max greene wrote: Is there a better word than either "self" or "I" to describe this baggage?

Identity ?

the mother and the child, is it an identification-process with its complications ? yes looks like it.. but don't ask me what to do about it.

naturally, physically, time is experienced, chronologically.. and this perception is then turned into an imaginary projection ? that's what thought does, interpreting the incoming sensory informations, applying it to its invented world of concepts and ideas, and this process is creating the complexity of the psyche ?

hi phil, i'm still around, and have been reading, but these days i've a lot of things to do and that is good, because now i can let all the knowledge sink in, feel it through, experiment, incorporate, observe and explore.. thankyou for going into the brain and it's complex, the left and the right, the interactions, the various aspects involved.. it is revealing a lot, it makes the workings of the mind somehow a littlebit more transparent, but i have to let it sink, to prevent it from a mere floating on the surface.. and i think you should remember that it may be the case for more participants in this forum, so please don't get too impatient :)

no go on phil :) it is good to be challenged, and you asked for challenges also.. this did make me wonder 'who will be challenged' ? is my left brain asking for intellectual puzzles to be occupied with ? entertainment ? or.. is it the right brain asking for a clearer picture out of curiosity into its own existence.. each answer to that comes from the left brain for sure ? so can i just ignore those.. better said, negate them.. negate the interpreting explanations from the limited and linear thinking self-sustaining brain-construct afterwards..

thankyou phil, yes indeed sometimes reading your posts does brings a headache :) but i am interested.. i want to find out.. and i realize my attempts to interpret your words is exactly preventing me from a direct understanding ?

may i throw this in: we have two eyes, a left and a right eye, both seeing on their own but the "binocular rivalry" makes us perceive the world as we know it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binocular_rivalry ..this is somehow similar with the left and the right brain ?

max greene wrote: The "I" is mostly just a hindrance to fast action. Say you are walking and you stumble. You--the physical you--doesn't bother with a thought process through the "I." That would be much too slow. You would get hurt, so your physical reflexes instantly take over. No "I" needed.

"I" comes in half a second later saying "oh my i hope nobody saw me stumble !"

max greene wrote: And if thinking is material, the psychological "I" has some basis in materiality.

yes max indeed to me it seems to be most natural that even the psyche is in fact material, stardust, evolution, magnetism, gravity and all that.. what else could it be.. and when this is the startingpoint for an exploration into the "I" and its manifestations we are very much into the negating-mode which k mentioned to be so important.

the body moves by itself and "I" am interpreting it all just one moment after. but what is it then which decided how to move, what to do etc.. and.. thoughts are part of the body too, so thoughts pop up all the time, and "I" am giving meaning to those thoughts just one moment after also ? yes the god zone in the frontlobe, there it is, the seat of "I", megalomania.

phil King wrote: So it boils down to can one look at a tree in a state of complete silence?

maybe we can start with watching the upcoming thoughts when looking at a tree ?