The Non-Physicality of the Universe

[exchemist]

So a non-real physical image?

No. The image is real but it is an image of something that is not real.

Look, there is no mystery here. You can draw a unicorn. The drawing is real. The unicorn depicted is not.

 

[Nakosis]

No. The image is real but it is an image of something that is not real.

Look, there is no mystery here. You can draw a unicorn. The drawing is real. The unicorn depicted is not.

Ok, great. The unicorn depicted. Is that a non-physical thing?

 

[shunyadragon]

An image in our head, like the image of a red ball, can't actually interact with the universe, can it?

It reflects an interaction with the universe where it originates.

 

[QuestioningMind]

An image in our head, like the image of a red ball, can't actually interact with the universe, can it?

That's right. The red ball does NOT exist in our universe. It ONLY exists as a mental image in your head. And that mental image in your head exists due to the firing of neurons on your physical brain.

 

[Bear Wild]

Ok, great. The unicorn depicted. Is that a non-physical thing?

Well if a unicorn is not physical then you better explain this to the unicorn I have in my back yard.

 

[Aupmanyav]

When I create an image of a table in my head, is that image physical or non-physical?
If it is physical, what are its physical properties?
If it is non-physical does it even exist?
If we can mentally see that which doesn't exist, how do we see it?
Does reality contain both the physical and non-physical, i.e. the mental images we can create?
If so, is there a relationship between the non-physical and the spiritual?

Nice questions, basic in Hinduism or Buddhism.
What can be experienced by mind only is non-physical and what can be experienced by our senses is physical.
Therefore, the table in your mind is non-physical.
Existence or non-existence is a different question. Non-physical is not considered to exist.
(Electric current, heat, light, can be experienced by our senses, and therefore exist)
What kind of reality are you talking about? That which can be perceived by our senses or something beyond it?
I would not be able to discuss 'spirituality involving any God' since I am an atheist. But there is a 'spirituality without involving God' but only humans and what exists in the world. I can surely discuss that.

Does the non-physical exist in our universe.

Non-physical cannot be said to exist.

 

[shunyadragon]

That's right. The red ball does NOT exist in our universe. It ONLY exists as a mental image in your head. And that mental image in your head exists due to the firing of neurons on your physical brain.

. . . and being able to visualize the exiatence of what a real physical red ball is. How big? What kind? What function is the red ball?

 

[exchemist]

Ok, great. The unicorn depicted. Is that a non-physical thing?

There are no unicorns, right? So unicorns are not physical. The Star Ship Enterprise does not exist. So it is not physical.

But you can draw both of them. The drawings are physical.