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An Essay On The Consciousness And Self-Awareness by ELIZABETH BARNOR
Does anyone out there agree with prof Marcus Du Sautoy that consciousness and self-awareness can be proved only by scientific experiments? I don't. I believe that what atheist scientists are searching for is the concept of God. And so long as they deny His existence, their searches for the meaning of life - which consciousness is, will always elude them.
Consciousness, I believe, lies in the metaphysical state. And Metaphysics is ideation - an abstract awareness that is felt or sensed, but is outside of the human physical experience. The metaphysical world, as philosophers assert, can be reached only through the subconscious state. The old philosophers - like Descartes, Nietzsche and yes, William Blake, who I think of as a philosopher rather than a poet, (or maybe both), attained the subconscious state, or the metaphysical world, largely by smoking opium; which transported them to an awareness outside of their physical state, enabling them to come out with concepts and imageries that made us think of them as philosophers. They were philosophers to us because attaining the metaphysical world is not something the layman, or ordinary man, ever thinks of exploring. It is not something he even aspires to. It does not occur to him he might want to attempt going there.
And if by some fluke he chances to be there, he is not adequately equipped to recognise it. It would make him senseless. He would start behaving oddly, misinterpreting and misrepresenting what is revealed to him. It would strongly disturb him into displaying societally-unstructured behaviour. He would veer so far off-course from the codes and conventions put in place to guard and control us by Society. Society will condemn and treat him as insane.
The ordinary man, whether out of laziness, or lack of self-belief, prefers to label another as a philosopher, a scientist, a seer or somehow blessed with the sort of brain that is not meted out to all humankind. It is beyond the reaches of his mental capacity to wonder about anything other than is in front of him. What he cannot see and touch, to him does not exist and does not warrant worrying about.
Gautama Buddha sat under a tree for years to attain the same state - which he called Nirvana. Only to have his fellow man put him on a pedestal and deify and worship him. All he was doing was searching for answers to his own life problems. But I hereby claim, unscientific and non-mathematical as I am, that we all have the nature-given ability to seek answers to problems pertaining to our own lives, and life in general. That a high imagination, if summoned (and it can be done at will), can achieve the same state so that a thought can be plucked from the unseen to explain our world. We do not need, and indeed must not, make others liable to, and responsible for, finding answers to our mistakes. They can find their own answers - we must strive to do the same.
When Einstein came up with the equation E=MC(2), he was doing the same thing. Alright, he did use algebraic (mathematical) codes, signs and formulae, but he was still working with non-palpable ideas. Dreams, like imagination, can do the same thing.
During the good professor's experimentation and moments of near-clarity on BBC2 on the 20th of October 2009, he did touch on the idea of the Consciousness existing outside of the physical body. Yet that impalpable something still eluded him. He travelled the globe, visited other science professors and doctors in order to grasp different aspects of the search for his answer, but it still did not occur to him to attribute this elusiveness to a Supreme Being, a higher intelligence - simply to God, our Creator. Scientists would be more intellectual and helpful to the world and to their 'craft', if only they admit that there truly is something 'out there' that has the answer to everything that they cannot get at. And that that something is Divinity God, the Creator, and that it is at this juncture of their search that Faith comes in. And that the very fact that whatever they do, they cannot get a conclusion in certainty, means there is a God that can only be reached by faith. He has given us so much, yet we always deny Him the credit for all we have and own, which is what He alone bequeathed to us at our birth. What does He have to do for us to see him in the glory of the beauty we see around us in nature?
Prof Du Sautoy did mention Descartes and his idea of his consciousness or existence being determined by his self-awareness: 'I think, therefore I am.' It is only through his thinking (the mind, the (sub)consciousness) that Descartes could actualise his existence. He (Descartes) also asserts that God exists because we are moved to wonder about Him. The very fact that we can conceptualise Him and debate whether or not He exists, is proof that He does. The human mind cannot accept what it does not see and touch except through Thought/Ideation/Metaphysics. Creators of film special effects go into their minds (the metaphysical world), to evoke the pyrotechnics and monstrosities that fill us with awe at the cinema. We are awed by special effects because not till somebody thinks or imagines up and builds, we cannot even begin to perceive them. They do this and we think of them as geniuses we admire. God does more than that. We see the proof of his creativity in the natural world we inhabit, in our own selves. In the fact that we cannot will ourselves to live and die - that is all to His will, yet we deny Him His rightly-deserved admiration and praise. That is all He asks of us, not much from One who has given us so much. And yet we cannot show our awe in his creativity that surpasses all mankind is capable of.
The mind is a great thing. If properly utilised for its rightful purpose, it can achieve so much for us. And that was one of God's stipulations with man when after creating Adam and then Eve, He entrusted the world and all in it into their care. He wanted us to use the mind to look after ourselves and the World he created for us. The mind is encapsulated in the brain while we have Consciousness and does its miraculous work: In scientific terms the connective activities of thousands, if not millions, of neurons that allow us to live and perform. I will endeavour to call these connective activities the Consciousness which gives us self-awareness. Again, Du Sautoy conceded that the Mind/Consciousness is separate from the physical body.
Yes, they are separate. But the end (death) of one - the physical body, should not mean the cessation of the other - the Consciousness or Soul. The Soul does leave the physical body at death but it passes into a bigger, collective Consciousness - A spirit world. Or a world full of departed or separated souls, or consciousness that is another dimension - akin to the Metaphysics. We die a little when we dream in sleep. When we dream in sleep, it is the Soul leaving to reacquaint itself with its own world. Our dearly departed ones visit us in our sleep when we dream of them, and do things with us. Complex situations and ideas are unravelled and simplified to us in dreams. Biblical prophets saw visions in dreams. We all possess the ability to imagine what in wakefulness eludes us, in dreams. We visit our Subconscious world when we sleep and dream. If we are fortunate, the essence of our being is revealed to us in dreams and we become more aware of who we are in consciousness.
It is no coincidence when people turn spiritual after Near Death Experiences. They are fortunate enough to have died and come back - usually with a specific purpose. Rather like waking up from a deep sleep and remembering a dream. Often such people find their lives change and take on a new meaning. They are no longer afraid of dying because they might have seen previously-departed loved ones and know they will resume their lives with them again one day. And behind all these uncertainties and certainties looms large the idea of God. He is the Ultimate Decision-maker who decides our decisions before we make them. He is the unknown quantity behind the causation of the Big Bang when He said 'Let there be Light.' The Big Bang caused an almighty flash of light when it happened. Or so we are told. But the proof of this is in The Bible. And it was there before the Einsteins and Hawkingses came along and tried to take the credit from God and give it to science. But, let me indulge myself here and ask, What is Science? Yes, science is scaled/measured Proof - Fact. It is having the concrete result of an experiment to show it can be proved. But is not Science itself an idea? Is it not intangible, in that it cannot be touched and felt? So could we not be naming God when we say the word 'science'?
From the foregoing it is obvious that I am a Christian. Not religious, as I do not ascribe to the idea of Religion. I am just a believer in the ideas of God and Jesus Christ - unashamedly so. And I make no excuses for that. And, we have proof that Jesus did exist among humans.
What else can I help you with?
What would be the most likely effect of puberty on self-esteem and confidence for Joan?
She would probably have low self-esteem and a greater sense of self-consciousness.
What is your consciousness AND your experience of being?
Consciousness is the awareness or perception of something, while experience of being refers to the subjective sense of existing and interacting with the world through our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Consciousness allows us to be aware of our experiences and form a sense of self within the world.
What is the significance of the phrase "I think before I am" in relation to self-awareness and consciousness?
The phrase "I think before I am" highlights the idea that self-awareness and consciousness are rooted in the ability to think and reflect on one's own existence. It suggests that our thoughts and reflections shape our sense of self and contribute to our understanding of who we are.
How does the continuity of consciousness impact our understanding of personal identity and the self?
The continuity of consciousness refers to the uninterrupted flow of our thoughts, memories, and experiences over time. This continuity plays a crucial role in shaping our understanding of personal identity and the self. It helps us maintain a sense of who we are and allows us to connect our past, present, and future selves. Without this continuity, our sense of self and personal identity would be fragmented and disjointed, making it difficult to maintain a coherent sense of who we are.
What are sources of the Vedas?
The vedas are the reverberations of pure consciousness. One unbounded ocean of consciousness is self referral by it's nature. Being consciousness it knows it's self. This means there is motion & that causes some sounds. There primordial sounds of the Ved are the expressions of the self interacting dynamics of consciousness. The Vedas are not created by anyone, they are self generated. The sounds of the ved precipitate as the forms of creation. Infinite diversity is lively in eternal unity which is my consciousness, your consciousness, the consciousness for everyone & the whole creation.
What has the author Julia Turner written?
Julia Turner has written: 'The psychology of self-consciousness' -- subject(s): Psychoanalysis, Self-consciousness
What has the author Franklin Merrell-Wolff written?
Franklin Merrell-Wolff has written: 'Pathways through to space' -- subject(s): Altered states of consciousness, Consciousness, Religious aspects, Religious aspects of Self-realization, Self-realization 'Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object' -- subject(s): Altered states of consciousness, Religious aspects, Religious aspects of Self-realization, Self-realization
What has the author Brian Garrett written?
Brian Garrett has written: 'Personal identity and self-consciousness' -- subject(s): Self-consciousness, Identity (Philosophical concept)
What has the author John Boghosian Arden written?
John Boghosian Arden has written: 'Rewire your brain' -- subject(s): Neurosciences, Memory, Brain 'Science, theology, and consciousness' -- subject(s): Consciousness 'Consciousness, dreams, and self' -- subject(s): Consciousness, Dreams, Self psychology, Social aspects, Social aspects of Consciousness
What is cosmic consciousness?
Cosmic consciousness is being in that state of realization, of enlightenment where one becomes conscious that we are not the body although we have a body, we are not the mind although it seems to exist. When we realize we are the Divine Soul, when we become the witness, the observer, we reach that state of consciousness. This consciousness which is self-awareness or self-realization goes deeper into God-realization. It goes on to realizing that this entire cosmos is nothing but energy, Divine energy. This same energy is in you, in me, everything beautiful is a manifestation of this energy. This is cosmic consciousness, to become conscious that the entire cosmos is one Divine manifestation.
What is private self consciousness?
Private self-consciousness refers to the extent to which an individual is aware of their own thoughts, feelings, and inner experiences. Individuals high in private self-consciousness tend to be more introspective and focused on their internal state, often engaging in self-reflection and self-evaluation. This can influence how they perceive themselves and their behaviors in various situations.
What is the difference between awareness and consciousness?
Consciousness is a philosophical concept as state by Descarte: in his famous formula "I think, therefore, I am". As to what organisms have enough 'sense of self' to be said to possess a 'consciousness' there is some debate. A dog or cat has a sense of self as opposed to the outside world, but it is far from a human's sense of self. Other organisms like the higher apes may have a sense of self similar to that of man, but that is unclear. Awareness is a neurological state or perhaps even a given for all living creatures. A plant that turns it's leaves to face the sun is 'aware' of the sunlight just as an ameoba is aware of a food source nearby. So awareness as the ability to respond to an environmental stimulus is universal in living things and increases in it's elaboration with the development of a more complex neural system. This is a 'hot' topic which is to say it has lots of opinions and no 'one right opinion'. See 'Daniel Dennett' who has written extensively on this topic.
