It reminds me of a bit in the outer chapters of the zhuangzi that's talking about fearing death. It points out how bad a lump of iron would be if it demanded to only ever be a knife and never recast into anything else.

How am I to know that the current configuration of the molecules I'm made of is the best use of them? There will come a time where everything that's me is recast and put to better use.

[–] zea_64@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 9 months ago

Now I'm imagining an iron proletariat uprising

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The scary part is realizing the part that is you is not the particles, but its momentary pattern.

You're a quasistable event.

You're a wave.

You're a brief song.

You're a vibe.

And then you're gone.

Most people aren't ready to deal with that.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@feddit.de 5 points 9 months ago

Like, there's tons of philosophy to the question "what is (the) I".

I like the buddhism answer that the I is only an idea, and therefore non-physical and timeless. The material just flows and sometimes happens to be in one shape and another. The consciousness, which we perceive when we see something, is more like a dream that shouldn't be taken too seriously.

There's a Zen riddle to that: (riddle of the wind) Two student monks were standing in front of a flag that was moving in the wind.
The first monk said: The flag is moving.
The second disagreed: No, the wind is moving.
Along the way came the zen master.
The students asked him: Is the flag moving, or is the wind moving?
Upon which the master replied: It is neither the flag that is moving nor the wind that is moving; It is the soul that is moving.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 9 months ago

Sometimes when I feel the call of the void, I remember I'm made up primarily of empty space