Separation of body and mind?

Saw this quote today, wondering whether you believe that we have a soul that survives death or that is somehow separate from our bodies.

George Bernard Shaw wrote: “We know now that the soul is the body, and the body the soul. They tell us they are different because they want to persuade us that we can keep our souls if we let them make slaves of our bodies.”

the word "soul" has got a long history of explicitly religious association, so there are many people who avoid using it for that reason

i dont care, personally, if one uses the word or not, so long as there isnt an agenda to prove an entire religious system as being infallibly true by association

from what i understand, the "soul" or the "mind" or the "self" is the body - that is, the many biological processes overlap in such a way that consciousness is produced ( not that we completely understand it all ) and there is no real independence, one from the other, because the brain requires organic tissue in order to be a brain, and the brain and the sensory apparatus of the body are what creates and determines the nature of consciousness

so a squid and a rat and a monkey have all got different versions of consciousness because they have all got different brains and different bodies

there is a back and forth relationship between the biological underpinnings of our personalities, and the results of our experiences (and how we process and understand our experiences) and the "end product" of the person that we are today

we get the basic genetic material from our parents which will then be greatly affected by the prenatal environment

then there is the bonding and level of care we receive from our mothers

from all of that, our intelligence and body type and much of our personality is formed, before birth or within the first few years of development

then we have all of the relationships and experiences that we have which influence or perceptions of ourselves and the world around us

all of this begins with our biology, but then much of it happens as a result of our environments

in a way it looks like the body-mind exists on a spectrum, with the purely physical at one far end and the purely mental at the other

but if you draw it out as a line you see that its all one and the same thing

we make distinctions because they are useful; like when considering the affect that a medication will have on some biological system; meds work the way that they work, mostly regardless of what you think of them

or learning algebra or memorizing the lines of a part in a play; it is a process of concentration and cognition, so we call it mental training

but the mind seems to exist as a consequence of the body, so from what i can tell there is no "body-mind connection" because we are bodyminds - our minds and bodies are ultimately one organism

from:
https://www.christopherreeve.org/living-with-paralysis/health/how-the-spinal-cord-works

"The central nervous system (CNS) controls most functions of the body and mind. It consists of two parts: the brain and the spinal cord.

The brain is the center of our thoughts, the interpreter of our external environment, and the origin of control over body movement. Like a central computer, it interprets information from our eyes (sight), ears (sound), nose (smell), tongue (taste), and skin (touch), as well as from internal organs such as the stomach.

The spinal cord is the highway for communication between the body and the brain."

they almost never include the eyes when they show pictures of the CNS but you can think of it as the brain and the eyes and the spinal cord, and all of the neurons and lines of nerves extending out of the spinal cord, as being the actual thinking organism "within" the "body"

the brain has got the eyes and ears and olfactory system to sense and interpret the world around it, and a stomach to digest food for energy to fuel it, and the arms and legs and whatnot are basically just the evolved mechanism for it to move around with lol - its kind of a funny image to me, a walking brain with eyeballs

https://biology.about.com/od/organsystems/ss/central-nervous-system.htm

im not in the position to say what really happens after we die, but from the evidence that i have seen, we cease to be

i say this because it seems to be the case that consciousness itself happens as a result of biological processes (similar to how the skandha wokr together in buddhism) and once the biology or body stops functioning the consciousness stops as well

maye we will discover new information which gives us reason to believe in immortality, but for the moment i cant see it as a reasonable conclusion

I try not to think with too much complexity when referring to the Universe or human nature. Body, mind, soul... who is to say that these are separate things?

The concept of Unity solves all problems. When it doubt, make it One.

I find it's easier to view truth as relative, and so concepts of differentiation/boundaries/definitions just serve as tools to develop spiritual progress when and where applicable to the individuals particular progress, IMO. Not being tied to dogma, focusing on the experience one might define as the Force.

Streen wrote: I try not to think with too much complexity when referring to the Universe or human nature.

well but these things are incredibly complex, arent they?
i mean forget human behavior i just want to understand my own behavior sometimes lol

actually im simple, its women that are complicated hehe

i make a jest but the point is very valid: human behavior is super complicated and if you attempt to simplify it without having any grasp of the complexity then your simplifications will be useless for anything except placating your own feelings; youll FEEL LIKE you understand but you wont actually understand

and THE UNIVERSE is complex well beyond our personal cognitive ability to grasp: "infinity plus 1" and whatnot lol

The concept of Unity solves all problems. When it doubt, make it One.

this is the kind of statement that sounds great but doesnt actually
make any sense

it doesnt make any sense to the reader at least; it may mean something very specific and useful to you but to the people youre communicating with its indecipherable

its obviously not literally true that "the concept of unity solves all problems"

lukemia is a problem

your daughter just came home and told you she was assaulted: thats a problem

the bank is foreclosing on your house and youre about to lose your job because the boss's son is pinning all of his mistakes on you, thats a problem

youve got a flat tire and no jack and youre in the middle of nowhere without cell service; its kind of a problem

now, you might actually have an explainion of how "the concept of unity" solves these problems but it isnt self evident to the reader how your solution would apply to these, or any other ACTUAL problems

afaiac, if it doesnt amount to anything in real life then its just babble

but when we make it about real life things get more -wait for it- COMPLICATED

Magnus Staar wrote: Saw this quote today, wondering whether you believe that we have a soul that survives death or that is somehow separate from our bodies.

George Bernard Shaw wrote: “We know now that the soul is the body, and the body the soul. They tell us they are different because they want to persuade us that we can keep our souls if we let them make slaves of our bodies.”

All that humans can feel is that our brain/body 'produces' consciousness as we realize it, so that can be fooled and deceived by the physical world. Would consciousness be our soul?.. I am not sure where my soul would be if I have one, I do believe we have ourselves in whatever form that may be, but I am not sure how to put it all together.

Death is part of our journey, but it is not our end. The Force flows within each of us and we shall continue being part of the Force during and after death as the air we breath out shall be re used by others, and our bodies shall become parts of others.

Separation will only exist if you see separated things combined. I see the world as one big world 'consisting' out small parts rather than separate parts forming the world. Therefore I shall not be separated from my body as long as I am part of this world. My body, our bodies, are parts of the world, not just a vessel only; Even though it may feel like this upon death.

~