Human Consciousness

Human Consciousness

Consciousness is the most exciting event (appropriately a process) in the history of Human Evolution. What is Consciousness Heuristic explanation for consciousness is given in the following lines: It is our interior mental experience; our inner thoughts, feelings, and personalities -- the hidden 'Stuff' of our Private Selves. It is the the self awareness.

By "consciousness", we mean all of subjective experience, the inner narration of the mind; we mean what it is like to be a person & the "blooming, buzzing confusion" continuously happening in our mental arena.

Ever since man acquired the faculty for inquisitiveness he has been wondering on his own self and the relatedness to the environment, making various hypotheses from time to time; such inquiry can be observed throughout human history; not restricted to any one particular civilization or region.

Man has ever wondered what it is that he addresses as “I”. Where is its spatial location in his body; is it an independent entity separate from the Body; does it have existence before and after one’s physical life, etc.

But what does this mean, scientifically?

It is remarkable that despite the advancements of ancient civilizations in India, China, Mesopotamia and Greece, the discovery of the crucial importance of the brain as the seat of thought and action did not feature in human knowledge until barely two centuries ago.

The naval, the liver and the heart were referred instead by different cultures, at various times. The heart or its location was considered synonymous with the seat of one’s mind. According to Neurobiologist William Calvin, the Human Mind, the seat of consciousness is located in the BRAIN. It is so complex that we have only just begun to understand bits and pieces of it. The introspective knowledge tells us that mind is the Self, the Awareness, The Ego, Intentionality, Emotion, Self Respect, Free Will, Motivation, Confidence, insight etc., a unique personal sense of mental "qualia". Introspection is often thought to deliver one’s primary knowledge of one’s mental life

An impersonal, third person analysis of the brain indicates an unbelievably vast & complex network of trillions of nerve cells called neurons. The thoughts are the product of the neurons exchanging electrical pulses?

How do firings of neurons, or ultimately vibrations of atoms, emerge up into human selfawareness? A phenomenon so utterly baffling; Are our "minds" just the artificial integration of multiple brain systems? Are our feelings of self, seem real but in reality an illusion? Nothing can be more severe censure to human vanity than this realization! Where is the missing link between the introspective view and the third person analysis? One is a conceptual self-examination whereas the other a down to earth ‘deterministic reductionism’. We find that arguments are being advanced where consciousness finds its place in the deductions of Natural Selection. It is no more exclusive to the realms of philosophy or psychology. Can the First Person & Third Person Views of Consciousness be unified into a rational explanation? A question, which is motivating the investigation into the ‘The Mind-Body’ problem. Scholars and Scientists are divided in their expositions. One group is attempting to retain the subjectivity of the conscious experience while giving merit to the neurobiological phenomenon. There are various compelling arguments, from specialists, experts, philosophers, scientists and mathematicians who have contributed in no small measures to the understanding the highly elusive relationship of physical brain and conscious events occurring in one’s mind (as exclusive private experience);

Propositions vary from support of pure physicalism to a strong form of Dualistic theory. Here the trend in investigative methods of Modern Science and Indian Classical philosophy assume very clear identities. In the Western Deterministic attitude, the doctrine that ‘matter is the only reality’ is being very actively pursued. This is becoming increasingly attractive arena after the developments in the brain scanning technologies like ‘Functional Magnetic Resonant Imaging’ has shown that specific areas of activity can be seen in the brain corresponding to the various mental processes. There is hope that [in the future] brain scanning to recognize thought patterns is in the realm of scientific possibilities.

**Some highly reputed scientists are of the view that consciousness is the outcome of quantum effects in the functioning of the brain**This theory is not popular anymore.

There are vociferous views from Neurobiologists that the Consciousness as a primary entity is nonexistent and that it is an epiphenomenon in the functioning of the brain. Recent observations into the brain imaging techniques indicate that consciousness after all is the manifestation of a process happening in the complexities of the brain functioning of a group of neurons (this is refered as the coalition of neurons). Brain activity precedes any conscious perception.

Quotes and Hypotheses on Consciousness: "A human being is a part of a whole entity, called by us as Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

THE CONCEPT OF CONSCIOUSNESS has fascinated philosophers and scientists for centuries, and remains one of the frontiers of science. The Cartesian notion of consciousness as separate from the brain is no longer tenable: recent advances in neuroscience have clearly established consciousness as a function of the entire brain, likely different areas at different points in time. This concept of "whole brain" involvement in consciousness will serve to explain many different, and occasionally pathological, human experiences and behaviors. Refer: Mahowald, Mark W. - Understanding Consciousness: Implications and Consequences

Consciousness is not separate from the human brain; it is not residing in any one particular part of the brain; It is not the priority function of the brain, conscious operations have been correlated with specific neuron activation as observed through iMR imaging of the brain. Attempting to analyse or answering queries of the apparent first person perspective is meaningless. All the volumes of books on qualia, instincts or a subjective mind (and a resultant objectivity) become redundant. Wlodzislaw Duch Conscious experience is an experience, i.e. a particular relaxation of mind/body system. Mental events are stable reverberations of sets of neural cell assemblies. Dynamical models based on this assumption allow to explain a large body of empirical evidence, such as the content of consciousness in dynamical illusions and subjective ordering of events in experiments with short-time direct stimulation of neurocortex. In the Hindu Philosophy, a major deviation can be observed in the method of inquiry. The purpose of such philosophical enquiry is invariably, ‘liberation of the Self’. This apparently is the culmination of the search for ways and means to end the miseries of the human beings. This perhaps is the rationale for the predictable association of Indian Philosophy with the Religion. The dissecting & Reductionist methods of the Western philosophy are less evident. The physical or third person considerations are dismissed at an early stage itself as manifestations of the ‘Maya’ or illusion. Any discussion in the subject-object context is considered in the inquiry being constrained to a spatiotemporal arena. The Upanishadic approach to the Reality is entirely through Introspective enquiries into the nature of self, and meditative processes. The important consequence of such reflections is the Proclamation that ‘THE REALITY’ is not explainable and cannot be spelt out as a fact or phenomenon in the domain of expression. It can be only realized. In the context of a realized state, active thinking will subside and one attains a state of eternal bliss. One salient method the ‘Reality’ is pointed is more by a process of negation of various concepts that are both tangible and abstract, as ‘False or Un-real’ (“Neti, Neti”) Classic cases of experience are very many; prominent in recent times are that of Bagwan Ramana Maharishi & Aurobindo. Ramana had spontaneous realization of the fact that the “I” Awareness in a human mind is an illusion. One can attain this knowledge as experience on a rigorous inward inquiry of ‘Who am I’. "Who am I?" is the title given to a set of questions and answers bearing on Self-enquiry.

When the enquiry ' Who am I?' is persistently pursued, all other thoughts get destroyed, and finally the 'I' thought itself vanishes leaving the supreme ‘Non-Dual Self’ alone. The false identification of the Self with the phenomena of non-self such as the body and mind thus ends, and there is illumination, Sakshatkara. The mind consists of thoughts; and it becomes obvious that the Mind ceases to exist in this process and the eternal consciousness pervades.

What Aurobindo had realized in the Nirvana experience was the cessation of the egoconsciousness in the all-pervading peace of the silent Brahman. “The sudden disappearance of the Ego is what gives the sense of the unreality of the external world. Through these experiences, the ‘That’ was realized as pure, transcendent, unqualified Consciousness. Aurobindo concluded that “Consciousness is a fundamental thing, the fundamental thing in existence – it is the energy, the motion. It is the movement of consciousness that creates the Universe and all that is in it. Not only the macrocosm but also the microcosm is nothing but the consciousness arranging itself. Consciousness is then a fundamental reality in the Universe of which all existence is a manifestation, yet which itself is beyond any final qualification.

In both the above doctrines, there is a very clear understanding of the Non-Dualistic or Advaitic concept.

Leaving aside the obvious references to the non-physical and transcendental concepts of Transmigration and the elusive ‘Soul’ in the Hindu philosophy, one can observe the causal nature of the propositions in masterpieces like Brihadaranyaka Chandogya and Mandukya Upanishads.

Tononi’s writings are noteworthy for his grounding in phenomenology, and his lucid style of presentation. He has noticed three aspects of conscious experience: 1. Given any definition of “conscious state”, the brain produces an infinity of them; 2. Each conscious state is prime, rather in the sense of a prime number; it cannot be deconvoluted into lesser states. Tononi terms this characteristic the “integration” of a state; 3. Conscious experience unfolds in well defined intervals, about 100 to 200 milliseconds to develop a fully formed sensory experience, about 2 to 3 seconds for a single conscious moment.

Consciousness poses two main problems. 1. The first is, understanding the conditions that determine to what extent a system has conscious experience. For instance, why is our consciousness generated by certain parts of our brain, such as the thalamocortical system, and not by other parts, such as the cerebellum? And why are we conscious during wakefulness and much less so during dreamless sleep? 2. The second problem is, understanding the conditions that determine what kind of consciousness a system has. For example, why do specific parts of the brain contribute specific qualities to our conscious experience, such as vision and audition? The information integration theory accounts, in a principled manner, for several neurobiological observations concerning consciousness. As shown here, these include the association of consciousness with certain neural systems rather than with others; the fact that neural processes underlying consciousness can influence or be influenced by neural processes that remain unconscious; the reduction of consciousness during dreamless sleep and generalized seizures; and the time requirements on neural interactions that support consciousness.

What is Consciousness? By Kendra Van Wagner, About.com Answer: Consciousness refers to your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and environment. Your conscious experiences are constantly shifting and changing. For example, in one moment you may be focused on reading this article. Your consciousness may then shift to the memory of a conversation you had earlier with a co-worker. Next, you might notice how uncomfortable your chair is or maybe you are mentally planning dinner. This ever-shifting stream of thoughts can change dramatically from one moment to the next, but your experience of it seems smooth and effortless.

The conscious experience was one of the first topics studied by early psychologists. Structuralists used a process known as introspection to analyze and report conscious sensations, thoughts, and experiences. American psychologist William James compared consciousness to a stream; unbroken and continuous despite constant shifts and changes. While the focus of much of the research in psychology shifted to purely observable behaviors during the first half of the twentieth century, research on human consciousness has grown tremendously since the 1950s.