... I have to suppose that, like my parents existence, it existed before I did, this thing I'm now conscious of. But it is not dependent on my thoughts, or any theory I might form about it.
I don't see how you could know this felling /experience / you have is:
(1) not made by your mental activity (which I defined in last post and now contrast in the footnote with the bio-chemical and physical brain activity)* I do agree that somethings, including feelings and behavior pattern dispositions, are part of the human endowment - like Young's Archetypes, and instincts, like smiling when happy and dozens of other facial expression, lifting eye brows puzzled, etc., many of which are built into the genes of the great apes too. I.e. yes, there are parts of your unconscious / automatic mental activity that existed way back in time to when apes and humans had a common ancestor.
(2) Is due to something once existing outside of you, even before you were born. How can you know what existed before you did - only by reading or being told. Neither of which is error free, especial about postulated unobservable, where many conflicting versions exist in different cultures. (Gods, unicorns, sea monsters, ghosts, origins of man, etc.)
Note if you are not claiming any "god like thing" ever did or does exist outside of you, then cease telling us of your mental aberrations, which many do not share. It is still not at all clear what you are or are not claiming about the existence of God (other than some processes, probably unconscious ones as most are, in your brain).
But you do say you are only "supposing," not claiming, this felling/ experience you relate to god's existence outside of you and prior to you is valid. Thus, you still come across as an agnostic wishing that God existed, not as a theist asserting that he does.
... But "what" am I talking about? Well, whatever it is, it must have always been a part of my conscious experience. It isn't hallucinating--I know what that's like--and it isn't a way to think. More a way to not think and just be aware.
I can agree your feeling /experience is not a typical hallucination, certainly not a visual or auditory one most associate with that word; however hallucinated feelings and experiences are quite common. Some consider "love" to be hallucinated feelings and experiences. Some people are completely disable by feeling of danger and/or ill defined but constant threats. - Medically termed "panic attacks."
Thus, when "hallucination" is understood in this more general way, you have no reason to believe your feelings / experiences are not just hallucinated feelings / experiences. No reason to believe they are due to something now within your mental system, but which existed externally before you did. –
To conclude that is quite a very wild leap of faith with zero foundation.
Also it is reasonably well established that what we are conscious of is the end product of prior unconscious mental processes. In addition to complex solutions "suddenly popping in to your head," there are neural signals picked up by probes contacting the brain that allow an external observer (typically a doctor checking to learn what part of the brain he can remove without significant damage to your behavior / abilities as he tries to eliminate your focal epilepsy) to tell even seconds before you are consciously aware of fact that the decision has already been unconsciously made, but of course you falsely think you consciously decided / made it later when your consciousness was informed of the decision. - See: thread "Free will, Ha! you will be the last to know." at:
http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=2227485&postcount=1
Thus, most of what you think is result of your conscious processes many not be. Consciousness, may have evolved to provide a final check / filter to eliminate dangerous behavior that might otherwise thoughtlessly occur.
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* An example of “bio-chemical brain activity” (in contrast to "mental brain activity") is the production of energy via oxidation mainly to run the "sodium pump" which restores the -70mV internal "resting potential" of nerves after they have discharged. I.e. pumps Na+ ions to the exterior of the nerve in some cases doing so in less than 0.002 seconds!
An example of "physical brain activity" is the dilation of the lumen of blood vessels in the currently more active parts of the brain. I.e. the blood vessels sense the increase in the local CO2 concentration and become larger to increase the blood flow rate taking CO2 more rapidly to the lungs. (That also increases the local availability of O2, but AFAIK, it is all driven by the change in CO2 concentration which is a much greater percentage change than the slight O2 concentration decrease.)
