Defining Purpose

  What is meant by “One becomes more conscious through suffering”?       Suffering comes in all shapes and sizes.  Suffering is not necessarily desirable.  We can try to look away from it, try to suppress it, or try to put it on the shoulders of another being (divine or not).  Curiosity drives us forward to new innovations but suffering has the potential to make us more aware of ourselves and our capabilities.   But, if one speaks of suffering, it could seem like they are being dismissive of the horrible sufferings people might endure that may actually be counterproductive to awareness - sufferings possibly caused by others.  How do we navigate this?      Suffering can induce greater consciousness in that we have the ability to look at suffering, understand that it is of human nature  - if not all nature - to endure some state of suffering.  Suffering can induce greater consciousness when we are experiencing suffering and are investigating our suffering to work our way through it.  How

  How do I know that another entity is “sentient”?      There is a bit of buzz going around about the development of AI LaMDA.  There has been a claim from engineer Blake Lemoine that this new AI is sentient.  I listened to the full interview/exchange presented in the following attachment.  While the replies that LaMDA offer sound very sophisticated (and I love a lot of the responses), there are plenty of glaring questions such as how much of the responses were inputted by the engineers.  And, while LaMDA may have more advanced algorithms for learning new things, can we be sure that it is sentient?  My focus here is to look into what sentience even is and whether we can be sure whether something/someone else is sentient.  Does sophisticated learning mean sentience?  Before I begin, here is the aforementioned video:      So, what is sentience, anyway?  One who believes in reincarnation might believe all animals are sentient beings.  However, while my dog learns specific commands, it d

 LETTING GO TO DISCOVER. These thoughts are just thoughts.  They are not me but they are a part of me.  They are useful.  They work out a solution to the problems I face based on the things I have experienced or learned before.  But, those experiences?  They are ephemeral - constantly drifting off into nothingness.  Some experiences are more salient than others.  I base my wants and fears on them as every step into the future is a step into the unknown.  Sometimes, it’s comfortable to hang around in the familiar where basic needs are satisfied and a social network is developed and then to negate the rest of the unfamiliar.  But, the unfamiliar is just what adventures and new experiences are for. Without memories of experiences, we would only be acting on impulse.  Where, then, would be development?  Science?  Discovery?  We would only live to survive.  But, isn’t that all we do anyhow?  Live to survive?  With our ability to reflect on the past to decide our next step, we are a creative

      It has been quite the journey to accept what I am.        At first, I tried to hide it so as not to offend anyone.  I figured I could influence others by camouflaging myself in an ostensibly spiritual garment; however, I've bumped into a wall.  I am an atheist.  For years, my nose has been pressing up the window pane of my Self trying to fit into a certain mold.  But why would they insist?  Why would they care save for some comfort?  With the premise that belief is the absence of knowing or else it wouldn't be belief, it must be that my apparent faith brought comfort to those around me.  So, while I subscribed to living a lie to myself, it seems that in a way I was living a lie for others.     And offending?  I don't know why I was ever so concerned with offending anybody.  Over the past years, just a glance at social media feeds and it isn't hard to discern how the self-proclaimed righteous have no reservations when it comes to being offensive.  So, why should I

  A BRIEF REFLECTION       The evolving mind is faced with the most scathing inquiry that inexorably nags and claws:  what shall I do with things I have written prior?  A gloss over my other blogs would grant the casual eye to witness a man running the gambit from being inundated with fervor for religiosity to one dancing on the “other side”.  If my views are now lacking in reverence,  should it be that I must scrap the old?  “To thine own self be true”.   Is it not so that who I am in actuality at this very position in time and space is an amalgamation of all the forward progressions of my past?  How then must I disregard who I was?  It has always been on my mind to put out my life’s journey:  how I came from point A to point B.  Were I too concerned with those who might disagree with me at any moment, there’d be no drive within my being to write.  For the most part, I do this for myself with the curiosity that somebody somewhere might glean something of worth.  But, I cannot allow my

WHAT HAPPENED ? When I have discussions with religious individuals who knew me when I was “sold out”, I get responses such as, “I know that deep down you still believe in Him but you are angry.  He’ll be waiting for you”.  This “anger problem” is a common motif.  If I reply that I am happy, the response is sometimes in the vein of this:  “I’m sure given you are living in the ways of man.”  Isn’t it ironic?  I can’t be angry and I can’t be happy.  The most recent individual I held a discussion with asked me, “What happened?”  While it’s difficult to see life through the rear-view mirror (given that our memory is far more shoddy than we would like to contend), I will do what I can to analyze the existential vicissitudes within the deep corners of my mind.  But, to enter this rabbit hole, I must examine the problem of anger and happiness which I propose are governed by wants and fears. These hang in the balance with Peace at the fulcrum. It is in the book of Ezekiel where we get the unde