Sunday, November 30, 2014
What is physical?
I have encountered people who argue against defining things from a physical perspective by trying to restrict physicalism to physics. I have seen claims that biology, psychology and so on are beyond the physical as defined by known physics. From there, some of these people move to metaphysical beliefs such as the mind being some kind of supernatural thing separate from the brain. But we are not talking about just physics when we talk about the physical. Physics relates to an aspect of the study of the physical. It does not mean that the physical can only be defined as what physics defines. Things need to include what's known in physics but it does not end there. The physical purely as what physics defines is a misdirection. So I thought that it may be useful to clear the air. When I refer to the physical, I am referring to physical reality. I could use the word realism but that is used in a lot of contexts. Let's look at it this way. We all have a common realm in which we can interact. We define this as physical reality. We can study various aspects of this reality. I suggest that anything which begins from somewhere outside what's known in reality is less tenable. Ultimately, things need to fit in or have a relationship to physical reality. If something outside known reality is posited, then the idea needs to have a consistent connection, at least in the theoretical, back to known reality. As new knowledge arises, the ideas need to be modified to fit the known. But a lot of people believe that supernatural beliefs do not need to follow any of this. But there is a question which I have yet to get a good answer. "Why not?"
Starting points
Let's get this over with early. One acquaintance said that all would be clear if I turn my life over to Jesus. Been there, done that. I was raised with strong christian influences. I was even in an understudy for the ministry. I gave sermons in churches.
I began to doubt Christian beliefs in my late teens. I became a physicalist in my 20's. I switched my starting perceptions to the known physical reality. I continue to do so today. There does not appear to be any reality to gods, souls and the afterlife.
I was raised with a mother and older brother with mental problems. I did not realize until the early part of my time in the Navy that I was adversely influenced by them. I had certain behaviors and mannerisms which I had learned from them. I studied some psychology while corrected some of those things which where adverse to the relationships and other things needed at the time. I learned about how children are heavily influenced by their immediate surroundings. Even thought processes are altered by local influences. The most local influences in my early life were a mother and brother with mental problems. I came to wonder why god created us in such a way that we can so easily pick up bad influences while young. This was the first seed of doubt.
This got me thinking about the other major influence in my early life. That was religion, specifically the Christian religion in the form of first Pentecostal and then Baptist denominations. I saw the different religious influences while overseas. I realized that most people's religious beliefs are heavily influenced by what is given to them as children. They did not believe in my deities because they were raised to believe in others. Someone in one of the countries posed a question about how I know that my religious influences are any more truthful than the ones which I reject. I came to realize that I really did not. I was conditioned to believe certain things. Could I actually validate the beliefs as knowledge in real things?
I had done more than most Christians I knew. I had read the christian bible, old and new testaments, in its entirety twice. I had read it 2 more times while skipping all the begats. But I realized that these readings were from completely, unquestioningly inside the belief. They were also at the same time when I was being influenced by mentally disadvantages relatives.
I decided to step out of the believer's perspective and read the bible without assuming the truthfulness of what was written. I eventually realized that the bible is not what I was raised to believe. It is a compilation of written and verbal stories from primitive people who did not even know why the sun sets. I do not find it to be useful in the morals department. There are actually some things rather antithetical to ethics. It's far from being historically accurate for either natural or human history. I don't even find anything that's particularly good poetically.
I tried out other religions but eventually realized that most of them have a common fundamental flaw. They do not begin with knowledge. They begin with a top down assumption that supernatural elements exist. If that is flawed, then most that develops from that assumption may be flawed.
So I switched to a more real perspective. Starting from the known physical, I build up my knowledge from there. So far, I find no evidence for gods, souls or an afterlife. And I cannot approach it from faith. That seems to simply be a variation of conditioning.
I began to doubt Christian beliefs in my late teens. I became a physicalist in my 20's. I switched my starting perceptions to the known physical reality. I continue to do so today. There does not appear to be any reality to gods, souls and the afterlife.
I was raised with a mother and older brother with mental problems. I did not realize until the early part of my time in the Navy that I was adversely influenced by them. I had certain behaviors and mannerisms which I had learned from them. I studied some psychology while corrected some of those things which where adverse to the relationships and other things needed at the time. I learned about how children are heavily influenced by their immediate surroundings. Even thought processes are altered by local influences. The most local influences in my early life were a mother and brother with mental problems. I came to wonder why god created us in such a way that we can so easily pick up bad influences while young. This was the first seed of doubt.
This got me thinking about the other major influence in my early life. That was religion, specifically the Christian religion in the form of first Pentecostal and then Baptist denominations. I saw the different religious influences while overseas. I realized that most people's religious beliefs are heavily influenced by what is given to them as children. They did not believe in my deities because they were raised to believe in others. Someone in one of the countries posed a question about how I know that my religious influences are any more truthful than the ones which I reject. I came to realize that I really did not. I was conditioned to believe certain things. Could I actually validate the beliefs as knowledge in real things?
I had done more than most Christians I knew. I had read the christian bible, old and new testaments, in its entirety twice. I had read it 2 more times while skipping all the begats. But I realized that these readings were from completely, unquestioningly inside the belief. They were also at the same time when I was being influenced by mentally disadvantages relatives.
I decided to step out of the believer's perspective and read the bible without assuming the truthfulness of what was written. I eventually realized that the bible is not what I was raised to believe. It is a compilation of written and verbal stories from primitive people who did not even know why the sun sets. I do not find it to be useful in the morals department. There are actually some things rather antithetical to ethics. It's far from being historically accurate for either natural or human history. I don't even find anything that's particularly good poetically.
I tried out other religions but eventually realized that most of them have a common fundamental flaw. They do not begin with knowledge. They begin with a top down assumption that supernatural elements exist. If that is flawed, then most that develops from that assumption may be flawed.
So I switched to a more real perspective. Starting from the known physical, I build up my knowledge from there. So far, I find no evidence for gods, souls or an afterlife. And I cannot approach it from faith. That seems to simply be a variation of conditioning.
Where do I go from here?
I was doing some writing about my past, sort of a memoir. It's been something which I've worked on for a while. I'm not sure what I will do with it. Right now, it's more about getting things recorded for my own personal use. Here's a quick synopsis.
I was born to parents who could not make their relationship work out beyond my 3rd year of life. I was raised with both a mother and brother who had mental problems. Our family's primary income was from my maternal grandmother's work and later retirement, as well as child support from my father. My father would visit for a weekend every 2 - 4 years. My childhood had difficulties. A mother and brother with mental problems, religious fanaticism, beatings.
I went into the Navy at 17. There were some issues due to some people's attitude toward some of my behaviors and mannerisms. In some ways, I was a bit of a Gomer Pile. It took a while to neutralize the influences of retarded mother and brother. But things were eventually worked out and things were progressing well. I thought of making a career in the Navy. But I decided for reasons too lengthy to describe here to leave the Navy after the first enlistment was up. I reached E-5 (PO2) before getting out. I did 1 West Pac and some other excursions during the 4 years. I worked for the Navy as a civilian firefighter for another year before deciding to travel for a while.
The civilian job ended after a year because the project was turned over to active duty Navy. I decided to travel for a while. I intended the travels to be for just 1 - 2 years. But it wound up being for around 7 years. I eventually settled in Santa Barbara, CA. I did residential maintenance for a while. I moved onto working in automotive for several years. But it was a corporate company which made some mistakes. I should have left a couple years before but had grown too settled in the job. I eventually moved to the printing industry, staying with 1 company for 10 years. Trying to stay with a dying company, I transferred to San Diego. A triple whammy occurred. I left the job of 10 years, had a relationship end badly and got severely beaten by 3 guys. This all put me into a bit of a mental fog. I up and ran away to Texas.
Why Texas? I sometimes think that it was the concussion from the beating. Well, I managed to get a good job and I think that I will probably retire with this company. But the question remains. "Where do I go from here?"
My life experiences could be described as diverse. It has also been described as chaotic. Taking the starting point into account, it definitely could have been worse. But I also could have done better. I did not inherit the physical causes of my mother's and brother's mental problems. But there were influences. I had managed to eliminate most of them. But I believe that some of my mistakes and misperceptions were from residual affects from them. I've had successes and accomplishments. I've had good relationships and experiences. But there have been stormy periods. The end result is hard to describe.
I'm a 50-something who is still trying to work things out. Most people find me pleasant and, at times, exciting to have around. But I have difficulties maintaining long term relationships. I am now physically active but have substantial room for improvement. I am fairly sane but still feel influences from the more chaotic aspects of my past.
As I work out what to do to have things go in the direction which I want and where they should go for the remainder of my life, I though that some of the processes may be useful to other people. So I will use parts of this blog to record relevant aspects of my life. Part of it is also to help myself by recording things better. I also think that some aspects of this may be helpful to others who are working to change parts of their lives.
I was born to parents who could not make their relationship work out beyond my 3rd year of life. I was raised with both a mother and brother who had mental problems. Our family's primary income was from my maternal grandmother's work and later retirement, as well as child support from my father. My father would visit for a weekend every 2 - 4 years. My childhood had difficulties. A mother and brother with mental problems, religious fanaticism, beatings.
I went into the Navy at 17. There were some issues due to some people's attitude toward some of my behaviors and mannerisms. In some ways, I was a bit of a Gomer Pile. It took a while to neutralize the influences of retarded mother and brother. But things were eventually worked out and things were progressing well. I thought of making a career in the Navy. But I decided for reasons too lengthy to describe here to leave the Navy after the first enlistment was up. I reached E-5 (PO2) before getting out. I did 1 West Pac and some other excursions during the 4 years. I worked for the Navy as a civilian firefighter for another year before deciding to travel for a while.
The civilian job ended after a year because the project was turned over to active duty Navy. I decided to travel for a while. I intended the travels to be for just 1 - 2 years. But it wound up being for around 7 years. I eventually settled in Santa Barbara, CA. I did residential maintenance for a while. I moved onto working in automotive for several years. But it was a corporate company which made some mistakes. I should have left a couple years before but had grown too settled in the job. I eventually moved to the printing industry, staying with 1 company for 10 years. Trying to stay with a dying company, I transferred to San Diego. A triple whammy occurred. I left the job of 10 years, had a relationship end badly and got severely beaten by 3 guys. This all put me into a bit of a mental fog. I up and ran away to Texas.
Why Texas? I sometimes think that it was the concussion from the beating. Well, I managed to get a good job and I think that I will probably retire with this company. But the question remains. "Where do I go from here?"
My life experiences could be described as diverse. It has also been described as chaotic. Taking the starting point into account, it definitely could have been worse. But I also could have done better. I did not inherit the physical causes of my mother's and brother's mental problems. But there were influences. I had managed to eliminate most of them. But I believe that some of my mistakes and misperceptions were from residual affects from them. I've had successes and accomplishments. I've had good relationships and experiences. But there have been stormy periods. The end result is hard to describe.
I'm a 50-something who is still trying to work things out. Most people find me pleasant and, at times, exciting to have around. But I have difficulties maintaining long term relationships. I am now physically active but have substantial room for improvement. I am fairly sane but still feel influences from the more chaotic aspects of my past.
As I work out what to do to have things go in the direction which I want and where they should go for the remainder of my life, I though that some of the processes may be useful to other people. So I will use parts of this blog to record relevant aspects of my life. Part of it is also to help myself by recording things better. I also think that some aspects of this may be helpful to others who are working to change parts of their lives.
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