Nacho's Reveries

On Consciousness, Buddhism and Idealization

07th December 2025

WARNING: This blog isn't a scientific explanation, it's simply my rumination of aforementioned topics.

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If you think about it, just about everything in this world is made up of patterns. The stars, the planets, the trees, and even us, humans. This reasoning stemmed from my recent readings on consciousness and The Brief History of Intelligence by Max Benett. Consciousness, as I have come to understand is the ability to be aware, to be constantly processing information from the environment and internal states and to know that you... are you.

But what seems jarring is how vague it is. What is it really? Is it just a byproduct of complex neural networks firing in our brains? Or is there something more to it? What exactly is "I"? "I" am just a collection of atoms and cells, but yet I refer to myself as a singular entity. Why? How does your brain seemingly generate a version of yourself? Even if we map all brain activity, why should it "feel" something? Many argue that we can "make" consciousness by shoving enough wires, say 86 billion neuron-wires, because one possible theory is that it's the byproduct of brain activity. But why should that be the case? Why should complex information processing lead to subjective experience?

Electricity in a robot does not produce anything. It doesn't feel anything, it's just 0s, 1s, 0s 1s going on and on. So why should our brains be any different? After all, neurons really are just electric signals.

This is complicated isn't it? Consciousness is a hard problem to solve, and I don't think anyone has the answer yet. Expect a detailed blog on consciousness in the future, because I am consuming quite a lot of material related to AI!

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Now, how does Buddhism tie into all of this? Well, I could potentially tie this into the topic, but it actually came from something much simpler.

Recently, I've been wanting to change. I've been wanting to be more disciplined, more focused, and more present, because to say the least, I'm a huge huge mess. For about six months or so, a line that recurs in my brain seems to be "my life is in shambles", even though it's entirely in my hands. I have the power to change it, I can do things that will 'fix' it. So finally, this month, I decided to try it. Try and see if I am capable of changing my life for the better. To see if I can completely change myself. I wanted and want to be a bit of an all-rounder. My goals include: In attempt to do this, I started reading about Buddhism, because I heard it was a philosophy that focused on self-improvement and discipline. To be completely honest, I didn't dive deep in to the philosophies, however I did pick up a copy of "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" by Shunryu Suzuki, which is a book about Zen Buddhism. Specifically, the Soto school of Zen Buddhism. It focuses purely on zazen , which is seated meditation. The idea is to just sit, and be present. To not think about anything, to just be. To gently watch your thoughts with the interest of a distant observer. To be mindful. Initially, this started off as a way to sleep without my mind racing and other impulses, but as I dug deeper, I realized I could potentially be Oogway! (Without the cosmic kung-fu, tragically.) And plus, I really could use "living in the moment" more often.

So, I started... I started yesterday. Which means I don't have any results yet, but I can say that it was quite calming. Sitting there, just observing my thoughts, letting them come and go, not attaching to them. One strategy that seemed to work was think of the thoughts as lilies in a pond. They come, they float, and they go away. You just watch them, you don't try to grab them or hold on to them. You just let them be. I fell asleep quite easily after that session, and I'll say. It is a great experience. I've decided to incorporate this into my morning routine.

Sometimes, all you need is a bit of Oogway. :)

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