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Originally Posted by Cantankerous

i am an idealist. i don't think in terms of reality. i think about doing things all the time that i could perfectly well bring into fruition, but i never do them.

i didnt mean idealist in this sense (striving after an ideal) but philosophically, as in idealism vs materialism, "spirit" vs. matter.

religions are all forms of idealism as they preach the importance of "spirit" (consciousness) over matter. hence the notion of disembodied conciousness in the afterlife.

materialism, grossly speaking, says that consciousness is an emergent property of matter-- we aren't "ghosts in the machine" but conscious bodies.