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hartfireWhat about the existence of the person in transient unconsciousness, is he temporarily not existing?
For example, a person owing to overly long period lasting many many hours of un-interrupted mental work, but he keeps by will power to stay conscious, then suddenly his weariness overtakes him while he was sitting on his chair at his working desk, and he lapses on his chair at his desk unconscious in deep dreamless sleep. When he wakes up he looks at his wrist watch and at the calendar on the wall, he realizes that he was unconscius for over a day and a half.
I would consider that person to have ceased in existence as a human for the period of a day and a half.
Now, in the case of God, He cannot lose his consciousness no matter how long He works continuously, because He is existence itself in his essence.
hartfire
@yrger No, I disagree.
A person is regarded by medicos as 'vegetating" if they are in a permanent coma, kept alive solely by artificial means and with no prospect of recovery.
Unless the machines are turned off, such a person slowly wastes away, every muscle atrophies. They are living but not sentient; not even the autonomic nervous system (which runs the body's systems to support life) are functioning. They cannot even breathe by themselves.
Other forms of unconsciousness are still a major part of life:
- the unconscious memories and associations that affect the way we respond to what we perceive,
- REM and deep sleep
- and temporary unconsciousness due to accident, excess heat or cold, or illness.
We the person wakes (or recovers) their sense of identity and ability to expect and live life continue. The desire to live has much to do with how we construct morality as a society and ethics as individuals.
While awareness and sentience is fundamental to the experience of being human, it is not unique to humans. As I've pointed out previously, we have plenty of evidence that all mammals are just as aware and feeling as we are.. In fact, it can easily be argued that they are more so because they don't have thoughts and beliefs (no neocortex for complex language and thought) to interfere with how they respond to their experiences.
Where do you get your ideas from, yrger?
Have you studied philosophy and the major religions?
If you want to get deeply into these issues you can find plenty of articles on them in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - free for anyone to access online.
