What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
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- Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
The opening question in the newest edition of the book was slightly updated based on reader feedback and a vote held for readers of the book. Namely, the phrase "instead of yours" was added to the question to clarify it. The current clarified version of the question (which is really two questions) is as follows:
If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your memories, and awoke in my body in my bed with my memories instead of yours, would you notice a difference? Would there even be a difference to notice?
What's your answer to those two questions?
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."
I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
- Stoppelmann
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
thanks for the invitation to contribute.
My first comment would be on the opening question:
The key to the answer lies in the word “instead” which means that my own memories would no longer be present, but without them, there is the question whether I would actually be me anymore. Therefore, if noticing a difference requires a point of reference that is different to the present situation with which to compare, there would be none. No difference, no question.If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your memories, and awoke in my body in my bed with my memories instead of yours, would you notice a difference? Would there even be a difference to notice?
Hughes, Eckhart Aurelius. In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
I agree with this reasoning.Stoppelmann wrote: ↑December 15th, 2022, 2:15 pm Therefore, if noticing a difference requires a point of reference that is different to the present situation with which to compare, there would be none. No difference, no question.
Indeed, wisely pointed out. That question does seem to arise from this line of thinking. That question being would you still be you even if your memories change or are replaced.Stoppelmann wrote: ↑December 15th, 2022, 2:15 pm...which means that my own memories would no longer be present, but without them, there is the question whether I would actually be me anymore
As I think the book sufficiently demonstrates, you (in terms of the real you) is not defined by your memories. Thus, you (the real you) would still be you even if your memories changed.
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."
I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." NF from Motto
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
My response to that question is yet another question: What does the word 'you' mean exactly in the questions above?
Namely, using the concept of The Two Yous from the book, to which me of the two does it refer? (1) The real me, or (2) the unreal me (i.e. the figurative clothes, namely this specific 36-year-old human with a shaved head that we call Scott?
Or (3) does it refer some other third thing and if so what is that third thing?
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."
I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
If mental and physical were changed as well, then I wouldn't see where it would affect anything.
But then, what happens to you if I inhabit your mind and body?
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." NF from Motto
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
Having read on, I understand what you are pointing to, and agree. The only thing is that my true self has no identity, except being I, the witness. The distinguishing of my “I” from another “I” needs a point of reference, unless I am the One, looking out of the eyes of this body. But even there, I feel that to be the One, I lack an expansive awareness of the unity.
One, that home is not a place, but a feeling.
Two, that time is not measured by a clock, but by moments.
And three, that heartbeats are not heard, but felt and shared.”
― Abhysheq Shukla
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
I feel that if I woke up in your body, as you….no. I would not be me at all. My being would be transcended to you and your thoughts.
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
Thank you for your reply! Can you define what you mean by the phrase 'my being' exactly? And why is it not (in your belief) the defining quality of you (i.e. the real you)?Sheilaread wrote: ↑December 17th, 2022, 4:19 am This is a very intriguing question.
I feel that if I woke up in your body, as you….no. I would not be me at all. My being would be transcended to you and your thoughts.
[emphasis added]
I'd be interested in also knowing your answer to one of my other questions I posted on the forum which is similar but essentially imagines the scenario playing out very gradually over time rather than instantly:
If your body very slowly and steadily morphed into an atom-by-atom identical copy of my body, would you still be you?
Thanks again for your repl!
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."
I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
– William James
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
I like how you describe this.Sushan wrote: ↑December 28th, 2022, 2:49 am After reading your book I see me and you as two identical cores that are covered with memories, flesh, clothes, and many more to be socially distinguished. But there is no actual demarcation to seperate me from you, or you from me. So the scenario that you described in the question will affect neither real me nor real you in any way.
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Re: What is your answer to the updated Opening Question? ("If you went to sleep in your body in your bed with your...")
Thank you. But it is not how I interpreted it, that is how Scott interpreted it in his book. And I think I understood that correctly. If our cores are similar, then there will not be any change when the outer coverings are changed. A computer will remain as the same computer (with its performance) even though you change its outer casing. If you replace its HDD then it will have new memories. But its core will remain unchanged.Bertha Jackson wrote: ↑December 29th, 2022, 8:22 pmI like how you describe this.Sushan wrote: ↑December 28th, 2022, 2:49 am After reading your book I see me and you as two identical cores that are covered with memories, flesh, clothes, and many more to be socially distinguished. But there is no actual demarcation to seperate me from you, or you from me. So the scenario that you described in the question will affect neither real me nor real you in any way.
What is hard is seeing the core and identifying it as it is, and it will be a great step in the path towards inner peace.
– William James
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