[quote]IrishSteel wrote:
Oleena wrote:
I have a simple question- how many of your own thoughts and actions are driven by chemical processes and conditioning?
Try to think of one thing that you do that isn’t driven by a chemical addiction to the emotion you get from doing it, or driven by a biological need that has been conditioned through society.
When you pray or meditate, your body releases anti-stress hormones=can even increase lifespan. When you come on here, you get a surge of excitement hormones that tell you this is exciting. You’re brain starts processing as well, and the two together tell you that this is important and fascinating.
There are mathematical equations in the science of animal behavior for everything, including how likely one animal is to die or complete an altruistic act for another animal. That equation is mostly based on genetic relatedness. Humans are extremely related to each other, as we’ve gone through several genetic bottle necks over time.
I can’t think of one thing that we do that doesn’t come down to the processes mentioned above. Can you?
And Oleena jumps back in completely ignoring our prior discussions - oh well, welcome back O.
My actions are driven by my thoughts which are derived from my soul . . . it is that simple for me. I look at things from a spiritual side - that much should be obvious by now.
If you are right in your view about causality from chemicals, then there should be calculus pill/drug regimen that once you ingest a set of chemical you can create calculus in your own mind without any input from any other source . . . or better yet, a symphony drug regimen that would allow you to create musical arrangements with absolutely no input from any other source . . . [/quote] Ever taken mushrooms? Tripped on acid? There’s a lot of chemicals that give you these things. You seriously need to get out more 
Also, I have met many people who had life changing experiences on mushrooms- as in they changed their entire outlook and lifestyle based on the trip once they came down. One guy gave up his six figure income to become a botanist in Hawaii and start up salsa dancing and dating multiple ladies at the age of 50. Prior to that he’d been a recluse. My previous roomie used ot live with him.
[quote]If you are right, emotions are nothing but chemical reactions, love, hate, pride, humility, etc are all set of chemicals and nothing more . . . relationships are meaningless, that just happens to be the body you are closest to at the time . . .
Let me ask you to do something to prove the ridiculousness of that perspective, the next time you are with the person you love, look right at them and tell them that your feelings for them are nothing more than just a random sequence of chemical/electrical impulses over which you have no control, in fact, it could just as well be just any other person with similar physical traits and you’d be just as happy to be with that other person and then tell them that now you want to make love to them . . . [/quote] We joke around like this. There are, of course, more than aesthetic physical traites that attract one person to another. I like pherimones XD
[quote]You, on an intrinsic level know that your love for that person is more than chemicals and that the person on the other side is unique and loved by you because of the individuality - if you don’t know that - well . . . that’s just sad . . . [/quote] In your opinion. I don’t need a fantasy soul to feel happy. All I need is to be connected to the things that my brain and body evolved around for millions of years- air, sunshine, community, animals, trees, etc. Seeing someone truly beautiful in nature can make me cry just because it feels so good. I am not waiting for an afterlife to have my “heaven”.
[quote]My perspective is that my soul wishes to interact with you to grow and to learn and to connect - so I choose to reach out and access this site, and then my brain reacts to what my soul has chosen and the brain produces the hormones, impulses, activating the body to perform the necessary functions - as those functions are accomplished the body responds to favorable outcomes by producing appropriate hormones - or vice versa in a stressful situation.
it’s like looking at a car - you can say that the controls (ignition, brakes, accelerator steering wheel, etc) drive the car - that’s true in a certain sense - the power and electricity, etc all comes from the controls, you could even say in one view that the car takes the driver to different locations - but the reality is that the driver (soul) supplies intention and direction to the controls (brain) and the controls translate that intention and direction to the engine to move the car (body). [/quote] What drives a tree?
[quote]no driver - no controlled operation . . . a healthy brain and body will accomplish nothing if there is no soul to animate the controls . . .
Yep - I love reading books produced by iguana’s - those guys are incredible writers. I really love flying planes invented by orangutans - those guys are great engineers. I also love sailing boats built by sea otters - those guys are great sailors and they can rig a sail in nothing flat. I am enthralled by watching tv shows produced by kittens - they have the cutest shows. I also like listening to radios built by robins - amazing solid state technicians there. And most especially i love to read poetry about love written by sea lions - those guys really know how to express an emotion . . . [/quote] Once again my dear, it’s called division of labor. We’re the only animal that does it other than a few programed insects, and that’s really the only difference. Many other animals make little inventions to accomplish tasks, have cultures where they pass down invented knowledge, have memories lasting over 50 years, can learn to use human language in full sentences, as well as have their own dialects within the same species, and so on.
Learning something about animal behavior can help you understand how not alone we are in this fun universe.