Raithere
No, its the actual lack of food that causes famine, or more accurately, the economic and logistical difficulties in distributing food from areas where there is a surplus to areas where there is need causes famine. A change of belief may spur people to action that relieves the situation (and in fact it does) but belief alone will accomplish nothing.
You have identified the cause of famine. I think many of us can see that as well. But for hundreds of years, despite the acknowledgment of the cause of our problem, we haven't acted to solve the problem. This is because we have a belief that is stopping us to solve the problem. We believe that there is not enough in this world, and it is ok to hurt others if through that process we will get what we want - ie we are separated, we are not one. All behaviours are based on beliefs. With this kinds of beliefs, no wonder nothing had changed much throughout the years. What we need is a change in beliefs, it will spur people to action to solve the problem. Of course belief alone won't accomplish anything, but it is the source of all actions. With the belief that works, we can at least start solving the problem.
A person might live all their life in a heated room and never experience cold, yet they would still know the experience of heat. As I said before, it's a false dilemma.
If that person never experienced cold, what is cold to him? He will know warmth conceptually, that's all he knows, but he cannot experience it, because there is nothing else but warmth. Here is a better example. Say you are 2 metres tall, and everything in this world is 2 metres tall (the trees, tables, everything), nothing taller, nothing shorter. You know conceptually you are 2 metres tall, but cannot experience it. It is only when there is something that is slightly shorter or taller, then you can finally experience the 2 metre tallness. You will know it
conceptually, but cannot know it
experientially.
Information comes from the thing itself, meaning through its relation to other things. Dualities are occasionally useful and sometimes enlightening but they are rarely accurate and self-negations are simply meaningless.
You said its through its relation to other things that gives that thing its meaning. This shows how important is to have this dualities. With them, there would be no meaning. Meanings might not be accurate. What is accurate anyway? You decide meanings to things based on your level of conciousness, hence things can mean differently to different people.
That which is not is not, but we created it to allow us to experience which that is. Care to support that assertion evidentially or logically?
I've explained that already.
Perhaps you could demonstrate the direct communication of thoughts and feelings without the use of words or gestures.
Just ask two lovers, how they can understand eachother without using words.
As far as anyone can demonstrate consciousness exists only in the physical brain. I see no reason to assume otherwise, much less imagine a collective consciousness.
What you cannot demonstrate, doesn't mean doesn't exist. You cannot demonstrate individual consiousness, but it exists. Conciousness doesn't only reside in the brain, but rather in all the cells. It's just that the brain contains more cells than anywhere else, hence it seems to us that conciousness is only in our brains.
Its part of evolution, specifically; natural selection.
If you rather not be responsible for the things that we are doing now, then say natural selection, blame the environment for our destruction. We are the ones that is causing the change in our environments, or producing the selecting pressure. Be reponsible.
What Hevene seems to be asserting, and that which I am grilling him on, is the idea that belief itself and alone causes existence.
And I'm not a him, I am a her!!!
I said belief is the bases of all creation, all behaviors. Therefore what we belief, we create, even though this might not be clear to us sometimes. What we need to do is to change our belief and hence a change in behaviors will follow, and thus a creation of a different kind.
