Forums > Social Discussion > A rather interesting take on life

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MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
So I was talking to one of the psychiatry residents the other day and she said, "Well, even if all the physiology is normal, you still need a functioning brain to maintain the body. Even if you are completely physically healthy, if you're psychotic or very depressed, you can't carry out goal-oriented activities needed to feed or groom yourself."

Well, if you follow this line of reasoning to its obvious conclusion, the function of the brain is to maintain the rest of the body. And the function of the rest of the body is to maintain the brain. If you agree that the brain is the seat of the soul, and that life without a soul is no life at all then...

The entire purpose of life is to maintain yourself (and reproduce).

I should find this rather depressing, but I don't. And I'm not sure why not.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


RoziSILVER Member
100 characters max...
2,996 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia


Posted:
Quote:

So I was talking to one of the psychiatry residents the other day and she said, "Well, even if all the physiology is normal, you still need a functioning brain to maintain the body. Even if you are completely physically healthy, if you're psychotic or very depressed, you can't carry out goal-oriented activities needed to feed or groom yourself."

Well, if you follow this line of reasoning to its obvious conclusion, the function of the brain is to maintain the rest of the body. And the function of the rest of the body is to maintain the brain. If you agree that the brain is the seat of the soul, and that life without a soul is no life at all then...

The entire purpose of life is to maintain yourself (and reproduce).






biggrin

The function of the brain may be to maintain the body, but to what end? I think that is the key question.

If the answer to that question is one of those "is because it just is" answers, then you can reduce it to the level that says "the function of the brain is to maintain the body and reproduce".

But lets see what people think. Complete these sentences:

1. The function of the brain is to maintain the body in order to...
2. The function of the body is to support the brain in order to...

It was a day for screaming at inanimate objects.

What this calls for is a special mix of psychology and extreme violence...


ShawnieGOLD Member
Captain Shawnie the Dreaded
126 posts
Location: Canada


Posted:
I don't see why it would be a depressing thought that we live to maintain ourselves and reproduce. In any documentary you've ever seen about any animal it is likely that it's all about what it does in order to maintain itself and reproduce. I'd say it's pretty grandiloquent of humans to think we're any different because heck we're not. We're animals too. And we'd be doing a much better job of living for theses goals if we lived more like other animals too. Look at the crap we've created.

Unless I misunderstood what you were trying to say, one thing you mentioned, Lightning, that I'm having issues with is the brain and the soul being as one. I can't agree with that. I am a person who has a brain that doesn't always work right. As a result, my body doesn't always work properly. Maybe we all wish to think this way, but I don't feel that my soul is flawed because my brain is. If anything it's stronger. And I am no less alive.

Oh my. Has this made any sense to anybody? Hope I don't look like a rambling fool here! confused ubbrollsmile

woodnymphmember
313 posts
Location: london,uk


Posted:
you made sense shawnie to me....
I've worked with special needs kids who may have been autistic or had other difficulties and they shone...they had something special and when they smiled they connected in a way i can't explain..

^^francesca^^me!
121 posts
Location: Bournemouth


Posted:
i am slightly contradicting myself by saying this as i want to study psychology but whatever the brain or bodies purpose, or whenever questioning anything in life, there is such a thing as over analysing, and rather than using something that has been "given" to you to enjoy and use to live, we question it?

On the other hand i am not a person who can live life without question. i could not just accept what i have and love it for what it is.....Asking "why" is what makes me have an appreciation for life...... ubblove

sorry to confuse confused

was hibernating through winter.....oh and summer i spose...ok im just lazy


DentrassiGOLD Member
ZORT!
3,045 posts
Location: Brisbane, Australia


Posted:
my brain hurts....

i dont think that its depressing at all. our only purpose is to maintain ourselves? this concept can be developed further to encompass more than the individual

life promotes life.

just as the life of the brain needs the life of the body and vice versa, as humans [animals etc], we as living beings, need life around us to survive. we are stimulated by life - it makes us think - be it other humans, pets, animals, the environment.

think of the alternative - what if we removed a human, or any animal/plant for that matter from all other life? put a human or a dog or a plant in a room with no way of getting out. how long would it survive before going crazy or dying? think of the wierd pyschology students who put themselves in sensory deprivation tanks to see what would happen - after one day many were suffering.

'the purpose of life is to maintain itself’ I don think life thought about this before it created itself. i think it just happened!


"Here kitty kitty...." - Schroedinger.


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
Quote:

my brain hurts....




Does that mean your soul hurts, too? ubbloco

*ducks and runs away from Shawnie, who does have a good point* ubblol

Anyways, I've always felt that there is no meaning or purpose to life, at least not that we can understand. However the desire to feel that all this does have some grander purpose has led to both wonderful and horrible things.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura



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