"Searles O'Dubhain"
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> "Tom"
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>> "Searles O'Dubhain"
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>>>
>>> So you are saying that symbols are magical tools that are empowered by
>>> one's spirit? What of disembodied spirits? If you accept that they
>>> exist, can they inhabit a symbol? If so, what is the catalyst?
>>
>> What is a "spirit"?
>
> A spirit is the essence of an idea, entity or being or it is an archetype
> of it.
What is the "essence of an idea"? What is the "essence of an entity"?
> When one is 'inspired' then one is filled with a spirit.
When one is inspired, one has drawn a breath. When one ceases to breathe,
one no longer has spirit.
> Spirits do not think per se. They *are* a form of
> knowledge/truth/existence.
Spirits do not exist per se either. They are conceptual. Their only
physical manifestation is neuronic activity.
>> Does an idea "inhabit" a symbol? I think not. Rather, a symbol is a
>> representation of an idea, not a house in which it lives.
>
> I think symbols and ideas are two forms of the same thing.
Then you don't think that an idea can live in a symbol either.
>> A "catalyst" is an agent which facilitates a change without itself being
>> changed. Symbols might be thought of as catalysts, since the symbol
>> would not change even though the meaning might. The symbol, representing
>> an idea, is communicated from one person to another and the person
>> receiving the symbol would (if all goes sufficiently well) experience a
>> similar neurological event as the person transmitting the symbol. Thus
>> does the idea propagate.
>
> Meme theory says that ideas are like genes in how they choose hosts for
> their activities and lives. In a sense, a meme is almost like a spirit or
> archetype in this respect.
It's a convenient metaphor. Not to be confused with the thing itself.
> Spirits are a way that essence is transferred from one host to another
> through various mechanisms: emotions, thoughts, memories, instincts,
> biology, culture, etc.
It all comes down to neurology. "Spirits" are little voltage changes and
chemical spurts in minute bags of protoplasm.
> Knowledge does not cease to exist even when the last brain stops
> functioning. Spirits are knowledge. They are the essence of everything.
What is "knowledge"?
