I have been thinking about stuff like this lately, so I wanted to share my thoughts with you and wanted to hear what your thoughts are on how you define your existence. Here are my thoughts on the subject: Think about this: If someone is forgotten then did they ever really exist? Can you prove they ever existed if no one remembers them? So from this its reasonable to assume that if someone is forgotten then they never did anything to be remembered. If they didn’t do anything to be remembered then they never proved their existence. You could also define existing as memory, because to be remembered is to live forever inside those who are aware of your existence. It can also be said that something only exists if there is knowledge of its existence. Things only exist because you are aware of them, if you have no knowledge of some things existence then it does not exist until you become aware of it. In other words the more we become aware of, the more we can know, and the more we know the more we can become aware of the things we know. As long as we are aware of our own existence the more aware we become to the fact that there is more that exists. So as long as there is a record of any kind then there will always exist whatever that record happen to record. As long as people are willing to learn what that record holds, that knowledge and awareness grows even more. In the simplest terms memory equals awareness, awareness equals knowledge, knowledge equals existence, existence equals awareness of ones existence. So to be immortal all you have to do is get people to be aware of your existence. Then you can live on as knowledge that you exist. Ok so this is my theory of reality and how we define existence. Now I would like to discuss your thoughts on the subject so plz post. I can clarify any questions you may have later after you ask and comment about it, through your questioning I might be able to better explain my theory. Thank you
i'd have to disagree, for a couple of reasons. first, just because no one now remembers you doesn't necisiarly mean you never exsisted. let's say, for arguements sake, you were a humble farmer your entire life. you grew your crops, you harvested them, and then you sold them. well the people you sell your crops to eat those crops, take the energy, and then go off to do something else. every action we take echos throughout eternity, whether we like it or not. you cannot simply forget a peice of a puzzle, because without it, you are missing the bigger picture. and also, according to your theory, hitler is now immortal because everyone knows his name. so to become immortal all i have to do is start an empire and exterminate a group of people? according to your theory, we should all be doing whatever it takes to gain that noteriety, when it is impossiable for us all to. the reason we remember certain people is because they went above and beyond what the masses usually do. so you're saying that 99.9% of everyone ever born is now effectivley "dead".
well the farmer would be remembered for selling his crops by whoever they sold them too, so they would continue to exist because someone was aware that the farmer existed. Now hitler is imortal because he is remembered so by remember him we are still aware of him, so that he still is in existance through his actions in the past but isnot a fisical being . Also I beleave that it is human nature to try and be remember to leave are mark on the world (like having kids) but being remembered might not always be the best thing, like your example of hitler, we remember him but not in a good way. And no im not saying that 99.9% of people ever born are assentually dead because there is more than liklely some kind of recored of there existance and for those that have no such recored that we know about, we might not know of them now but we might become aware of them later. This might better explain my theory: Person A exists right now and lets say that the people that live around him/her exist also but Person A is blindfolded and has ear plugs in so Person A can’t see or hear anything so he/she isn’t aware of anything, so to that person no one but themselves exist at that time. Now when they take that blindfold off they suddenly become aware of others existence, so now they are aware of the people in there immediate area but at the moment they do not know that there are other people besides these people around them . Now Person A takes off his/her ear plugs and begins to communicate with someone else, lets call them Person B, now Person B shares there awareness of the outside world with Person A. But still Person A is only aware of his/her immediate surroundings and whatever awareness and knowledge that Person B shared with. In other words as knowledge grows awareness of what existence grows, so the more you become aware of the more you are aware that exists.
i understand what you are saying. but with my farmer example, i was trying to bring the point across that even 200 years later, after everyone has lost any knowledge of his exsistence, he still exsists in a from because his crops allowed their parents to survive so they could give birth to them. it's a crude example, but no one is every forgotten is my point. every action you make echos forever, in one form or another.
good point, so could also say that because this "farmer" efected them he still exists because his effects are still felt
sure. if you were part of the "regular" society, who knows what contributions you would be making? by taking yourself out, you are affecting society.
existance is NOW. memory is a description of the past. two different things. nothing "exists" in a memory. when going through your memories, you are not aware of reality. there is really no way to put them both in the same category. they are opposites.
Is knowledge really existance? Did atoms not exist proir to the atomic theory being devolped? Not only are there things we don't know but there are things we are not aware we don't know, for example before coming to this thread I did not know you existed did you therefor not exist?
well, i think the OP's idea would be that someone knows he exists, therefore he does. i think quantum physics even talks about things existing as a wave of probability until something comes in contact with it in some way. i think awareness is existance, and only relies on itself. if you are aware of something, it exists to you, in your world. if not, it doesn't. the constant factor is your own awareness. as long as you are aware, you exist. doesn't matter if no one else knows it.
what tho is your absolute boundary of awareness , beyond which is anti-existence ? really , don't you feel every bit of starshine just as the sparkle of thoughts from those who pray for everyone .... one boundary is artificial . it is drawn by the language you can commit to acknowledging what is . this is pretty much cultural i suppose .
To exist to attend ones place at ones given time in history. You asked if someone is forgotten did they really exist? If it were true we would cease to believe in anything that is not noted in the history books, and history as we know it would be filled with more emptyness then events. which seems to be the case anyway, but that is the fault of the historian and not the character. Its the equivilent to the "Tree falling in the forest" question, but if you take a walk in the forest, the ground you walk on contains the remains of trees from the past. The sound they made as they fell may have been before your time, but the concrete of this argument is that clearly it fell, regardless if the sound was heard. Its just a matter of recognizing it.
youv neglected the present moment. eternal is it not? have you ever known anything else. it isnt nessesary to be remembered to validate our existance....our existance is validating itself right now. i see no reason to believe it will ever cease to do so.
If things only exist if you are aware of them then there is nothing left to be aware of you when you die because you are not aware of it. We are not connected people... we are individual minds. So for example.. just because someone in australia is aware of their cat existing.. does not mean that they exist to you because you are not aware of them yourself. So the only knowledge you can be sure of is your own. When you die the universe dies with you. It's called solipsism.
people get info from the future quite commonly - the psychic thing . the future is communing with the past ? it would have the greater existence . it prays to the ancestors . i think if existence would ever completely end , that ours would blink-out in our hopeless right now of that then .
