this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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“You” really are just an observer of biological programming playing out. Even your “higher” brain functions are still being observed by someone. They are a response to the more “base” biology, but they are still programmed responses.
"You" is an incredibly tricky word to define. Is your body you? Is your brain you? Is the set of chemical reactions we call consciousness you? Is only the subset of that set of chemical reactions that's capable of saying "I am me" you?
I stuck my arm out towards a cat today and it scratched me. What me did it scratch? If my arm gets amputated because that scratch gets infected, have I lost a part of myself, or have I simply lost some thing that belongs to me?
I think it’s best to define “I”. Your sense of self is constructed from the biology of your brain. Your “ego” or the biological and mental character you are observing and observing through is not “I”. Your thoughts, your feelings, sensations etc.
Under all of that, observing everything, is “I”. The only irreducible thing in the universe. “I” am consciousness, the observer that can’t be observed. The only thing that the more you try to grasp, the less it’s possible. But still the more you learn. Because the only thing that IS, is I. Reality emerges from consciousness, not the other way around.