Knowing Self

I can't sleep.
Might as well blog.

More massive than previously known.
That's the latest finding about our very own Milky Way.
How much detail can we find out about our own galaxy?
There is a limit.
Why?
Because we live in it.
Can we truly know ourselves with our own efforts?
I think not.
I remember: The very act of observing changes that which is being observed.
The uncertainty is always there, no matter how much detail you gain from observing your own brain.
Do we need someone to tell us about that which we cannot truly know?
Yes? No?
Do we need to get out of the system to see things better from a "bird's eyeview"?
Yes? No?
Certainly someone from outside our galaxy can tell us more details about our Milky way.
Certainly some astronomer from Andromeda can tell us better how many arms our Milky Way has.
Who then can tell us better about our self?
Advanced beings?
God?
What is the only way for man to truly know himself? To "get out of the system", to die?
They say the universe is starting to become aware of itself.
I say the universe can never truly know itself.
Because the universe is itself.

I'm now sleepy.

The Sleep of Death and the Life of a New Day

Good Morning, in my previous post, I have introduced the question of the afterlife that all sentient beings ask of whether one's "self" or consciousness will be able to extend indefinitely after death. And I have outlined the conundrum of not being able to know what the real answer is. I note that knowing and believing is different from each other. Many believe in the afterlife, but no person truly knows the answer to the question.
As an Archetyper - one who looks into fundamental patterns and principles to understand confounding issues,
I will attempt to provide only some insights (not answers) regarding the afterlife.
The key, to begin our investigation, is sleep. Sleep is our mini-death experience. Although the brain continues to churn in deep sleep, many hours are lost from our stream of consciousness. Often on a good dreamless sleep, the last thing we remember was the night's lullaby as we wake up to the new day. Being able to sleep and then waking, is an experience worth celebrating, especially if and every time we wake up. For it is a mini-taste of rebirth or resurrection, a new day of life. Indeed throughout the ages, man have noticed that sleep is the closest thing to death in terms of subjective experience and its symbolism or abstraction. No wonder Shakespeare have written "To Die: To Sleep" and the famous rub, "For in that sleep of death.." The Bible also considers sleep as an analog of death. In Daniel 12:2 "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake.."
I wish I could say, "Congratulations! You are immortal!" based on these, but I am not here to declare, but rather to share the patterns I see, and stir the intellect.
With sleep as the starting point, the trail leading to an archetype concept is easy to follow. We sleep because we are biurnal creatures that evolved the circadian rhythm due to the light and dark experience. And this is because of the night and day cycle caused by the earth's spin around the sun. And our sun, the earth, and us are borne of star-stuff, made from remnants of a previous star that died as a supernova.
Note the patterns on different levels that are also chained together: Light and Dark. Night and Day. Sleep and Awakening. Life and Death. Death and Rebirth.
The patterns reveal that it is possible for Consciousness to be re-created, rebooted or re-instantiated. A person may live again, but whether the Personality can be kept fully intact on the next instance of Conscious life is a deeper mystery.
The important thing is that we are here and now, ready to face a new day. Congratulations, you are alive. Have a great day!