I am the universe becoming self aware.

bingo

It's really amazing. The iron in our blood was literally forged inside a dying star billions of years ago

Well, it's certainly very easy to demonstrate that we are not always (if ever) a unified whole, that is that the word "I" itself can be misleading and so too the question, "Who are you"? (when "you" is meant in the singular). It's perfectly rational, for example, to say "I am hungry" (i.e. express a desire to eat something) but at the same time to say "But I don't want to eat because it will make me fat" (i.e. express a desire to be physical attractive / healthy). In other words we can desire to eat and desire to not eat simultaneously without fear of contradiction because we are modular beings; we are made up of drives that all compete to be the "I" that acts. And maybe human consciousness is just what happens when an animal develops an advanced mechanism to deal with these competing drives. So, if you ask "Who are you?" I might say something like "I am a conglomerate of competing drives that expresses itself in the singular only as a matter of convenience". (I mean I might say that unless I was anywhere other than a philosophy forum. :) )

If someone asks me who I am, I tell them my Social Security number (345-90-7843), date of birth (6/27/66), bank account number (Wells Fargo 392820411) and my account password (BadenRocks).

and my account password (BadenRocks) — Hanover

Surely, "BadensRocks" would be closer to the bone. O:)

Often I try and picture myself from an outside perspective. Like an invisible spectator. And when I do that I realize that I just continue moving. It's not a vision or anything like that at all, but imagining seeing yourself from an external perspective you see that you're continuing to walk or talk while 'observing' yourself. You realize that you are a function of existence, and not a subjective manipulator.

If someone asks me who I am, I tell them my Social Security number (345-90-7843), date of birth (6/27/66), bank account number (Wells Fargo 392820411) and my account password (BadenRocks). — Hanover

Would you PLEASE stop using my Social Security #!

I am the universe becoming self aware. — m-theory

bingo — Albert Keirkenhaur

I am the universe becoming pissed. Which is probably why I don't remember putting those two posts up in, for some reason, a pair of different names.

This my polite way of calling bullshit and hubris. 'The universe' is an identification, which is to say an ego label, but with the pretentiousness to claim that it is 'reality'. No, mate, you do not speak for the universe, you are not aware for the universe. You don't even do it for the little bit writing this grumpy post.

You're saying that the universe is an exaggeration/fabrication of ego?

I'm the universe
& I'm ok
I'm me all night
& I'm I all day...

I'm the universe
& I'm ok
I'm me all night
& I'm I all day... — mcdoodle

:)

I'm the urban spaceman, baby; I've got speed
I've got everything I need
I'm the urban spaceman, baby; I can fly
I'm a supersonic guy

As stated in the testimony of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.

Nice!

We are stardust, We are golden
We are billion year old carbon
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden


~ Joni Mitchell, 'Woodstock'

You're saying that the universe is an exaggeration/fabrication of ego? — Albert Keirkenhaur

The universe is the universe. A plastic bag is the universe becoming a container, and a pile of horse shit is the universe becoming aromatic. Every-damn-thing is the universe being that thing. So the claim amounts to nothing more than the claim to be self-aware. But not so self- aware, it seems, as to see the vacuity of the claim.

But not so self- aware, it seems, as to see the vacuity of the claim. — unenlightened

If you're everyone and everything, you're no one and nothing.

The folly of arrogance is best explained by the most arrogant one among us.

I am the universe spouting aphorisms.

The folly of arrogance is best explained by the most arrogant one among us. — Mongrel

I'll toss you for the title.

He's not the universe, he's a very naughty boy!

(That goes for all of you)

I'll toss you for the title. — unenlightened

Proof is in the pudding. Arrogance is the sail on a boat. Unfurl it in the wind and you'll go places you couldn't have otherwise. Unfurl it at the wrong time and you'll find yourself crashed on the rocks.

Don't look to the humble to educate you about timing. They don't know and they never will.

I am the universe spouting aphorisms. — Mongrel

That's an awesome line. Just sayin'

For some reason it reminds me of "I am Jack's raging bile duct."

It has the same tone, but it's deeper. It includes that old but beautiful thought that we are the way that the universe looks at itself, its eyes and ears -- and without which nothing.

:)

A plastic bag is the universe becoming a container, and a pile of horse shit is the universe becoming aromatic. Every-damn-thing is the universe being that thing. — unenlightened

This just seems majestically misguided.

Many would say that every damn thing is an element of the set of damn things that make up the universe.You seem to be claiming the exact opposite.

Answer then,the following question: If the universe is both the equivalent of a plastic bag,and the equivalent of a pile of horse shit,then would you say that a pile of horse shit is equivalent to a plastic bag?

( B=A and B=C imply A=C)

I am a cowboy on the boat of Ra.

Also the walrus, when not on the boat of Ra.

This just seems majestically misguided. — hunterkf5732

I entirely agree. It is intended as a reductio ad absurdum of the quoted and applauded "I am the universe becoming self aware."

I'll stick my head above the parapet and defend the 'Plastic bag is the universe becoming a container' or 'I am the universe becoming self-aware' epigrams.

I find such statements meaningful within the context of process metaphysics. Under that approach, the universe is one gigantic process and any object or phenomenon is what the universe is doing in that place and time.

So one cannot reduce it to 'the plastic bag is the pile of horse manure' because the plastic bag is what the universe is doing here, now, and the pile of manure is what the universe is doing there, then. I am the universe being self-awarehere, and Un is the universe being self-aware there, and this keyboard is the universe being self-unaware (or not, depending on whether I want to mix my panpsychic leanings in with this) below the ends of my fingers.

I find this approach coherent and strangely satisfying, but I fully understand that many people feel it is a load of New Age baloney.

So one cannot reduce it to 'the plastic bag is the pile of horse manure' — andrewk

One can however reduce it to the plastic bag is a container, horse manure smells, and I am self aware with no loss of meaning and even more satisfaction.

The whole is in the part. Not a new idea. Not threatening. And not any more bizarre sounding that some of the stuff you have appeared to say... claims of not existing at all coming from your direction and what not...