Do you feel like your brain and body are different entities?

O

OldEngineer

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Location
San Diego, CA
My question is more philosophical than physical. Like a thought experiment.

Usually when I wake up, I do a 'systems' check - headache?, backache?, etc. And usually there is something new and brain thinks-
"OK, body, what have you been up to now? "
"What did you do while I (brain) was sleeping?"
"Can't you be more careful. We have a lot going on right now."
“Please let me know sooner if there is a step down ahead so we don’t fall”

It seems to me that every morning, I wake up with the same brain, but a different body. It feels like my brain is fundamentally not much different than when I was 30 or 40, but every morning I get a different body with a different mission (queue MI music)- especially as I turn the corner on 80 years. Yes, there are differences in my thinking, memories, experiences, etc., but I think if I could meet my 30 year old self we would get along extremely well.

If you are thinking about everything you've learned and how much better or worse your thinking skills have become, you're missing my point. My question here is "how do you think of your body?". Is it fully integrated with your brain to be a single entity that you never think about separately? Or do you think of your body as an extension of your brain? For me, it feels like my brain and body are good friends but are separate entities with separate wants and needs.

I’m just curious if anyone else has the same viewpoint.
 

OldEngineer said:
My question is more philosophical than physical. Like a thought experiment.

Usually when I wake up, I do a 'systems' check - headache?, backache?, etc. And usually there is something new and brain thinks-
"OK, body, what have you been up to now? "
"What did you do while I (brain) was sleeping?"
"Can't you be more careful. We have a lot going on right now."
“Please let me know sooner if there is a step down ahead so we don’t fall”

It seems to me that every morning, I wake up with the same brain, but a different body. It feels like my brain is fundamentally not much different than when I was 30 or 40, but every morning I get a different body with a different mission (queue MI music)- especially as I turn the corner on 80 years. Yes, there are differences in my thinking, memories, experiences, etc., but I think if I could meet my 30 year old self we would get along extremely well.

If you are thinking about everything you've learned and how much better or worse your thinking skills have become, you're missing my point. My question here is "how do you think of your body?". Is it fully integrated with your brain to be a single entity that you never think about separately? Or do you think of your body as an extension of your brain? For me, it feels like my brain and body are good friends but are separate entities with separate wants and needs.

I’m just curious if anyone else has the same viewpoint.
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To answer your question, I don't really feel like they are separate entities. They are completely integrated. If you were to take my brain, and therefore consciousness, and put it into an entirely different body, I just don't think I would feel that it is still me. I identify with my body. It is a very important part of who I am as a collective concept.

Most things in life are concepts that only have meaning as a concept. If you own a house, and over 50 years, you eventually have replaced every board and fastener in it, is it still the same house? It just depends on how you choose to think about it. Some would say no, and others would say yes. Who is right? It just depends on how you view it.
 

I know that my consciousness (mind) is a process that my brain is performing. And, my brain is doing other things I'm not conscious of, like keeping me breathing when I am not conscious. My heart has its own little regulator that keeps it beating. And, my gut has a nervous system of its own that I have no control over. We are a team.

I can walk without thinking about each muscle, because my brain does the detail work without it. My mind sets the goal and my brain carries it out. The same is true for most physical actions. I can touch type without thinking about where the keys are. If I do think about them, I don't actually know. But, my brain does. Sometimes, this can be a problem. If I'm not concentrating, my brain may do something really stupid. This has gotten worse as I've grown older.

My sleep consciousness is different than my waking one. It is completely illogical. A child can suddenly be a puppy and it never notices. It can be riding a bike one instant and flying an airplane the next. Sometimes it thinks I'm still in the Navy.
 
Grampa Don said:
Sometimes it thinks I'm still in the Navy.
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My body would take up the whole bed if it had a mind of it's own :ROFLMAO:
But my mind is conditioned to only allow sleep in a narrow spot at the edge of a Queen bed that I have all to myself HA
Too many ships and nights at sea I guess. Just glad I don't try and trice up each morning as I heave out Whoa
 
Naturally said:
My body would take up the whole bed if it had a mind of it's own :ROFLMAO:
But my mind is conditioned to only allow sleep in a narrow spot at the edge of a Queen bed that I have all to myself HA
Too many ships and nights at sea I guess. Just glad I don't try and trice up each morning as I heave out Whoa
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I've never slept better than I did at sea; the thrumming of the engines and the rolling motion.
 
My body is where my consciousness lives until my body dies and then my consciousness will move on to the next phase of its journey. I think that should be very interesting.
 
The very first thing I do on waking is look out the window to see what the weather is doing. My first task of every day is to walk my dog, so I have to know what to prepare for. Then I try to get up. My problem are my knees, which are shot. Sometimes I'll get up in the morning and they'll be locked together and fine. Other days they've turned into what feels like broken glass. So in that sense, the body is completely separate from the mind.

Hell, there are a few things my mind wants to do, but my body isn't able to comply. ;)
 
OldEngineer said:
My question is more philosophical than physical. Like a thought experiment.

Usually when I wake up, I do a 'systems' check - headache?, backache?, etc. And usually there is something new and brain thinks-
"OK, body, what have you been up to now? "
"What did you do while I (brain) was sleeping?"
Click to expand...
I knew it. I knew it. While I've been sleeping, my body has been up doing stuff, that's why I'm sore as hell in the morning. And judging from how I crawl out of bed in the AM, my body was out drinking, partying, and dancing for hours.
Bad body, bad bad body.
 
When my feet want to lead me to a strip club, my brain can't remember where to go. When I remember where to go, my feet start whining and don't want to go. And when I finally do go, my brain starts to argue why and how.....
 
I used to believe the brain and body acted separately but with every thought the body responds, no, brain and body act as one.
 
No. But then I've been very athletic and fit my whole adult life and understand how neuroplasticity works as in Use It or Lose It.
 

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