Consciousness
Caution. This article/definition is in draft form and at this time may constitute no more than rough notes, reminders for required content, or absolutely nothing at all. Content is subject to revision.
Consciousness is awareness pure and simple.
Syncretic Terms
Fabric of Consciousness > Absolute Mind, Adhi Buddha, Ain Soph Aur, Al-Haqq, Allah, Blazing Star, Brahmic Splendor, Center, Crown, First Mover, Formless, God, GodHead, Great Being, Great Breath, Great Light, Great Self, Hunab Ku, Immortal Spirit, Ineffable Light, Kether, Mind at Large, Nirguna Brahman, Nonlocal Mind, Oversoul, Para Brahman, Primal Self, Primum Mobile, Spirit, Supreme, The Lord, The Old One, The Power and the Glory, Ultimate Supreme, Universal Being, Universal Self, Wakan Tanka, Wuji
Notes
Consciousness here refers to consciousness independent of physical matter. At one time this would have been quite radical, but now there is growing speculation that a non-naturalistic view of consciousness, i.e. consciousness as not tied to the material universe, is simply common sense.[1]
From a common-sense perspective, we are intimately aware of consciousness, and it is a truism that consciousness has a variety of properties (among them qualia, intentionality, and non-spatiality) that are so different from those of matter that it is difficult if not impossible to see how consciousness could ever have been produced by matter. The problems that arise here are formidable, and have given rise to what has recently become popularized as 'the hard problem' of explaining the existence of consciousness in a material universe. These problems have led some thinkers, like McGinn, to insist that we cannot explain the existence of consciousness in a material universe at all, and others, like Chalmers, to suggest that we need to revise our notion of matter to include consciousness as a fundamental property of nature, along with mass, charge, and gravitation.[2]
Chalmers suggests that an essential feature of Consciousness is a sense of a cognitive agent (i.e. Ego), and also that there is a felt feeling of experience."There is also an internal aspect; there is something it feels like to be a cognitive agent. This internal aspect is conscious experience. Conscious experiences range from vivid color sensations to experiences of the faintest background aromas; from hard-edged pains to the elusive experience of thoughts on the tip of one’s tongue; from mundane sounds and smells to the encompassing grandeur of musical experience; from the triviality of a nagging itch to the weight of a deep existential angst; from the specificity of the taste of peppermint to the generality of one’s experience of selfhood. All these have a distinct experienced quality.[3] He summarizes, "when I talk about consciousness, I am talking only about the subjective quality of experience: what it is like to be a cognitive agent."[4]
Difference between Undifferentiated Consciousness (UC), Differentiated Consciousness (DC), and Emanating Consciousness (EC) (thanks to Andrei Arba for helping develop)
Consciousness | ( Structure of Consciousness | Levels of Consciousness)
Footnotes
- ↑ Chalmers, David. The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Kindle. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. https://amzn.to/2Vzq5HW. Also Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 83–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.
- ↑ Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 85. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.
- ↑ Chalmers, David. The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Kindle. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. https://amzn.to/2Vzq5HW.
- ↑ Chalmers, David. The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Kindle. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. https://amzn.to/2Vzq5HW.
