- August 30th, 2023, 5:00 pm
#446113
This is a discussion forum topic for the Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All.
If the human body you see in the mirror very slowly morphed into an atom-by-atom copy of my 13-year-old son Tristen, you would still be you. You would still exist.
If the human body you see in the mirror very slowly morphed into an atom-by-atom copy of a lion or antelope or puppy dog, you would still be you. You would still exist.
That is, in terms of the real you.
You exist everywhere and everywhen in spacetime, at least where conscious life is.
The real you doesn't and cannot change.
In fact, fundamentally, all change is an illusion. You never step in the same river twice, and you never see the same human in the mirror twice.
Just as my son Tristen is different than my daughter Amaya, 35-year-old Eckhart is different than 37-year-old Eckhart, and both those Eckharts are different than the 36-year-old Eckhart this human writing this sees in the mirror in his today, in his unique here-and-now. No two humans share a here-and-now, not even Tuesday Eckhart and Wednesday Eckhart.
What is different from one instance of looking into a mirror and another is just clothing, be it figurative clothing or literal clothing.
The amount of wrinkles around the eyes, the shape of the face, the number of eyes, the size of the ears, the color of the hair, the length of the hair, the memories, the species, the name on the nametag, the color of the skin: it's all just clothes.
You are never the clothes. You are never the outfit. You are never that which is different (i.e. that which seems to 'change').
Instead, you are the shared spirit shared between them. You are that which unites them. You are the unchanging thing that wears all those different outfits at different points in spacetime.
You could say you also are all the different outfits combined, meaning you are every conscious creature that has ever lived anywhere, both in what you would call the past and the future from any reference point in spacetime. But the feeling that you--the real you--are one only or few of the outfits and not others is an illusion. Insofar as you are any one of the outfits, then you are all the outfits.
You no more or less see the real you when you look in the mirror and see a human versus when you look in the mirror and see a lion or an antelope or my son Tristen or my daughter Amaya, or 36-year-old Eckhart or 37-year-old Eckhart. In one sense, each of these are different separate outfits, and you are not the outfits. In another sense, you are all the outfits; you are any and all outfits ever anywhere and anywhen.
In both senses, we are truly one, and there is only one singular shared spirit. It's the spirit of the 35-year-old Eckhart; it's the spirit of 37-year-old Eckhart; it's the spirit of the 36-year-old Eckhart who write this to you now; it's the spirit of Eckhart's son Tristen; it's the spirit of Eckhart's daughter Amaya; it's the spirit of the lion; it's the spirit of the antelope; it's the spirit of my son's pet eel; it's the spirit--the consciousness--of every human who has ever lived at any point in spacetime, including what seems like the distant future or distant past from any one human's reference frame.
We are truly one.
With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott
---
In addition to having authored his book, In It Together, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes (a.k.a. Scott) runs a mentoring program, with a free option, that guarantees success. Success is guaranteed for anyone who follows the program, both for the free option and the paid option. If you follow the program but don't achieve your goal, you'll get your money back plus $100. For the free option, that means you will still get paid $100 if you don't achieve your goal using his free advice and free system.
---
Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity proved the block universe model, meaning what one sees--relative to themself--as the future is just as real and already existing as what one sees as the past or present.
This is due in part to what is called the "Relativity of Simultaneity".
One observer's entire life and death can be in a second observer's past, even if the second observer's life and death are in the first observer's past. There are observer's in your present who see your death as being in their distant past; and they aren't wrong.
spacetime.jpg (49.34 KiB) Viewed 11514 times
If the human body you see in the mirror very slowly morphed into an atom-by-atom copy of my 13-year-old son Tristen, you would still be you. You would still exist.
If the human body you see in the mirror very slowly morphed into an atom-by-atom copy of a lion or antelope or puppy dog, you would still be you. You would still exist.
That is, in terms of the real you.
You exist everywhere and everywhen in spacetime, at least where conscious life is.
The real you doesn't and cannot change.
In fact, fundamentally, all change is an illusion. You never step in the same river twice, and you never see the same human in the mirror twice.
Just as my son Tristen is different than my daughter Amaya, 35-year-old Eckhart is different than 37-year-old Eckhart, and both those Eckharts are different than the 36-year-old Eckhart this human writing this sees in the mirror in his today, in his unique here-and-now. No two humans share a here-and-now, not even Tuesday Eckhart and Wednesday Eckhart.
What is different from one instance of looking into a mirror and another is just clothing, be it figurative clothing or literal clothing.
The amount of wrinkles around the eyes, the shape of the face, the number of eyes, the size of the ears, the color of the hair, the length of the hair, the memories, the species, the name on the nametag, the color of the skin: it's all just clothes.
You are never the clothes. You are never the outfit. You are never that which is different (i.e. that which seems to 'change').
Instead, you are the shared spirit shared between them. You are that which unites them. You are the unchanging thing that wears all those different outfits at different points in spacetime.
You could say you also are all the different outfits combined, meaning you are every conscious creature that has ever lived anywhere, both in what you would call the past and the future from any reference point in spacetime. But the feeling that you--the real you--are one only or few of the outfits and not others is an illusion. Insofar as you are any one of the outfits, then you are all the outfits.
You no more or less see the real you when you look in the mirror and see a human versus when you look in the mirror and see a lion or an antelope or my son Tristen or my daughter Amaya, or 36-year-old Eckhart or 37-year-old Eckhart. In one sense, each of these are different separate outfits, and you are not the outfits. In another sense, you are all the outfits; you are any and all outfits ever anywhere and anywhen.
In both senses, we are truly one, and there is only one singular shared spirit. It's the spirit of the 35-year-old Eckhart; it's the spirit of 37-year-old Eckhart; it's the spirit of the 36-year-old Eckhart who write this to you now; it's the spirit of Eckhart's son Tristen; it's the spirit of Eckhart's daughter Amaya; it's the spirit of the lion; it's the spirit of the antelope; it's the spirit of my son's pet eel; it's the spirit--the consciousness--of every human who has ever lived at any point in spacetime, including what seems like the distant future or distant past from any one human's reference frame.
We are truly one.
With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott
---
In addition to having authored his book, In It Together, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes (a.k.a. Scott) runs a mentoring program, with a free option, that guarantees success. Success is guaranteed for anyone who follows the program, both for the free option and the paid option. If you follow the program but don't achieve your goal, you'll get your money back plus $100. For the free option, that means you will still get paid $100 if you don't achieve your goal using his free advice and free system.
---
This is due in part to what is called the "Relativity of Simultaneity".
One observer's entire life and death can be in a second observer's past, even if the second observer's life and death are in the first observer's past. There are observer's in your present who see your death as being in their distant past; and they aren't wrong.
spacetime.jpg (49.34 KiB) Viewed 11514 times
My entire political philosophy summed up in one tweet.
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."
I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."
I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
Favorite Philosopher: Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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