Hi Stephen,

>
> It would be
>very easy to set up an experiment to demonstrate that thinking of a distant
>city does not involve mental travel but is nothing more than a combination
>of imagination and perhaps memory.

That's how I see it as well. But I also call a response rational if
it argues in a reasonable way within the given set of presuppositions
(even if they might be wrong). For instance, if my neighbor says
"trolls must have the power of invisibility, because despite all the
cell phone cameras people carry these days, no one has taken and
distributed a picture of a troll". It would be rational to respond,
"your argument is unconvincing because trolls might simply be very
reclusive and good at camouflage."

Admittedly, if I overheard this discussion on the bus I might induce
that we're near a mental hospital. But I'd still admit the
rationality of the sceptic's objection within its context.

>
>
>
>. If cittas exist within the
>time-space continuum of the universe, then they must be subject to the laws
>of physics in some way.

Aye, but there's the rub. We don't know what they have for physical
characteristics, so we don't know what that 'some way' would be. Are
they massless? If so then nich's comment would apply. Until cittas
can be reliably measured (if that ever happens, which I consider
about as likely as finding trolls in the forest) I would be very wary
of trying to argue their place within laws of physics.

> Given that cittas are supposed to be sa.msk.rta,
>how can they exist outside time and space ?

I don't know. I tend to believe that mental states have a physical
foundation. The reason I believe this is that mental states interact
with the physical world through the body and sense organs. If there
weren't a physical basis to mental states, what would be their
effective point of contact with the physical world?

However I can't help but be impressed by the sheer fact of
experience. Awareness is so amazing that I'm inclined to think
there's something inexplicable about it, something that will escape
all attempts at formal explanation and physical theories. Of course,
on further reflection, even 'mere matter' is amazing in that way. How
can anything be? How can anything think? The alternative then, how
could there be nothing? Try to picture it. It's astonishing in a way
that can hit you like a slap in the face. Sophomoric games maybe, but
I think it's worth recalling those riddles from time to time.

I can't draw any conclusions from the above, beyond the fact that I
would be very, very careful about trying to insert something as
amorphous and difficult to grasp as a mental state into the context
of formal physical theories, no matter what a priori considerations
might indicate that they ought to have a place there.

best regards,

/Rett