both/and...not either/or..
reason is like a cherry on the cake, the crown of creation.
some would have it be Everything.
that batter don't rise...too rich a mix.
the intellect is like a two-edged scalpel, used without enough care and understanding, it can cut its owner to ribbons.
used right it is a jewel beyond compare, shines like a diamond and cuts through crap like a laser...
there's a great saying that comes to mind: 'religion isto for those afraid of hell, spirituality is for those who have been there'.
i hope to hear more about what you've learned about the brain. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Comparisons of brain to computer are misleading. There is not 'one place' where all the 'information processing' ends up. There is no little man in the control room. There are many, many places where 'information processing' ends up: over 30 visual projection systems alone. In mind, the map is the terrain. Consciousness and a sense of 'self' are the product of complexity - the many, many places.
The oscillation between map and terrain is what is described in lots of different ways, and given lots of different names: it can be 'Dynamic Quality', Factor X, soul, spirit, belief, reason/unreason and all the rest. It is the oscillation that is so difficult to access rationally. I have never met anyone who knew in which state of transition between map and terrain they were in at any particular time. But I do believe that one can appreciate being in the paradoxical gestalt of both. You can't be me, I'm taken
without any central server?
all these cells know what to do, without centralised control?
if so, it reminds me of sympathetic resonance, which is that phenomenon that makes pendulums swing in the same rhythm if they're hung on a wall after a while, or ladies all menstruate together in the same household, or how schools of fish or flights of birds all turn on a dime.
one universal mind? simultaneously everywhere and everywhen?
starting to sound buddhist here...
if i were young again, i would aim for neuroscience as a career, it is just so incredibly interesting, now the tech is at the level it needs to be, and growing fast...
kudos for trying to explain it to an ignoramus like me! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
