What ties mind and body together (for our subjective selves)
I used to believe the argument that we can’t know if we’ll die because the idea of dying (or not existing, for that matter) was taught to us. We have never experienced not existing (of course, some will say that of course you can’t experience not existing because you don’t exist to experience it) but nonetheless, from the solipsistic point of view, you don’t know if you’ll die (or cease to exist) because you’ve always known existing. However, Miguel Herrera recently mentioned to me that general anesthesia, for example, literally affects our brain and you have the subjective experience of ceasing to exist for that time. You’re not conscious of existing, you’re inner thoughts are not happening, you are not a thing. Later, you come back to the world and time has seemingly passed but you did not experience that time at all. Same with psychedelics, you take a substance that alters your brain and you’re subjective experience changes. That’s why I don’t think there’s much of a mind-body *problem* although we want to hang onto the idea that there is (not that I’m critisizing that behavior tho, I do it too. I’m just pointing it out). We have proof of a connection between physical things and our mind. Although, perhaps even if there’s proof of a connection it might still be that there’s more? It’s so strange that we even think this though, like that it’s common knowledge among humans that there might perhaps be something beyond physicality. Like why tf do we even have that thought?
