Who are we?
 

Note: these are my personal opinions, nothing else. I would also like to add that I do not belong to any organized religion.

Earth.
Made up of so much life... sentient life... is this life a part of something larger? We cannot grasp this using our physical senses - but yet we feel, know that there IS something. What is this, that makes us aware who we truly are?

The cells of our bodies... they are lifeforms, but don't have any senses like we do - they cannot hear, think, they cannot see... yet, somehow our very cells have a memory of their own – they fill a purpose, every single part inside the cell does a specific task – yet lacks the physical senses to do so. The physical cell alone could not do what our cells actually do – they do something more, something beyond their physical capabilities. Why is this?

One by one, they could never have this ability - but all together, connected into forming one human being, they take part of this greater consciousness that is us. Our cells share our consciousness - and this gives every individual cell things that lies beyond its physical senses.

Us.
Many humans on Earth have a feeling there is something greater, something more - yet our physical senses tells us this is not the case. But we STILL have this feeling. We feel things that lies beyond our physical senses.

An explanation for this, would be that ALL life is a part of a greater consciousness - Earth. We are the very living organisms that is a part of Earth - just like our cells are the living organisms that makes us.

We can feel that there is something greater - because we are a PART of it.

In all times, since our very self-realization of our species, the human race have been seeking for the origin of our creation – how did it all start? Why did it start? Why is there life on Earth? What makes Earth special? A huge number of perfectly met conditions, such as distance to the sun, ozone layer, etc? This explains *how* Earth managed to hold life. But WHY?
We, ourselves, hold the answer – it lies within us, within the way we work. Why can our cells do things beyond what seems possible to explain with scientific knowledge? This question is the answer itself.

Our bodies are made up of billions of cells... each cell, a living organism in itself. Together they form a larger consciousness, a human being. We, in turn, are also living organisms - and like the cells... together, are we all a part of another, larger consciousness?

The cells of our body lack the physical senses to understand that they are a part of something larger. Are we the same? Do our physical senses prevent us from understanding the real state of the world, of our universe – because we are blinded by thinking that they are all we have?

Is there more?

Who are we?








Watching that video - and realizing the insane complexity of our existence fills me with awe, but also with a great sadness. All of this, happens BILLIONS of times right now, inside me, inside all of us... and I sit here and drink Coke and type on my computer? It feels like... life is so wonderful, like all life is meant for something - and we are wasting that away... Every single lifeform is a masterpiece, something to deeply respect and appreciate.

There is so much... and it feels like we should appreciate and respect this so much more.

We are nothing...
We're Living in a beautiful planet _in the middle of nowhere_.

I can't find a reason why. :P

In short, we're highly intelligent mammals who like to think we have purpose other than reproduction.

The whole shares similarities to its parts. Perhaps we're part of something greater: the biosphere. As the other spheres on Earth (atmosphere, hydrosphere,...) it acts balanced and as a whole.

Perhaps we as individuals or just part of our society, we don't notice this effect of connectedness. But...

We don't need tsahaylu or whatsoever to take part in our environment. We are already part of it; and we move and interact with our surroundings constantly. It's a chaotic movement, yet makes one of the most beautiful effects just like we see the weightless clouds forming or the imposing waves crushing against the rocks; with no order but in time to the most precious symphony ever made.

A symphony of a trillion colors, scents and feelings.

We're part of something greater. Something beautifully greater.

Not to diminish the value of Eltu's post, but sadly this is all we are or will ever be. Still, if one is not depressed like me, one can find loads of stuff to do for no apparent reason. Because after all, there's no point in anything, so anything makes as much sense as the next thing, which is none.

Technically, individual cells from a larger organism don't count as a lifeform on their own.

If you're talking about a kind of Earth equivalent to Eywa, I'm not so sure. There's no observable/demonstrable connection between organisms.I guess such a relationship could exist on a more subtle level, but it's a lot more abstract than that (and not sentient), just based on living in the same world.
It would be a nice idea, but Devourment is right.

Thank you all for your replies. First off all, I really encourage you all to watch the video in the end of my original post - a "scientifically accurate" rendering of the human cell.

So, to answer your replies:

So what makes us think this way, give us these feelings?

How I agree. It's interesting, since there is so much pointing towards this, and yet so many sees it as impossible without even considering it.

How do you know? You say there is no point in anything - but how can you know that? Look at the video in the bottom of my original post - and then say to me that there is no meaning in life. I am not saying that we have a predefined meaning - but I definitely think we can do great things in our lives.

Technically, individual cells are very much alive.
As zenityerkes said - the connection is all around us. We may have lost much of the connection we used to have... but it is still, in a way, present. We interact with Earth all the time.

I really, really agree with you here. I think that we all are special, we are, as you say, not at all small and insignificant. I don't really need to develop my answer further because... well, you know that I agree with you ;)


Lastly - watching that video - and realizing the insane complexity of our existence fills me with awe, but also with a great sadness. All of this, happens BILLIONS of times right now, inside me, inside all of us... and I sit here and drink Coke and type on my computer? It feels like... life is so wonderful, like all life is meant for something - and we are wasting that away... Every single lifeform is a masterpiece, something to deeply respect and appreciate.

There is so much... and it feels like we should appreciate and respect this so much more.

That's true. The realization of how versatile structure the human body is, how it protects itself from diseases, repairs broken bones, and manages to survive in horrible conditions, even just the simple fact that we're unconsciously turning around while asleep, so no part of our body would be left without blood is wonderful.
Everything happens automatically. Human body is a beautiful thing. :)

Makes me feel bad knowing how many people smoke, what their ignorant minds are making their bodies go through. :(

But again, no one can answer the Why's... :P

As intelligent and highly aware beings, we kind of require some sort of mysteries or greater purposes to our lives, because without those, one might end up just like me. That is why there have always been stories, legends and mysteries about our lives and the world surrounding us, because those gave us meaning, even if they were just made up things.

As I have stated many times, I've grown tired of things not being real, and thusly my view of the world is what it is. Sure I'd like to be proven wrong, but that usually only works on fields where things are more bit more tangible or measurable.

And for the record, complexity isn't really that big a deal when you consider the amount of time it has taken us to reach this level of complexity in the first place. It's only that our brains can't quite comprehend the scale of time, and that is why we feel it to be so magnificent.

Really, truly beautiful post Eltu. I really do feel you.

As far as I am concerned, what you said is absolutely correct. I feel we are part of some larger system, but rather than having a physical representation within that system as cells do, we have a spirtual representation or an amount of energy that defines us. I somewhat agree with what Dev and HNM have said, this is indeed the most basic function we serve (as with any other being) but I believe we do have a higher purpose which is not limited to simply the human race, rather, it encompasses all life forms, each with their own energy and function within the universal system.

This raises another possibility.
If the cells make up the human body, all working together to form a working system, Perhaps, as youhave said, we (and in my opinion, all other life forms) are the cells to the Earth's body. Perhaps then, the world is a cell to the Solar system's body, the Solar system to the Galaxy, the Galaxy to the Universe and the Universe to something even more massive still...?

Striving to understand and fully appreciate the way this hugely complex system works - a quest that is extremely difficult to achieve - is enough to drive someone to insanity. But appreciating it in some small part is not impossible.

I don't claim to know the answer. I just sense everything has something past simple, measurable, physical form. Some may know it, some may feel it, some may not. the only thing you can do is just enjoy life, all the wonderful intricacies of it and exuberate as much positive energy to everything and everyone that you can... You will be serving your place.

Just another guy putting in his opinions. :)

Very true, Fkeu'itan - and here's the thing:

If our cells gets abilities from the larger organism as a whole - us... abilities that lie beyond their physical senses...

Then what if the feeling so many people have that there is something greater... is something harnessed from us being a part of a larger being - Earth?

Indeed.

This an interesting proposition. I would have to say that the energy that we are harnessing (or perhaps that is being harnessed from us) comes not from the Earth itself as a physical body, but instead from the life that it provides and supports - forming a global energy collective if you will.

I do not see this force as 'Eywa' - I do not believe it is a sentient force - but I do believe that it is there.

Again though, having said that, the scales of good and bad energy that we appear to give to our planet - the great supporter - are far, far out of balance and we are beginning to see the concequences of such selfish actions. Could this be the life-force of our planet fighting back, seeking to restore balance once again, just as Eywa did? Or is it merely a scientific reaction that is out of alignment?

So many questions, so few solid answers.

This is clearly a question I will have to contemplate much more thoroughly.

I completely agree with you both, Eltu and Fkeu'itan.

I would like to quote a scene from a certain movie that came to mind:

Ahh yes, this scene sticks in my mind too. It further raises a lot of questions.

The way we act and the traits we show does indeed suggest so, at least, the modern world does. When we began and indeed in some places still, we had a close connection with nature. We took what we needed and only that. Enough to maintain the balance. But somewhere along that path, we lost the way and began taking from the Earth things that we did not really need. I do see that what this has turned us into, as always, can be also seen as a good thing, we share cultures, languages and poits of view far more easily which leads to a wider knowledge and a better understanding, but one has to ask...

At what cost?

Does scientific knowledge bring happiness? No.

Just compare modern society with, say, any nature tribes today, the native americans, or even the Na'vi - who have larger scientific knowledge? Who would you rather live with?

I do not think that we have "wider knowledge and a better understanding" than say, any nature tribe that still exist on Earth. Let me give an example:
Today there are people who had lived in a nature tribe almost all their lives, who then went out of the tribe, adapted our culture, and now understands our knowledge perfectly. They have very easy to learn what we know.

If WE were to see what THEY know, if would be much, much harder - they have knowledges that reaches beyond our way of thinking.

I think that they understand nature and life FAR better than we do.

I agree completely.

They are two different types of knowledge. The knowledge we have seems to be engineered to help us fit into our modernised system rather than preparing us for actual 'life' and giving us experience as such.

But I do have to question are they really, truly happy?
If I were born into a tribe and never had experience of the outer world, living just as they do, would I be as happy as I am now? I may be even happier, but perhaps they take what they have for granted slightly too. I doubt it very much, but it is a question that still crosses my mind often.

I have noticed one thing:

The more time I spend inside four walls, looking at this monitor, the more bored I become. Every time I take my dog out, or just take a walk around in the forest, I become happy.

I could imagine those people who live in tribes in the middle of nowhere being much happier than me most of the time.

For me it makes no difference if I stay indoors or go outside, both have their merits, and none is really any better than the other. Infact I think I'd be more miserable living in nature than indoors, because outdoor life is too demanding.

Knowledge itself doesn't inherently, but how it is used can.
If we were alone in the universe, I would have probably killed myself out of depression years ago. Knowing things can certainly make things a lot easier, more happy.

I can look at a sunset, at trees, at any of the beauty the world still holds, and just because I understand it's nature doesn't mean I can't appreciate it, can't be happy.

One can understand nature by other means than scientific knowledge.

We're so smart that we can have complex feelings most non-humans don't possess. Insects and amoeba's don't feel remorse or pity or sadness or even fear, they just rely upon their self-preservation instincts, as they don't have complex thought processes. Animals with much more complex brains, such as cats, dolphins, and us humans are saddened when bad and happy when good things happen. To a spider, if it's eggsack is destroyed, it's brain just moves on to the next priority over protecting its young. If a human or one of the other intelligent animals I mentioned loses young, they can enter serious states of depression. Dolphins have actually been observed to commit suicide over the loss of young*.

We have these feelings because we've developed to the point where we think past our basic instincts and grow attached to things and have dreams beyond eating and reproducing.

*Dolphins have to manually breathe, they don't just do it subconsciously like how we do, so they just stop breathing, pass out, and drown. This has been observed in dolphins caught in the wild and forced into captivity, as well as in the wild when a baby dies.

Amazing animation... those walking proteins amazed me. The damn thing walks! And it's all true!
As I said, I just wish I was micro-sized with my own consciousness... I wish I could observe the whole thing closely, understand it... maybe make my own models of living organisms?

The topic is vast - what is our purpose? It's a debate subject, and there will be many answers from each person.

Wow, that original post... It is... Beyond words...
:'(

Eltu your post really makes me think… a lot. The billions of cells inside us do their specific task 24/7 and don't "think" about what they are doing. They unconsciously carry out millions of actions including synthesizing proteins, creating new enzymes, endlessly replicating DNA, ect. So what makes us different as a whole? If you go beyond the cells and into their atoms, the electrons orbit the nucleus in their respective shells. What does this resemble? It resembles our solar system. With numerous planets orbiting the sun, just as electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom. In essence, this can be used to describe the Milky Way Galaxy as a cell, with billions of stars and solar systems with orbiting planets acting as atoms. After that, the billions and billions of galaxies together in our universe could be extremely similar to us but just on an infinitely larger scale. In terms of our universe, the Earth is like an electron.

But coming back down to Earth, the cells that make up are body are the unsung heroes of life. After watching your video, it really makes me wonder, why are they doing all of that? All their hard work makes me feel that I have a profound purpose in life. I feel that that purpose is protecting our planet as best I can, and trying to help other people learn to appreciate the majesty and divinity of life.

the loss of each individual culture and language, and their beliefs and customs, to the conglomerate.

And that is very, very sad, really.

Interesting. I have always looked at our existence in the way you describe above. If I hit my own arm, I will effectivley cause a disaster that will kill countless cells. Although I feel a little pain, that incident does not bother me. But it does make me consider the nature of God. I can affect the health of the individual cells by the way I live. To each individual cell in my body, I am an immortal God. But even as the living God of my own body, I am also ultimately mortal and ruled by the laws of nature.

Yes, agreed. This is effectively what we are. This is what we will always be.

But I also like to believe that we effectively part of the Universe's self-conciousness. By having consciounsess ourselves we naturally try to understand the Universe in which we live. That does not mean we are chosen or unique, we just are. So in a sense, I do not believe that the eyes of God are looking at us, but that in fact in some way we are the eyes of God, or more acurately, one of the many eyes of God.

The problem for humanity in understanding the Universe is that we are extremely inward-looking (an Avatar is equally an inward looking movie). We always judge and assess the Universe in human terms. This is ultimately true with religion which is human-centric. But science is not much better as everything we do or study relates to ourselves in some way or form. Just about every scientific asks the same question (although these questions branch out into more complexity): "Where do we come from? Who are we? How are we like other animals? Where are we going?

This means that we may be missing very important or useful information because we do not have the perception to see things beyond our own existence. Unfortuntaly, we will never proceed if we can look at the Unverse more ojectively. And we are not at that stage yet.

Oh if only I knew the true answer to this question. There's SO much to question. Ultimately we want to come to a conclusion that isn't bias in any way. Or a decision that has been influenced.

Now- Organised religion is instantly crossed off the list because you're told what exists and how to worship it. Science is the same, with the exception of we are given 'evidence' that is perceivable with every one of our five senses. Ultimately it comes down to not using 'words' to try and find this thing. Mysticism, or MY personal version of mysticism, [I'm getting to a point where I'm making my own meaning for words, try and stop me. :P] is probably the most important thing in my life at the moment.

Well, there's no 'probably' about it. Ultimately we have to find our answered without being influenced by what we have been brainwashed with.

Mm, but can we say that they don't have any of the five senses? ;) In the body, every cell must work, otherwise there's problems. Much like the human race. If in a team, one person isn't contributing- It can hugely effect the outcome.

I could entertain myself for years questioning 'Why' cells do what they do. Not 'How' but 'Why'. (and probably will question it for the rest of my life)

Ultimately there's something out of our perception visage. [If that's the right word]

If you've ever heard the quote "You can only see when your eyes are closed.", it brings a whole new meaning to the proverb.



Indeed. Every human knows that there's something weird about the fact that they can see, that they are conscious- (Although some refuse to admit it and cover it up quite nicely)

But ultimately, atoms could be Universes, our entire Universe could be a neutron. Who knows... It's mind-blowing. Considering this world, all energy is interconnected. No energy can be made or destroyed, only changed from one form to another... Known by Scientists as "Conservation of Energy"... It's interesting. Questioning why the energy is there in the first place.

Agreed. The video really hits a point. It makes me realise how amazing this reality is... So many trillions of puzzle pieces and we've found not even one yet. On the grand scale of the Universe, we know how nothing works... Science constantly contradicts itself. Don't even get me started on organised-religion, and.. Yeah.

Seems the only one you can trust is yourself. But even then... Hm...

It's a case of the chance of your existence being infinitely small. The number is too small to even comprehend, yet here you are. You had 1/1000000 chance to come into existence from your fathers sperm... [To put it lightly], and you were the fastest... And if that's not a small enough chance, you wouldn't of been born if your parents hadn't been, and their parents, and their parents, and it goes on.

I've gotten to a point where I just think that nothing is 'luck' or coincidence any more, everything happens for a reason.

Without purpose, an item does not exist. Nor an organism.

Eltu, what you describe is indeed fascinating and it intersects in many ways with the gaia theory and its more spiritual interpretations. The Gaia Theory states, that the Earth as a whole acts like an organism with all life on it acting like parts of that organism. The way I see it, individual lifeforms are like cells, ecosystems are like organs, water and air is like the blood, the solid earth is the skeleton. The organs communicate with each other and regulate each other and the whole system. Life on Earth made Earth habitable in the first place. The first algae produced oxygen and thereby eventuall the basis for other life. At some point there was enough oxygen to form an ozone layer and land was populated by life. If it was not for life on Earth, it would not be habitable by life.
This is a fascinating topic and I studied some of this in a more scientific context in university (Earth History and Earth System Science) - and the scientific look was not really always focussed on humans, the approach was rather wide.
However I do not really believe in a sentient Gaia that can control these systems, but the systems can react.
The notion that humans are like a virus came up on several occasions (once even in a scientific debate I took part in). Recently I revised that comparison and came to the conclusion that if anything, human civilization is like a cancer. Humans are part of the Earth, they are no intruder like a virus would be in an organism. Humans are harmless to Earth by themselves, they have been part of the system for millions of years. But the concept of civilization was a dangerous one - and it seems that some aspects of it have turned against the whole organism, taking over large parts of it, growing without control. Humans have destroyed or diminished some of the "organs" and thereby diminished the systems ability to heal or to regulate itself. Did you know that humans move around as much earth and soil and rocks as the earth itself by all natural processes? Someone said, global warming is like a fever - an attempt of the regulatory systems to eradicate the illness/danger/cancer that is human civilization.

So, I think we are part of a larger system. One that is obviously bigger than we ourselves, but some things we do threaten that bigger system or beeing (if you are more inclined to believe in a more sentient version of "Gaia").

Well - this is how I see it currently.

Humans. Though so many doubt it, we might as well be the most advanced sentient species in the milky way.
SWEET!
But, our 'purpose' in life, has always been a mystery. Scientifically, we live to reproduce. Religiously, we live to worship our deities. But, no matter what we do, things don't change.
We live lives of up to 70 to 100 years. We could become leaders, or scientists, and make breakthroughs or revolutions. But when we die, nothing has really changed. We're essentially just 'paving the road' for the next generation.

Personally, I think it's amazing that we can manipulate the fundamental constituents of reality like rats in a maze. We can command these small pieces of everything in such volume and with such precision that we can build machines that can out-perform the human mind in almost all the tasks we can present it. Not only that, these artificial minds can talk to each other so quickly and so densely that even the combined brain power of everyone on Earth could not hope to follow a fraction of their conversations.

And do you know what? The smallest components of these minds, the transistor, is smaller than visible light itself. A CPU is more intricately designed than a Swiss watch, with around the same amount of component parts as a cell. It is a marvel of engineering, and nothing even comparable to it can be reproduced without decades of scientific research.

I think it's amazing that we can produce one of these things, let alone produce them by the million and integrate them into every aspect of our lives. If you don't believe me, work out where the nearest CPU to you is. I doubt it's far away.

Plants? You can't test plants. They just sit there, showing neither pain nor fear. That isn't science. (Cookies to anyone who can tell me who I'm quoting. :D)

I should add that my above statement doesn't hold true for everyone. Obviously different people enjoys different things - but I do believe that humanity as a whole could be much happier if we sought other kinds of knowledge.

My opinion, and nobody has to agree - but there it is. ;)

Knowledge brings happiness. Look out at the universe, and it is the most beautiful thing on Earth. Living on fear and superstition prevents people form understanding something, and it is only by understanding anything that you can appreciate it fully.

IMHO, we are nothing more than highly intelligent beings who screw and make more of us and then die.

And also...

WE ARE, WE ARE ALL INNOCENT

http://i56.tinypic.com/2s6rdaa.png

I think we are part of a bigger picture and that picture is mother nature /Gaia/ Earth.

We were part of a bigger picture.

The moment that the majority of humankind started living in cities, that came to an end.

Humanity has ceased evolution as a species and separated itself from the vital control system that is our biosphere, and soon we will pay very dearly for that.

Very true, but I think that we are still energy that is given by mother nature and that we should give our energy to grow things and to ensure life continues..However, not at the detriment of other creatures or the land.