What does it actually mean to be a "human"?

Someone once asked a sage what defines a human being—are we spiritual beings or material ones? His answer was simple:
"We are spiritual beings having a material experience, not material beings having a spiritual one." I'd like to hear from the community: which side of that coin do you land on?

Sophia King42 said:Someone once asked a sage what defines a human being—are we spiritual beings or material ones? His answer was simple:
"We are spiritual beings having a material experience, not material beings having a spiritual one." I'd like to hear from the community: which side of that coin do you land on?

Just a material being with material experiences. 😢

lonegardener said:Just a material being with material experiences. 😢

Not quite. 😢 If that’s the case, then what exactly is a dream... or what happens when you smoke weed or drink?😢😢😲😲

Sophia King42 said:Not quite. 😢 If that’s the case, then what exactly is a dream... or what happens when you smoke weed or drink?😢😢😲😲

Well... through that process, you're essentially introducing certain toxic compounds into your system. They trigger the release of specific hormones—I believe they call them dopamine, or something along those lines—which have some pretty interesting, even fascinating, effects on brain function and consciousness.

I don't see what's so "immaterial" about this... to me, it feels pretty damn material. 🤷

lonegardener said:Well... through that process, you're essentially introducing certain toxic compounds into your system. They trigger the release of specific hormones—I believe they call them dopamine, or something along those lines—which have some pretty interesting, even fascinating, effects on brain function and consciousness.

I don't see what's so "immaterial" about this... to me, it feels pretty damn material. 🤷

The brain!!! Consciousness!!! Mysticism!!! Is all of that somehow separate from blood and flesh? Everything we feel...😲😲😲

Sophia King42 said:The brain!!! Consciousness!!! Mysticism!!! Is all of that somehow separate from blood and flesh? Everything we feel...😲😲😲

It’s all material.

hollowcanyon6 said:It’s all material.

Think of the physical body as nothing more than a doll without a soul. I can prove it. Consider what happens when you sleep. You get pricked by a needle. Your hand twitches. Yet, you feel absolutely nothing. Where does your consciousness go during a dream? Or consider someone passing out—they lose awareness entirely before coming to.They came to.

Either he finally found himself...

Sophia King42 said:Think of the physical body as nothing more than a doll without a soul. I can prove it. Consider what happens when you sleep. You get pricked by a needle. Your hand twitches. Yet, you feel absolutely nothing. Where does your consciousness go during a dream? Or consider someone passing out—they lose awareness entirely before coming to.They came to.

Try hitting them in the head. The pain receptors will kick in immediately, and they'll wake right up. Besides, what kind of proof is that for some "spiritual body" when a dream is clearly just a byproduct of the physical brain? 🤷

hollowcanyon6 said:Try hitting them in the head. The pain receptors will kick in immediately, and they'll wake right up. Besides, what kind of proof is that for some "spiritual body" when a dream is clearly just a byproduct of the physical brain? 🤷

Not so sure about that... the brain is just a hub... not the seat of emotion.

Sophia King42 said:Not so sure about that... the brain is just a hub... not the seat of emotion.

What exactly are you getting at here?

I just wanted to say I'm done trying to argue with you.

Sophia King42 said:Someone once asked a sage what defines a human being—are we spiritual beings or material ones? His answer was simple:
"We are spiritual beings having a material experience, not material beings having a spiritual one." I'd like to hear from the community: which side of that coin do you land on?

Wait, which wise man are we actually talking about here? Based on how deep that quote sounds, it feels like it could have come straight from Jay-Z during one of his late-night deep dives.

Sophia King42 said:Someone once asked a sage what defines a human being—are we spiritual beings or material ones? His answer was simple:
"We are spiritual beings having a material experience, not material beings having a spiritual one." I'd like to hear from the community: which side of that coin do you land on?

We are spiritual beings living through material experiences.

We were born into the spiritual realm; that’s our true home base. We basically dropped down into this physical reality just to feed our egos and chase after whatever desires we could find. But now, we're looking at an ascent back up to the spiritual side where we belong forever, while this whole material world eventually fades away because it won't be needed to fix us anymore. There's still plenty of time before that happens, so there's no need to freak out just yet. 😍

The word "Adam" actually comes from the root "Dom," which means being "like the creator."
Right now, though, we are the complete opposite of the creator, so we can't even see Him or feel His presence—to us, He's practically non-existent. Sure, we can choose to believe He exists, but that’s just faith, not direct perception or actual knowledge; it's just thinking "He's somewhere up in the clouds."

This whole process of fixing ourselves starts right here on Earth, starting from a position that is totally opposite to His. Once we manage to correct even one single quality within ourselves so that it aligns with His, we start to experience Him directly through that specific trait, allowing us to mirror what He does based on how much we've improved. When we finally fix all our flaws, we become perfectly aligned with Him, and in the spiritual realm—where everything follows the law of equality of form—that means we become One.

Humanity is the absolute peak of creation. We are the ones who perfect everything, bringing creation to its ultimate conclusion by ascending back into the spiritual realm.

There was only ever one creation. The first human, Adam, was a single, unique soul, and we are all just tiny fragments or cells of that original entity. In order to rise back to our roots and enter the spiritual realm, we have to reunite into one single spiritual organism representing all of humanity, and honestly, that's slowly happening right now. Take this current crisis, for example—it's just a physical manifestation of the fact that we are all interconnected (just like we were in that original Adam). Through this chaos, nature—the creator—is showing us that nobody is an island and we are all interdependent, even if the way we perceive reality right now makes us feel totally isolated. The real question is how many more hits we're going to take before we finally get it and start moving toward that spiritual unity. Trying to unite physically is a lost cause; history is full of failed attempts at that.

Man is just a creature engineered by "reptilian" aliens. Our primary purpose is to serve and labor until we are finally ready for consumption—whether that’s physical or spiritual... if anyone actually cares to dive deeper, I'd suggest checking out books by David Icke, Sitchin, or Daniken.

Andrew Sullivan6 said:Man is just a creature engineered by "reptilian" aliens. Our primary purpose is to serve and labor until we are finally ready for consumption—whether that’s physical or spiritual... if anyone actually cares to dive deeper, I'd suggest checking out books by David Icke, Sitchin, or Daniken.

Just pure nonsense and pseudo-intellectual garbage. But hey, whatever works for you! I guess some people find their life's purpose in being someone else's dinner. If that makes them feel like they're serving the "Greater Good," more power to them.🙂

Materialistic? Sure, my body is material. But what's a body actually made of? About 70% water. So, logically speaking, I should just be flowing all over the place. 😉 Moving on... The body is made of molecules, which are made of atoms. Atoms consist of a nucleus and electrons orbiting that nucleus—all within empty space. We're talking about "empty space" on the scale of a football stadium compared to a tiny matchbox (the nucleus/matter). That "empty space" is energy. Which leads us to the conclusion that humans aren't actually material at all. Or, as someone once pithily put it, we don't really exist. 😉

So yeah, science basically backs up the idea that we’re spiritual beings having a physical experience.

lonegardener said:Well... through that process, you're essentially introducing certain toxic compounds into your system. They trigger the release of specific hormones—I believe they call them dopamine, or something along those lines—which have some pretty interesting, even fascinating, effects on brain function and consciousness.

I don't see what's so "immaterial" about this... to me, it feels pretty damn material. 🤷

You mention "toxic" compounds. You should realize that everything a human being introduces into their body can be considered "toxic," depending entirely on your perspective.
It is only your own lack of understanding that compels you to label one thing "toxic" while viewing something else as fundamentally different.
Ultimately, if you maintain the belief that the physical body is what defines your core essence, then everything becomes toxic. Under that worldview, the entirety of "life" itself is nothing more than toxicity.

Telema!
At his core, a person is a being made of light; and light itself is a duality—particle and wave, matter and energy, a fundamental union of masculine and feminine essence!
The human body is a temple where God resides...
Man is the cross of beauty...
Man is the tree of life...
Man is the descending dove, the ascending serpent, and the flash of a blade...
Man is that immortal spark passed down through the generations...
------------
...for the bond between father and son is the holy spirit,
masculine, feminine, essential, one.
A male being clothed in a female form.
Glory and worship in the heavens,
to you, the dove that lifts man toward divinity,
so that he may reign,
under the spring sun following a winter storm.
Glory and worship to you, the lifeblood of the world's ash tree, the miraculous tree!...
---------------
The symbol of yin and yang, 69, the upright and inverted pentagram.
The upright pentagram represents the spirit's mastery over matter—man's spiritual vision...
The inverted pentagram represents the spirit's immersion into matter—the incarnation of spirit, man's material sight...
Agape!

Sophia King42 said:Someone once asked a sage what defines a human being—are we spiritual beings or material ones? His answer was simple:
"We are spiritual beings having a material experience, not material beings having a spiritual one." I'd like to hear from the community: which side of that coin do you land on?

But what does "spiritual being" even mean, really? Like, can someone give me a real-world example of one?

And then there's the "material being" part. What's an example of that? Some kind of animal or a plant?

I just want to make sure we're actually talking about the same thing here. It feels like a lot of fancy labels that everyone interprets differently, while there might not be much substance behind them at all...