Dan Dennett takes up some of the issues raised by Libet (and deals with them rather well, in my view, in Consciousness Explained, pp. 153-170, Back Bay, NY, 1991). But then, of course, Dennet's heterophenomenology and Multiple Drafts model allow for a much more complex and manifold naturalistic view of consciousness in which we are not compelled to work with an ultimate, atomic, unitary, observing- judging-deciding "I" (in Dennet's words,"the observer in the Cartesian theater").
(For those who want a small taste of Dennet's positions I recommend the following short article: http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/jcsarticle.pdf) Even though we are constrained by all sorts for things, from physical laws to neuroses, we do, in my opinion, create our realities at very many levels. One need only contrast a pessimist's glass-half-empty view with the optimist's glass-half-full view of a given situation. There are areas in our multiple created realities where we need control (or perhaps, in some cases, the illusion of control), as well as other areas where we can trust enough to let go of control. To give one personal example; as a recovering alcoholic, I need control when I encounter alcohol, or situations in which alcohol plays a role, or could play a role. That said, after nearly nine dry years, I need much less control today than I did eight years ago, perhaps because I have learned to trust myself more (or maybe my practiced self-conditioning just works better :-)). There is something wonderful about being able to let go of control. This is a central reality of what love is about. And love is another area in which we create our own wonderful realities - the fact that they are shared opens whole new dimensions. Trust is essential. Francis On 22 Jul., 16:29, Molly Brogan <[email protected]> wrote: > Are we in control of ourselves, our lives, our families, our worlds? > Or are we just aware and knowing what one can do if something > unpredictable happens? > There are many explanations for why we do what we do. For example, > Thomas Metzinger's new Book, The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind > and the Myth of the Self, seriously questions whether there is even an > "I", let alone a "we." And Douglas Hofstadter's book, I Am a Strange > Loop, contends that the "self" is a recursively self-referencing > memory loop. > > Hundreds of experiments by Benjamin Libet and others tend to > conclusively confirm that our brain prepares to execute our decisions > before we are even aware that anything is being decided. It alerts us > to our decisions only in time (a split second) for us to veto them. > > Seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Libet, as well as Benjamin > Libet's book, Mind Time, and Walter J. Freeman's book, How Brains Make > Up Their Minds. > > It is quite likely that we have no so-called "free will" other than > veto power over our specific actions. Our free will may consist > instead of 1) being mindful about any ill-serving subliminal > intentions and tendencies that inform our actions so that we are > accordingly prepared to veto any action that they correspondingly > inform, and of 2) programming (or reprogramming) our subliminal > intentions to be more productive of the experiencing that we most > desire. > > Do we have the power to create our realities? Are we in control? > What do YOU think? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
