Thursday, November 29 2007: Into the Void, Part 2
TV: Kennedy speaking as part of the intro to "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches"
Shannon: You know, if he had just left it there...
start coughing
"oh shit, this is gonna be a bad one"
field of vision narrowing and graying out.
"i better lean back so i don't fall"
...spinning forever through the void...
"man, i'm getting dizzy from all this spinning"
"wait a second...wasn't i doing something?"
"shit, i can't account for any previous events..."
"What's going on?"
Disembodied voice: I think you were choking.
gray vision returns, hands on table
"What's going on?"
Shannon: I think you were choking.
"What's going on?"
Shannon: I think you were choking.
"no, if i were choking i'd feel irritation in my throat where the food had lodged."
"that's a relief. if i were choking i could have died, but i wasn't so i didn't."
"no, i know that spinning. i just passed out"
The disturbing think about this episode for me is that it strikes at the heart of the illusion that I am somehow in control of my body. It highlights the fact that there really isn't any I separate from my body.
It is obvious that my brain was not generating the "ego narrative" while I was having the infinite spinning sensation, presumably because it had been starved for oxygen and was shutting down non-essential functions or just reeling itself. Once my blood pressure normalized and oxygen began feeding into my brain, I slowly came back. A dualist interpretation of mind cannot account for episodes like this. There is no reason why my eternal soul should be troubled by a 20 second reduction in the flow of oxygenated blood to my brain. One could argue that it might affect the soul's ability to control movements in the body, but it shouldn't completely cancel out the soul's experience of itself.
Shannon: You know, if he had just left it there...
start coughing
"oh shit, this is gonna be a bad one"
field of vision narrowing and graying out.
"i better lean back so i don't fall"
...spinning forever through the void...
"man, i'm getting dizzy from all this spinning"
"wait a second...wasn't i doing something?"
"shit, i can't account for any previous events..."
"What's going on?"
Disembodied voice: I think you were choking.
gray vision returns, hands on table
"What's going on?"
Shannon: I think you were choking.
"What's going on?"
Shannon: I think you were choking.
"no, if i were choking i'd feel irritation in my throat where the food had lodged."
"that's a relief. if i were choking i could have died, but i wasn't so i didn't."
"no, i know that spinning. i just passed out"
The disturbing think about this episode for me is that it strikes at the heart of the illusion that I am somehow in control of my body. It highlights the fact that there really isn't any I separate from my body.
It is obvious that my brain was not generating the "ego narrative" while I was having the infinite spinning sensation, presumably because it had been starved for oxygen and was shutting down non-essential functions or just reeling itself. Once my blood pressure normalized and oxygen began feeding into my brain, I slowly came back. A dualist interpretation of mind cannot account for episodes like this. There is no reason why my eternal soul should be troubled by a 20 second reduction in the flow of oxygenated blood to my brain. One could argue that it might affect the soul's ability to control movements in the body, but it shouldn't completely cancel out the soul's experience of itself.
Steve wrote: