Identity (part 1)

The philosopher Alan Watts was known to use the term 'environmental awareness' to describe an intuitive recognition of our connectedness with the larger environment surrounding us. Not so surprisingly, science continues to discover how deep these connections run as its investigative tools and theories are improved upon through time. "LEVELSSSS... OFFFF... MAGNIFICATIONNNNNNNN....." as Paul Frees used to intone on the old ride at Disneyland where they shrunk you down to the size of an atom. Sponsored by the Monsanto Corporation, no less. :)

Still, we tend to think of ourselves as somehow fundamentally distinct from our environment, as if we move through it instead of being pulled along with it. Or perhaps more accurately, we fail to recognize that we are just focal points within the environment, a location of relative chemical stability not different in it's foundational structure from a whirlwind or the red spot on Jupiter i.e. atoms bumping into each other and getting into mischief.

Then again, none of this is particularly revelatory in terms of basic principles. Even most Christians have moved away from the idea of a literal, physical resurrection, recognizing that the body is in constant flux through the simple process of eating and drinking. The catchy part of the argument comes when we start to consider the mind as belonging to the same class of 'being' as everything else. For it seems obvious that this 'mind' (or you might replace 'mind' with 'soul' if you're of a spiritual bent, whatever the hell THAT means), is of a qualitatively different sort of thing than 'mere matter'. It's a tempting conclusion, at least on the surface. After all, you can't crack a guy's skull open and find all his hopes and dreams nestled like acorns in their shells. There's something mysterious about the mind, isn't there? From our first person perspective, mind seems to be made of something wholly insubstantial in relation to physicality. An entity set apart. An essence of profound substance that dwarfs it's material counterpart in depth and profundity. A ghost inhabiting a meat machine. And it is this enigmatic, invisible entity with which we identify as our personal identity.

Then again, perhaps 'mind' as generally intuited doesn't exist at all. END OF PART 1