Might inanimate objects have a consciousness?

[Sunshine Hoosier]

I'm curious if there's any thought about inanimate objects having some type of consciousness. I had a few cases which lead me to believe perhaps they do.

In 1998, my brother sold me his 1991 grand am. The car was high mileage and was giving my brother all kinds of trouble and he was planning on taking it to the junk yard. At the time, I was broke and I needed a vehicle, so I made an offer of $200. My brother sold it to me but not before warning me that I'd probably end up stranded. I remember when he gave me the keys I sat in that car and had little talk saying something like I saved you from the junkyard. I got the oil changed. I washed it, waxed it and cleaned the interior probably the first time in years. Then I got hired on at a new job slowly I got everything in working order. A couple of times the car broke down in my driveway but it always got me back home. Eventually I bought a brand new car but I still kept my grand am for a secondary car. I put 119,000 miles on the car and probably would still have but I loaned it my nephew and he totaled it.

On another occasion I was renting a house with two friends. We were renting this older, two story house. The upstairs was basically an office/storage area. On most nights as soon as we'd go to bed the ceiling would make this awful cracking noise. I being an avid reader was needing a quiet area away from my roommates loud tv sets. I thought why not go upstairs where it was quiet. I went up and read next to this big window. It seemed like every time I went up to read there would be no cracking noise at night.

This last occasion just happened a few days ago. I was baby sitting my neighbors kids. They have an 8 year old and a 4 year old. They were playing with their toys for awhile. Then the 4 year old looked behind my tv cabinet and seen some tennis balls I use for juggling while commercials are on. I have 4 four tennis balls plus a white stress ball that you squeeze that they gave us when my job was transferred to Mexico. I rarely pick up the white ball because it's a little bit smaller diameter and has less mass than the tennis balls. I was bit astounded with the 4 year old noted that the white ball looked sad.

Anyone with any stories like mine?

[emberdawn]

Welcome Sunshine Hoosier. It always seems that cars run better after you wash them and clean them. Mine always does.

Edited November 21, 2013 by emberdawn

[Nighthawk9653]

Can't say I have, but I have thought about it before, and it is quite an interesting thing to think about

Although, in grade 2 I had this pencil case and the zipper always got stuck, so whenever it got stuck I'd get up and walk around the classroom twice, and when I got back the zipper would be unstuck. Don't know if that's the same, but I just found that weird. Like it needed a few minutes to chill out.

Also, I tend to think of cars having different emotions from their headlights and grill. Some look happy, others sad, some tired, and then others really scary

[Likely Guy]

Since I was a child I thought they might. One of the saddest things I did a few years ago was to take my favourite recliner to the dump (it was beyond repair). But that was just me, holding on.

Although, I have an old rocking chair (that no one is allowed to sit in) that's about 180 years old that came from the east coast of the U.S., across the Oregon Trail and then up to here. It was always 'old' when it went to my great grandfather to Oregon, to my grandparents, to my mother and then to me.

My house could burn down tonight and that would be the only thing I'd try to save. It can't speak, but I would love it moreso if it could tell me stories.

[Likely Guy]

Welcome Sunshine Hoosier. It always seems that cars run better after you wash them and clean them. Mine always does.

That's a nail on the head statement. Car's do run better when their clean and shiny, after all, don't we?

[spacecowboy342]

I had a recurring nightmare when I was a kid that semi-trucks were alive

[psyche101]

I had a recurring nightmare when I was a kid that semi-trucks were alive

I am here to make you feel better.

[spacecowboy342]

I am here to make you feel better.

Not really helping

[emberdawn]

We have a soda machine at work with an attitude. Kind of like the one in the move by Steven King. It throws sodas and change at you. It slow and makes you wait. I think it's tempting you bend down and look so it can give you a black eye and laugh while you chase your change across the floor.

[Frank Merton]

The only inanimate thing around me I can think of with personality are my pillows.

[Likely Guy]

I've had the same digital alarm clock since 1983. It's served me unfailingly until lately. A few weeks ago it sped up and woke me up 23 minutes early for work. Today, it gained over two hours.

I think that I might have to 'put it down'.

[Likely Guy]

The only inanimate thing around me I can think of with personality are my pillows.

That's a 'could you please elaborate', type-thing. Chairs and clocks, I get, but pillows?

[Frank Merton]

That's a 'could you please elaborate', type-thing. Chairs and clocks, I get, but pillows?

They have their own mind and don't stay where I want them.

[Professor T]

welcome to UM Sunshine Hoosier..

What a cool topic..

I think consciousness rubs off onto everything and is spreading and being spread all over the place..

I brought an angry coffee at a mall today..

That made me angry..

So I spilled some of it on the table on purpose to create an angry puddle and a group of angry coffee rings..

There was something satisfying about releasing that anger..

It was their fault for making me an angry coffee in the first place..

Oh well, am sure their angry cleaning cloths stopped that anger from being spread any further.. Back to the source I say...

Edited November 21, 2013 by Professor T

[Harte]

When I was a student at Georgia sitting at the campus bus stop almost late for class, all I had to do was light a cigarette to make the bus come.

So, those buses wanted me to quit smoking, damn their interfering egos!

Harte

[Bendy Demon]

Isn't there a belief in Japan (or elsewhere too) that if you own an object and care for and treat it nicely long enough that it develops a soul?

Sounds interesting but I often chalk it up to our compulsion to personify and anthropomorphize things...who knows.

[Frank Merton]

I have a unique small river pebble that caught my eye when I was a teenager that has been with me ever since, usually tucked away in a drawer. Every now and then I hold it and it gives me tranquility (it's shaped where it fits perfectly in my palm). I don't doubt that the experience derives from its smoothness, shape and familiarity, but it is still a pleasant thing.