Carl Sagan, Ego Death, and Dying

In this video, I discuss my views on the late Carl Sagan, the resistance many people have to eroding their own egos, and my own thoughts on dying.

Its a bit varied, but I felt like making it.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Dying
• Carl
• Sagan
• Ego
• Death
• Universe
• Cosmos
• bullshit
• science
• understanding
• marijuana
• weed
• knowledge
• wisdom
• video
• blog
• vlog
• random
• lol

[1965zoso]

"reality" is just a human made thing. Think of how a animal sees the world, its totally different then how we see it. So whos observation is right? Us or the animals.

[SolRosenberg84]

@1965zoso

>"reality" is just a human made thing

Well, yes. Our senses and intuitions are all heavily baised by our evolution.

This is why using commonly observable and repeatable evidence is so important - without it our prepensity for seeing pattern in randomness and intent in chaos can birth some rather bizzare and baseless ways of viewing the world.

[SolRosenberg84]

@1965zoso

>So whos observation is right? Us or the animals.

Given that the animals lack tools which allow them to surpass their senses, systems of knowledge to find mistakes in their reasoning, and the large frontal lobe needed for abstract thought - we are probably a little closer to the truth than the rest of the animals on this planet.

I'm not stating that we have the perfect frame of view (we don't) or that science has figured everything out (it hasn't). But we're working on it.

[1965zoso]

Mostly good ideas but denying your spirit and saying you were just born and you just die is just your opinion.

[SolRosenberg84]

@1965zoso

>saying you were just born and you just die is just your opinion.

Observable reality - just a fucking opinion aparently.

[petestrat07]

That spot on my friend.

When I've had a bad day or I'm feeling a bit down I simply get on You Tube and watch cosmos documentories and I reminds me that my problems are so fucking insignificant that they may as well be an illusion.

[53v3N7]

Interesting that you say we will return to non-existence... In a physical sense I certainly agree with you, but I believe that there are souls in all living creatures, and I tend to swing in the direction of a concept that is a truth similar to reincarnation.

[gromby]

@stalinist666 I am curious, what evidence are you referring to?

[MrCoonskin]

Dude. Your great. Funny and articulate at the same time. Kudos.

[normtheclone]

I hate when people confuse this with apathy.

[stalinist666]

@1965zoso

Your opinion that you do not exist is merely an opinion, and a biased one at that. You, and other atheists, may have accepted the idea of dreamless sleep as a pleasant state, but that may not in fact be what is to come - there is evidence to the contrary. But if that helps you deal with the absurdity of life and death, imagining comfortable nothingness, then go ahead - but remember, this is comparable to a religious person theorising on heaven to comfort themselves, too.

[stalinist666]

@SolRosenberg84

Actually, our senses are not totally biased by our evolution - there is no evolutionary demand that would generate something as complex as the human brain, and in fact, it could be argued that such a brain is evolutionarily deficient in many ways.

[jumpingmap]

@1965zoso Hey man last night i had an ego death experience that was very peculiar. Marijuana is the best medicine to induce one and although it is a very unpleasant experience (to me) if you write your thoughs down it is a very valuable experience. Anyway what im trying to say is your explanation of ego death is basic but it is very fucking well said.

[petestrat07]

An the truth is you nor I know what happens after we die.

I recommend you doing mushrooms under the right conditions and remove your preconceived beliefs and mental chatter. "Just shut the fuck up and listen" using your own terminology.

I've seen your mushroom video but I feel it would benefit you to keep taking them with an open mind. Acknowledge the experience and don't muddy it with learned beliefs.

That's a video I'd like to see.

Nice choice of hero by the way.

[ppatricide]

I don't want to start a argument, but I did want to point out the fact that you have a lot of material things behind you, and to be honest it looks like you got your jacket at old navy or some popular store, it also looks really clean. You don't consciously appear to care about these things, at least your words say you don't, but I think subconsciously you are attached on some level to your things, or at least, you allow yourself to become attached.

[dualspectrumreality]

@ophiuchus1130 I couldn't of said it better myself. That was spot on. The paradoxical situations the logical egoic self encounters as the illusory nature of the self is realized, causes ones awareness to fold back in on itself, like a doppler effect. As the ego unravels itself, great upheavels take place in the way one conciously percieves reality. The limitations of the ego removed is the end goal, but along the way ego death must occur, and it feels exactly like it sounds, like your dying.

[ophiuchus1130]

I believe the ego is the void/separation/darkness between the creativity and logic. The ego plays both sides against each other to sustain itself-the darkness/void between the two sides(this is duality and the two sides of you seeing themselves as separate) Ego death can be quite horrifying because when both sides begin to connect the ego begins to see it can no longer keep control and is being destroyed. You as the conscious observer will also feel the affects until the ego/separation is gone