Is your physical body you?
When the entire world around you is expecting you to act a certain way, and you can make that happen by simply tuning out or turning off parts of you, it's not surprising to me that dissociation isn't just an abuse thing.
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Not autistic, I think
Prone to depression
Have celiac disease
Poor motivation
Yes, my physical body is me.
My brain is part of my physical body and the rest of my body takes in sensory information that goes to my brain. My thoughts are in my brain and I'm always inside my head which is all me.
My reflection in the mirror is not me. It always looks different depending on the mirror or the lighting.
I don't know what a soul is. I don't believe in souls, I only exist inside my body and brain.
Except when I look up at the sky or am otherwise awed by nature and then become the whole universe.
But the universe and everything I know of the world are just interpretations of the signals that my senses send to my brain.
So all I am really is my body and brain and my thoughts and my limited interpretation of the world around me.
Yes, I very much feel like a "brain in a jar". And I, too, have wondered whether I could dress in a way that would portray much better to the outside world who I am inside. I would very much welcome for someone to critique my style from the point of view of making my inside and outside match better. The problem is, for that I would need someone who really DOES understand who I am inside, which is incredibly hard to find.
I also feel like I am mostly the same person inside that I was as a teenager. This leads to something that I feel is sort of like gender dysphoria, but with age. As a kid I wanted to be treated more like an adult in certain ways, now as an adult I want to be seen more like a kid. I want friends and romantic partners who also have childlike "souls", but I sometimes worry that they will ignore me before getting to know me just because of the age I look on the outside.
Another consequence of this "brain in a jar" feeling is that I'm romantically attracted to people who really seem to live through their senses. It's as though I want to be an extension of their brain and have them "be" my body and senses, to live in the world "for" me and bring that awareness of me so that my brain can "crunch" that data and help them use the information in new ways. In a sense, they provide the raw feeling/experience, and I provide the deeper understanding of it.
I say no, not really. The 'i' is kinda a trick. This is just my body for the time. We are all made of energy and when you look very very small to see what everything is made of, it is all the same.
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We become what we think about; since everything in the beginning is just an idea.
Destruction and creation are 2 sides of the same coin.
My brain is part of my physical body and the rest of my body takes in sensory information that goes to my brain. My thoughts are in my brain and I'm always inside my head which is all me.
My reflection in the mirror is not me. It always looks different depending on the mirror or the lighting.
I don't know what a soul is. I don't believe in souls, I only exist inside my body and brain.
Except when I look up at the sky or am otherwise awed by nature and then become the whole universe.
But the universe and everything I know of the world are just interpretations of the signals that my senses send to my brain.
So all I am really is my body and brain and my thoughts and my limited interpretation of the world around me.
Yes, I think that's the way it is. I can't see how it could be otherwise. I don't understand why anybody thinks there's anything else to a person apart from their physical brain / body, except in a metaphorical sense.
Walking around inside my body feels very much like driving around in my car. My car is not me, neither is my body. It's not a bad body, but it's not the best one out there. Worse, it doesn't feel representative of me. Sometimes I feel like I'm staring out from inside, behind my eyes. Certain substances, vodka for one, make this feel worse.
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You don't need to hide, my friend, for I am just like you.
My brain is part of my physical body and the rest of my body takes in sensory information that goes to my brain. My thoughts are in my brain and I'm always inside my head which is all me.
My reflection in the mirror is not me. It always looks different depending on the mirror or the lighting.
I don't know what a soul is. I don't believe in souls, I only exist inside my body and brain.
Except when I look up at the sky or am otherwise awed by nature and then become the whole universe.
But the universe and everything I know of the world are just interpretations of the signals that my senses send to my brain.
So all I am really is my body and brain and my thoughts and my limited interpretation of the world around me.
Yes, I think that's the way it is. I can't see how it could be otherwise. I don't understand why anybody thinks there's anything else to a person apart from their physical brain / body, except in a metaphorical sense.
It's not a question about what a person is, but what your thoughts think you are...kinda. More pertaining to personality maybe?
_________________
Not autistic, I think
Prone to depression
Have celiac disease
Poor motivation
My brain is part of my physical body and the rest of my body takes in sensory information that goes to my brain. My thoughts are in my brain and I'm always inside my head which is all me.
My reflection in the mirror is not me. It always looks different depending on the mirror or the lighting.
I don't know what a soul is. I don't believe in souls, I only exist inside my body and brain.
Except when I look up at the sky or am otherwise awed by nature and then become the whole universe.
But the universe and everything I know of the world are just interpretations of the signals that my senses send to my brain.
So all I am really is my body and brain and my thoughts and my limited interpretation of the world around me.
Yes, I think that's the way it is. I can't see how it could be otherwise. I don't understand why anybody thinks there's anything else to a person apart from their physical brain / body, except in a metaphorical sense.
It's not a question about what a person is, but what your thoughts think you are...kinda. More pertaining to personality maybe?
I don't see any difference. My answer is good enough for the original question IMHO.
I don't completely see my physical self as myself... Nor it completely represents me.
Sometimes I see my own body as a tool solely to learn and explore this world. But obviously, in any case, I don't want it broken or making it too needy (dependent/weak) or give it a sort of a social 'mark' on it (fame/infamy).
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nick007
Veteran
Joined: 4 May 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,570
Location: was Louisiana but now Vermont in capitalistic military dictatorship called USA
It's all of me if my mind counts as physical
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"I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem!"
"Hear all, trust nothing"
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androbot01
Veteran
Joined: 17 Sep 2014
Age: 56
Gender: Female
Posts: 6,746
Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Would it help to think of the 'mind' as a word describing the function of the brain rather than thinking of the 'mind' as a NOUN?
There is no 'mind'(noun).
Mind is what the brain DOES not what the brain IS.
The body as an organism is composed of organs(regions of highly specialized cells).
The heart organ pumps, the liver organ filters and the brain organ 'MINDS'/thinks/associates/perceives etc....
Descartes was WRONG and he created a lot of damage by telling us that mind/body was separate and distinct.
There is ONLY the body.
There is no 'mind'(noun)
I do wish I was a bit shorter. I don't like being tall. Well, I'm not that tall really, but everybody makes me out to feel much taller than I really am. I'm only about two inches taller than the average height in women, but to people who are two inches shorter to me I tower over them. ![]()
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Female
I feel no real emotional connection to my physical form and I do not believe it is an accurate representation of who I am. I keep it maintained to a certain standard but only for productivity reasons, it needs to function for the hike to work and back everyday and be groomed to an acceptable social standard.
I have a mask which is little more than a strip of fabric with eyeholes and some airsoft goggles, I used to wear it almost constantly when I was alone and that mask felt more like me than my actual face. Ignoring the fact that it doubles as a decent superhero costume, the blankness of the mask made me feel more comfortable as myself as it's a face that I chose. I haven't used it much in the past few years as my partner hates it but it's safely locked away.
My brain is part of my physical body and the rest of my body takes in sensory information that goes to my brain. My thoughts are in my brain and I'm always inside my head which is all me.
My reflection in the mirror is not me. It always looks different depending on the mirror or the lighting.
I don't know what a soul is. I don't believe in souls, I only exist inside my body and brain.
Except when I look up at the sky or am otherwise awed by nature and then become the whole universe.
But the universe and everything I know of the world are just interpretations of the signals that my senses send to my brain.
So all I am really is my body and brain and my thoughts and my limited interpretation of the world around me.
Yes, I think that's the way it is. I can't see how it could be otherwise. I don't understand why anybody thinks there's anything else to a person apart from their physical brain / body, except in a metaphorical sense.
It's not a question about what a person is, but what your thoughts think you are...kinda. More pertaining to personality maybe?
I don't see any difference. My answer is good enough for the original question IMHO.
Having read your first post more carefully, it seems I did you a disservice there, and I was rather missing the point.
To try to answer the question implicit in your post (as opposed to the question that is the topic title), yes I suppose I do sometimes feel that my physical body isn't exactly me, though I think that's just a trick of the mind.
I don't really try to alter my appearance in order to show people who I really am. I feel I have little or no control over how others perceive me. I might try to tidy myself up a bit to avoid falling foul of certain prejudices, and I might apply a certain degree of disguise to my appearance, but not often. I put more energy into what I say or write, in the hope of conveying accurately what I think and feel, which seems to work better, though I don't know how well I do. People are something of a black box to me and I know very little for sure about who or what they think I am.




