Confessions a 20th century ne'er do well: Drinking, fighting, stealing and other things one generally ought not do

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

If Bananaman doesn't exist is he actually less real than you or me?

It’s a pretty basic philosophical exercise to ponder your size relative to the rest of the universe. I never thought it was that mind boggling (well I kind of did once when I was 15, working at the A&P pushing shopping carts from the parking lot back into the store, but I got over it) In my mind, Where I am in the world I actually interact with is what’s important, and as long as I’m bigger than you, that’s all that matters.
But have you ever pondered the size of yourself relative to the size of your own imagination? The world inside your mind? That world might be even bigger than the universe. But are there boundaries between thoughts of yourself and your self’s thoughts of other objects? Are thoughts of yourself comparable to thoughts of others in your mind, or are they an extension of yourself? What are the limits of your knowledge and imagination? Are there parts of your mind you haven’t visited yet? Are those regions infinite? If they are, then we will only experience a negligible part of our own existence by the time we die (since any measured length of time is negligible compared to infinity).
And our only connection to others is in our mind. All we are to each other are ideas. These ideas may come from sensory perception, but the meaning behind them, and even the experience of them comes from your imagination and how you put together and interpret those sensory impulses. And another person’s identity is nothing but a collection of ideas that we hold in our head. If there is really an objective reality, where does it lie?
Although a person’s behavior can be described objectively, that is rarely how we experience that person.
If all we are to each other is an idea, then our essence doesn’t actually exist in the mind of others. And if that’s true, the true limits of understanding of yourself is your own understanding. But does your essence go beyond that? And if so, where does it exist?
Our conscious experience is only a limited amount of our own minds content and potential at any given moment. Given this limitation, if your self only takes up a finite space in your infinite imagination, does your ability to experience this reality depend on your ability to see beyond yourself?

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thay tell me Santa Claus dose not exist, but I know I saw him. Some say Big Foot is a real creature, except for my brother, I have yet to see one. As a spirited writer you have a vast avenue of possibilities. You have the cosmic ability to create worlds within worlds, where reality is limited only to the imagination of our feeble minds. As you have seen so many times before what once was fiction, is now true fact. If we keep Bananaman alive in our hearts and minds, who is really to say he just a silly story? He may one day be as famous, and as well known, as William Tell, or Robin Hood.

4:52 PM, August 17, 2005

 
Blogger NJWT said...

Nobody, this is my point. Do you keep your boss alive in your heart? Probably not, but he exists. So do we even need to keep Bananaman alive in our hearts? I think a causal thought now and again gives him the same validity and vitality as anyone else who we've actually met.

10:21 PM, August 17, 2005

 
Blogger NJWT said...

"Check out my website!!! Blah blah blah!!! Blah!!!
www.blahblahblah.com"

LOL, F'n Beave!

Ane Nobody, I'm not sure what my response was talking about. That's not really my point!

7:01 AM, August 18, 2005

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have had some good,charismatic bosses,who are forever indeliby etched in my memory. Yet while a true leader can be a good showman, he dose not have to be good: As long as he uses sufficient motivation to manipulate his minions. The propagandist knows that perception is the key to popularity. Many a poor German conscript went to his grave with the blind devoted love for the Fuhrer sill in his hart. Bananaman must fight and win his wars with the power of words. Thay are his primary resources, and is all he really needs; if the pen is truly mightier than the sword. We may not need to keep Bananaman in our heart, but much like Billy Pilgrim, he has a way of reaching out to us, in a surreal kind of way.

10:27 AM, August 18, 2005

 
Blogger NJWT said...

Know something Nobody? That's beautiful!

11:33 AM, August 18, 2005

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home