awareness itself. But the illusion that is given is that it's limited because beliefs and thoughts get in the way. Plus, our putting our attention on something is directed by thought.

I believe the opposite; our putting of attention into something generates thoughts.

Why would consciousness exist outside the human brain ? and how can you know that it does ?

[Bruno]

27 minutes ago, Ayla said:

Somehow, you think there is either this or that... That there's a separation between consciousness and "you".

Actually, I believe I am consciousness.

[Emerald]

3 minutes ago, Bruno Sousa said:

I believe the opposite; our putting of attention into something generates thoughts.

Why would consciousness exist outside the human brain ? and how can you know that it does ?

What I meant was that awareness was everywhere within the field of consciousness because it is the field of consciousness itself. So, it doesn't focus on any particular aspect, it is the whole thing.

[Ayla]

Just now, Bruno Sousa said:

Actually, I believe I am consciousness.

Not the "I" you... the MIND you...  

The I only is that... doesn't believe anything at all

[Bruno]

Another thought just came up to my head right now :

What's left of a thought when you subtract images and sounds ?

What if Consciousness is a form of thought ?

[Ayla]

1 minute ago, Bruno Sousa said:

What if Consciousness is a form of thought ?

Something is seeing/asking that question, isn't it? 

Here's a valid question for you: 

A nose, the most advanced nose... can smell everything!!! Can it smell itself? 

The same way, what you are, cannot be seen, thought, imagined, etc  

[Bruno]

13 minutes ago, Ayla said:

Something is seeing/asking that question, isn't it? 

Here's a valid question for you: 

A nose, the most advanced nose... can smell everything!!! Can it smell itself? 

The same way, what you are, cannot be seen, thought, imagined, etc  

I can feel awareness, by putting awareness on itself 

[Ayla]

@Bruno Sousa

that "I" needs questioning further  

[Bruno]

8 minutes ago, Ayla said:

@Bruno Sousa

that "I" needs questioning further  

hahaha yeah 

Everytime I say "I" I mean consciousness, being consciousness, experiencing consciousness.

But I guess it all comes down to I guess I think...

Language is flawed, I can't (dammit, I again haha) properly express my experiences through language without separating myself to an I. Principally to talk about the I Itself.

[Ayla]

@Bruno Sousa , 

Leave the I then. What is there left? When no I is there? 

[Bruno]

2 hours ago, Ayla said:

@Bruno Sousa , 

Leave the I then. What is there left? When no I is there? 

Existence

[WelcometoReality]

@Bruno Sousa Turn it around. What is it that is seeking control. That wants to control awareness itself. That wants to control your emotions, thoughts and even the future and past. Observe that, it does not like to be observed.

You are trying to look from that place onto awareness. Instead look from awareness onto it.

[Keyblade Viking]

Mainly focus on the psychological part, it will explain how there is no choice on the matter  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w