Quotes and comments;
1. '...it is not even possible for the conscious I to control the urges it is presented with.' [1.]
- I don't see that he has the warrant to make such a blanket statement. In addressing this subject we have to ask where do 'urges' come from? It seems clear to me that a person's mindset (imagination, etc.) has an influence on what desires a person has - and which of these desires he allows to have free reign in his imagination. It's one thing to experience momentary attraction (this is not what Christ condemned) but another matter to go one and engage in lustful fantasies about the person (which is what Christ was referring to).
Libet and the author caricature and falsify what Christ's teachings were, and what the christian sexual ethic is. Libet foolishly says you cant' get a sexual ethic from the golden rule. This is a rather juvenile response. Christ was speaking seriously, and expected his remarks to be considered thoughtfully. He never repudiated so called 'Jewish' law regarding sex and marriage (as Paul's letters make clear).
- The veto model of consciousness presented by Libet is presented as being favorable to 'Mosaic' law, and incompatible with the golden rule. This is largely (not wholly) a false contrast. It's popular in our day to mock the golden rule (e.g. A.C. Grayling) by offering absurd examples of what it might imply. (Our author brings up the sad example of rape.) This attempted refutation fails because it ignores plain Christian teaching against sin. (e.g. rape. The golden rule is a capsule treatment of Christian morality - and is not meant to trump other teachings recorded in the New Testament. It is a way to help people understand (and imagine) what the loving thing to do would be - not merely the legal or lawful thing. (Are people really so ignorant, that they don't realize Christ was presenting an ethic of love? "Love thy neighbor as thyself," he told the crowd.
2. N. quotes Hillel as claiming morality is a question of what you may no do.
- Our author is correct in saying Jesus taught against this. The law (strictly speaking) isn't so much about morality, but about duty. i.e. everyone has a duty to their creator to obey His law. I think most of us would agree that true morality calls for more. It calls for love and charity. (Christ was in agreement with the Old testament teaching on the call to love one's neighbor It's not the case that 'Mosaic' law was solely negative.
3. Our author (p. 247) says of our consciousness that it 'has no ability to manage what happens inside a person's mind.'
- Really? I find this a strange remark. I suggest he reread his New Testament. There (dealing with this very problem) Paul tells the Christian to ''think on what is beautiful, true, right," etc. By how we think (and live) we train the whole self, the whole person - including shaping the very structure of the brain. We most surely have an ability (however imperfect) to manage what happens in the mind.
Summary;
Orthodox Christianity teaches that Christ knows what is best for man because he himself (as a member of the Trinity) created man. As Paul writes in Colossians; "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth..." [25.]
Notes;
1. The User Illusion - Tor Norretranders
2. He relies a lot on the work of Benjamin Libet. (Numerous references in the bibliography.)
3. The traditional image of the ego is of a mind that uses a body or brain. If this is an illusion, what is making use of the brain/body? e.g. what is it that decides to do experiments on consciousness? and why?
4. If the executive ego is an illusion, how do we know this? Isn't it the delusionary ego that's making this claim the ego is a delusion? How does that work?
5. "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." - Colossians 1:15-16
