This is how I resolve the Western-Eastern divide on consciousness and the physical world. In my view, both perspectives have to be true. On the one hand, it is foolish to deny the physical world. Even if we do live in a simulation, as speculated by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom, reality is nonetheless a conceptual level that is real for us. If we accept the existence of the physical world and the evolution that has taken place in it, then we can see that conscious entities have evolved from it. On the other hand, the Eastern perspective—that consciousness is fundamental and represents the
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