# Are you the universe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243 "2019-06-29T00:04:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243/321 "2019-11-11T02:47:30Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > 315 posts ago this is the answer you got.:smack: > > (6 months ago) And back then it didn’t address the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243/322 "2019-11-11T03:18:35Z")
That and no one has addressed this one either: [http://bendedbrains.com/you-are-the-universe-experiencing-itself/#comment-18520](http://bendedbrains.com/you-are-the-universe-experiencing-itself/#comment-18520) ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243/323 "2019-11-11T04:12:39Z")
> [@](#): > > I find it interesting that you consider your beliefs to be spiritual, aside from the undoubtedly profound emotional involvement you have in them. To me, when someone says ‘spiritual’, this connotes ideas of the immaterial, the supernatural, and the unreasonable (in the non-subtextual sense of being impossible to consider using the faculties of reason). But the idea of a global-consciousness-which-is-tied-in-with-simply-WHAT-exists appears (to me at least) to carry none of these features necessarily. > > I actually have similar views about the nature of reality, but they came to me in pretty much the opposite fashion. I started with belief in God, which mature gradually into atheism, but eventually this seemed to mature even further into a belief in universal consciousness that is substantiated with scientific philosophy, based on the fairly normal empirical assumption that it is the structure of my brain which imbues what I call ‘me’ with consciousness. I don’t consider this belief spiritual to me, but I do feel that it is nearly ineffably beautiful and in a similar way to how you consider your beliefs, both powerfully comforting yet horribly strange. > > It makes me really curious about what dying will feel like. Will it be similar to falling asleep? Certainly ‘I’ will cease to exist, along with any functional structure suggesting memory, reason, or emotion. But something that once experienced itself in these ways will begin to experience itself in a way that is much simpler, yet more akin to the basic laws of nature. In fact, presumably a lot of the matter of which I consist is doing just that as we speak, but the ‘I’ is to complex to functionally relate to these activities. > > I find it very amusing that two very different paths can lead to the same place. Makes it seem all the more meaningful, doesn’t it? Just an excerpt from the link. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243/324 "2019-11-11T09:58:46Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > That and no one has addressed this one either: [http://bendedbrains.com/you-are-the-universe-experiencing-itself/#comment-18520](http://bendedbrains.com/you-are-the-universe-experiencing-itself/#comment-18520) I have. That’s a link to some “You Are The Universe Experiencing Itself” talk; and, as I helpfully pointed out, that could be rephrased as: > [@](#): > > You are a “part” of the universe: experiencing some parts of the universe — but, of course, _not_ experiencing various _other_ parts. Now consider somebody else: someone you don’t know, someone who could drop dead tomorrow and you may never find out. That person is _also_ a part of the universe: experiencing some parts of the universe, but not others. Once it’s rephrased that way, it becomes more accurate but less interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243/325 "2019-11-13T01:53:23Z")
Well actually they are saying it is all the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243/326 "2019-11-13T02:22:52Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Well actually they are saying it is all the same thing. Anybody can _say_ stuff. Anyone can _say_ the check is in the mail; it means as little as a toddler saying he rode a giant blue doggie to the candy planet, or a president saying he’s not a crook. You ever notice how folks still ask for an ID even though the skinny teen trying to buy a beer _says_ he’s twenty-one? You ever notice that, when a guy on trial _says_ “Not Guilty”, we don’t apologetically call the whole thing off right then? You ever heard of lying, or being mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243/327 "2019-11-13T18:44:28Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > [Redirect Notice](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjx8Mu1xNnlAhUL26wKHWLgAuIQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=%2Furl%3Fsa%3Di%26source%3Dimages%26cd%3D%26ved%3D2ahUKEwiawPKqxNnlAhUGKK0KHdGaAEUQjRx6BAgBEAQ%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252F1532538447007597%252Fposts%252Fyou-are-the-universe-experiencing-itself-as-a-human-being-for-a-little-while%252F2282756645319103%252F%26psig%3DAOvVaw1wY8kkTmqyvSdtOHDrV-fE%26ust%3D1573265337510604&psig=AOvVaw1wY8kkTmqyvSdtOHDrV-fE&ust=1573265337510604) > [@Machinaforce](#): > > [http://bendedbrains.com/you-are-the-universe-experiencing-itself/](http://bendedbrains.com/you-are-the-universe-experiencing-itself/) > [@Machinaforce](#): > > And this quora page: [https://www.quora.com/Are-we-simply-the-universe-experiencing-itself-Is-the-universe-compelled-to-do-so-when-it-happens-to-create-life-with-the-emergent-properties-of-consciousness](https://www.quora.com/Are-we-simply-the-universe-experiencing-itself-Is-the-universe-compelled-to-do-so-when-it-happens-to-create-life-with-the-emergent-properties-of-consciousness) I just wanted to say I was thinking about this this morning, and I think it’s really counterproductive for you to dump bare links out and expect us to interpret them for you. I mean, if we presume you have actual confusion about what these links are saying, it would be immeasurably more helpful if you were to accompany each link with an explanation of what that specific link is saying that’s bothering you, and what you want explained about it. This would allow us to answer your actual concerns and questions directly, rather than trying to fucking _infer_ what your problems are by reading thousands of words, all of which are stupid, and then trying to pick out which of those words are the _most_ stupid and then trying to blindly rebut them, only for you to reply that we’ve once again guessed wrong about what your issue is or failed to directly answer your unstated question. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243/328 "2019-11-14T12:58:49Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I just wanted to say I was thinking about this this morning, and I think it’s really counterproductive for you to dump bare links out and expect us to interpret them for you. I mean, if we presume you have actual confusion about what these links are saying, it would be immeasurably more helpful if you were to accompany each link with an explanation of what that specific link is saying that’s bothering you, and what you want explained about it. This would allow us to answer your actual concerns and questions directly, rather than trying to fucking _infer_ what your problems are by reading thousands of words, all of which are stupid, and then trying to pick out which of those words are the _most_ stupid and then trying to blindly rebut them, only for you to reply that we’ve once again guessed wrong about what your issue is or failed to directly answer your unstated question. He’s not looking for enlightenment or truth. He’s looking to argue, contradict, harangue and badger. If we agreed with every single word he ever posted or linked, without contradiction, **Machinaforce** would return to rebut his own position just to be contrary. Go ahead and challenge him to agree the sky is blue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-the-universe/836243.md?page=16)