Which comes first is the wrong question. What if mind and
language evolve simultaneously?
What if what we call ‘mind’ is immaterial – merely some
property that emerges from the organic brain – from divided reality: matter and
energy? Clearly our minds have no living presence in space and time without our
bodies and specifically our brains, but what if they are an imaginary reality -
like the square root of negative one is an imaginary number?
What if my mind does not exist in the way than the material
universe exists? What if my words don’t exist except in my relationship to some
other mind(s) – sometimes imagined? There might be a difference between the
nonsensical and the immaterial, perhaps. But forget about the religious notions
of God.
The question is this: What am I? If I am a ‘who,’ (let us
speculate: a mind) what do I mean when express myself in words? If there is a
beginning to consciousness, I don’t think that the beginning is actually the ‘word’
(language) – I think that perhaps consciousness emerges out of the universe itself
from imagination. I have only an intuition of what imagination is, not a
definition, but I am almost sure that the explanation is not supernatural
(religious) nor is it primarily natural (scientific). I wonder if consciousness
emerges from some immaterial imagination. Maybe consciousness made itself up.
I’m not making this stuff up. Wait a second… Who am I? And
except for a whole lot of stuff that is not me, I’ve been making everything up along
with borrowing thoughts from minds who came along before I was born. From what
and when did imagination spring?
Maybe it was shrooms.
Maybe it was extraordinary sex. Maybe it was just looking night after
night at the moon. What if it was a complete and random accident?
Damn, I just blew my mind again. Anybody got a match or
jumper cables?
If you decide to try to answer these thoughts, Kyra, use as
many words for yourself as you need to. Of course, I would listen to whatever
ideas and questions you have, but I only want to read one haiku. And if you don’t have time for any of this, I
completely understand. Almost everything – just a walk in the park under the
moon with someone you care about, for example – is more important than
answering these kinds of questions. Though still my own mind wonders.
Here’s one haiku of my own:
Under the cold moon
derelict rock and dead seas,
why, there, do we kiss?
The brain evolves in response to the environment. Free will and
awareness are emergent properties. These are ideas. An egg crème and bacon and you are as real as it gets. Nothing
really new here – except I care.
