Retirement Journey

Consciousness

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Disclaimer: I am neither a spiritual Guru who has meditated on consciousness for years nor a neuroscientist or psychologist who has studied this topic and thought about it deeply. My goal was to write to clarify my thoughts for my own sake based on reading books and articles and listening to lectures and texts from spiritual masters and scientists over the last few months.

This article is dedicated to my Uncle Late Saroj Behera. He was interested in this topic during his last years and also got me interested. We had many discussions during my visits to Arizona. I was mostly listening and learning from him.  —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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What is Consciousness?

Consciousness is first and foremost a subjective experience. It is a first-person experience, e.g., Why do I feel Happy? Why do I feel sad? How do these conscious experiences happen? 

Consciousness is “self-awareness” - our sense of being a unified "self" that persists through time. Some scientists define consciousness as the availability of information to different parts of our cognitive system for reasoning and behavior control.

Expanding further, consciousness exists in three fundamental dimensions:

First, it is pure awareness of experiences - the raw sensations, feelings, and perceptions that arise from moment to moment. This is what philosophers call "qualia" - the subjective experience. 

Second, it is self-reflective awareness—the ability to recognize ourselves as the experiencers of these experiences and our capacity to recognize, "I am the one who is experiencing this." This meta-awareness distinguishes us from simple sensing machines.

Third, from a scientific perspective, consciousness functions as an information-processing system. It allows different parts of our brain to share and integrate information, enabling us to reason, make decisions, and control our behavior. This is the computational and functional aspect of consciousness.

What makes consciousness particularly fascinating is how these three aspects - subjective experience, persistent self-awareness, and information integration - work together to create our moment-to-moment experience of being alive and aware.

Conscious Awareness

Spiritual masters from the Indian sub-continent have been thinking about conscious experiences for more than 3500+ years. Their insights have been captured in the Vedas and Upanishads. The Upanishads describe four distinct states of consciousness:

1. Jagrata (Wakeful State): Awareness of daily activities and external reality

2. Swapna (Dream-filled Sleep): Awareness of thoughts and internal experiences

3. Susupti (Deep Sleep): The undistracted ground state of consciousness

4. Turiya (Transcendental State): The state of liberation, similar to Buddha's enlightenment

In the wakeful state, we are aware of day-to-day activities. In the second state (Swapna), there are thoughts and awareness of thoughts. In the third state (Susupti), the underlying ground of consciousness is undistracted.  The final state, Turiya, is considered the state of liberation like what Bhuddha experienced. 

What consciousness is differs between the various schools of Indian Vedic & Buddhist philosophy. The main four are: 

• Charvaka Philosophy: Materialistic view - consciousness emerges from the physical body and ceases at death

• Dvaita Philosophy: Theistic view - a singular divine consciousness ("God") creates and maintains the universe

• Sankhya Philosophy: Dualistic view - universal consciousness (Purusha) coexists with the material world (Prakriti)

• Advaita Philosophy: Non-dualistic view - only one consciousness (“Brahman”) exists; everything else is its projection

All of them believe in consciousness as a higher-level experience. How it is viewed and interpreted differs. 

Consciousness Types 

• Universal Consciousness

• Brahman: The ultimate reality, often described as a vast, infinite ocean of consciousness. It is the source of all existence, including the material universe and individual souls. This is the ancient knowledge from the Vedas.

• Cosmic Consciousness: is a collective consciousness that connects all beings and things in the universe. This consciousness permeates the entire universe, animating every living being and inanimate object. It is the underlying intelligence and energy that drives the cosmos.

• Individual Consciousness:

• Atman: The individual soul or self, a spark of the divine Brahman. It is the essence of each individual, the part of the universal consciousness that experiences the world.

• Self-realization: The ultimate goal of Vedic philosophy is to realize the true nature of the Atman and its oneness with Brahman, leading to liberation.

The Nature of Consciousness

• Pure Awareness: Consciousness is pure awareness, devoid of any material qualities or limitations. It is the witness of all experiences, thoughts, and emotions.

• Beyond Mind and Matter: Consciousness transcends the physical body and mind. It is the eternal, unchanging reality that underlies all phenomena.

• Consciousness as Energy: Some Vedic traditions view consciousness as a dynamic energy that can evolve and transform. This concept is particularly prominent in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo.

In “Drig Drista Vivek (The Seer and Seen)”, Swami Shankaracharya explains “conscious awareness” with a very simple question; What is Seen and Who sees it?

Swami Sarvapriyananda explains the text beautifully in his lectures. The text approaches the problem logically and methodically using a coffee mug.  There are three levels of experience. 

Level 1: Object level

A coffee Mug (object) (Seen) ←—--> Eyes (Seer)

Here eyes are the seer and mug is the object. There is no awareness yet—just information.

Level 2: Experience Level 

Eyes (Seen)  ←—-> Mind (Seer)

Here the mind is the seer and the “information” from the eyes is seen.

Level 3: Consciousness Level  

“Movements/thought/activity” Mind (Seen) ←—---> “One Consciousness (seer)” 

Here the conscious experience of seeing the object is aware (seen). 

The Journey to Higher Consciousness Through spiritual practices like meditation, yoga, and the study of scriptures, individuals can awaken to higher states of consciousness and ultimately realize their divine nature. This can be realized by understanding each stage.

1. Jagat: In Sanskrit, Jagat refers to the material world or the universe. It is derived from "Ja" (to go) and "Gat" (to move), implying that the world is ever-changing and transient. 

2. Pancha-Bhuta-Vilasa: This translates to "the play of the five elements" (Pancha = five, Bhuta = elements, Vilasa = play or manifestation). The five elements—earth (Prithvi), water (Apas), fire (Agni), air (Vayu), and space (Akasha)—are seen as the fundamental components of the manifest universe. 

3. Maya Vitasa: Maya represents illusion or the cosmic power that makes the unreal appear real. Vitasa could imply expansion or manifestation. Together, this could signify the expansive and illusory nature of the world as projected by Maya. In Advaita Vedanta, Maya is what veils the true nature of Brahman, causing the illusion of duality.

4. Chit Vitasa: Chit refers to consciousness or pure awareness. Vitasa, as mentioned earlier, can mean expansion. Hence, this might denote the expansive nature of pure consciousness, which pervades all creation.

5. Chit Vivarta: Vivarta means transformation or apparent modification. Chit Vivarta points to the idea that the apparent transformation of consciousness leads to the experience of the world. However, this transformation is considered illusory in non-dual Vedanta, as the underlying consciousness remains unchanged.

6. Chinmaya: Chinmaya means "of the nature of pure consciousness" (Chit = consciousness, Maya = composed of). It describes the essence of reality as pure, unadulterated awareness, often equated with Brahman in Vedantic thought.

7. Chinmatra: Chinmatra means "pure consciousness" or "consciousness alone." It emphasizes the singular reality of consciousness, devoid of duality or any material attributes.

Scientists view on consciousness

Rene Descartes in the 17th century, said, “Cogito, ergo,” which means “I think, therefore I am.” Since then, thinking has been a focus in the Western world. The 17th century was also the birth period of new Western science. Since then, scientists have been trying to understand the brain.

Now, scientists can observe which part of the brain is active during subjective experiences like pain, happiness, or anger but do not know how these experiences originate or occur. What is the basis of consciousness manifestation in the brain?

David Chalmers, a philosophy professor at NYU divided the “Consciousness” problem into two: 

Simple problem: Behavioral properties using sensory systems and the brain, properties like hot, cold, smell… “ 

Hard problem: How does a physical process (brain) give rise to conscious (subjective) experiences?

Amith Seth from the University of Sussex said it should not be called a “hard” problem as it is untestable. So, he defined the middle ground and termed;  it as a “real” problem.

The Real Problem: - Accept consciousness exists. How is conscious experience structured? How does it relate to a brain (material object)? 

Two primary schools of thought arise from the scientists (in a simplistic view)

• Panpsychism: Consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality, like space-time, mass, and charge. Consciousness can not be reduced.

• Physicalism: Consciousness is an “emergent phenomena” from the collective properties of neurons/brain (material). Consciousness can be reduced to the body|brain and nervous system.(“reductionist”)

Other variations are:

• Conscious realism:  Consciousness is fundamental, and reality is composed entirely of interacting "conscious agents." The physical world is not a fundamental reality but an emergent interface arising from these interactions. This was proposed by Donald Hoffman.

• Cosmopsychism: “Universe itself is conscious”. The brain does not produce consciousness but makes use of it. Consciousness was there before the brain (universal prop). However, there is no single universal consciousness. Instead, reality consists of countless conscious agents interacting in a network, each processing experiences.

• Idealism: Conscious mind is the ultimate reality, not physical stuff.

• Quantum: Consciousness is quantum in nature. The “brain” is a collection of quantum vibrations of “microtubule” proteins inside neurons. This idea was first proposed by Penrose and others.

The scientists/Philoshopers inquiry in the Western world have started from the days of Socrates/ Plato and have been thinking about the question of  “Who am I?”, “What is free will?”, “What is death?”, etc. But the sages and thinkers of Vedic civilization thought about it thousands of years ago. The question is the same and persists. 

The inquiry of consciousness by scientists and spiritual leaders starts from different starting points; scientists from a physiological point and philosophers/spiritual leaders from a self-inquiry point of view. 

Scientists Inquiry –> [sensation]  → [brain/mind] →  [ Conscious Experiences ] ←–-> Consciopusness 

Spiritual Inquiry —> [Self-inquiry] → [mind experiences]  … [ Universal Conscisouness] 

The Evolution of Consciousness

Before proceeding further, if we take a step back, we may ask, “What is life?” “What is the purpose of life?” “How does evolution play into this conscious journey?” etc. These questions are relevant as life and conscious experience are correlated. 

Feeling → mind → Conscious mind → Consciousness

The development of consciousness can be traced through evolutionary stages:

1. Being/Sensing: Basic awareness and response to the environment

2. Feeling: Development of emotional responses

3. Knowing: Advanced cognitive processing and self-awareness

The physiological answer to the “purpose of life”  is to live (to survive). The homeostasis process which is an undefined set of rules /processes maintains the balance between the internal and external. For example, when a danger is detected (external) via the mechanism of sensing, the living organism will take precautions (internal, like moving away). Homeostasis relies on sensors to provide the equilibrium such as a change in color or temperature. The homeostasis process applies to all living organisms, from simple bacteria to human beings. However, most organisms do not have brains or nervous systems for “decision-making”. 

The ability to sense is one of the key elements of evolution, from bacteria to humans. Sensing (detecting) is the first step, leading to the “being” stage. After sensing, “feeling” follows in the evolution process followed by “knowing”.  The first stage (Being / sensing)  can be said to be a “body” problem and the last two, feeling and knowing as a “mind” problem.  Understanding the “mind” is the study of both scientists and philosophers to answer questions on intelligence, mind, and consciousness.

Consciousness functions as an information-processing

There are a couple of theories on how information is processed in the brain which leads to conscious experiences.

Consciousness as a Global Workspace Theory (GWT)

In this approach, the brain is a distributed society of specialists or cerebral networks or agents and they operate independently but every tenth of a second, they have a staff meeting in the staff room (Global Workspace).  There a winner agent puts its common variables in the workspace which the rest of the agents must decide whether to use or not.

We see a similar architecture in distributed computing. However, scientists have not found any Global Workspoace in the brain. It’s still ongoing research.

Information Integrated Theory (IIT)

IIT measures the amount of information a system generates as a whole over and beyond the sum of parts.  If the difference is higher, the consciousness is higher.  Scientists have used mathematical models to describe it.

Network of Conscious Agents

Hoffmann suggested conscious agents as a fundamental unit capable of experiencing, acting, and interacting with other agents in a vast network. He used mathematical models to prove his point. 

The Experience Continues …

This is a fascinating topic, and I will continue to explore it as a matter of interest. Ultimately, we may not know what consciousness is from a scientific point of view, but we can experience it through meditation, I have felt a renewed sense of amazement at this path of conscious experience (and something to focus on, as I have retired from work now) 

References (books/articles read; Video watched)

1. “Consciousness part of Fabric of Universe”  Sept 2023 Scientific American

2. “Being You”, Amith Seth, 

3. “The Case Against Reality” Donald Hoffman (UC Irvine prof)

4. “Consciousness” Annaka Harris

5. “Feeling and Knowing,” Antonio Damasio

6. “The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science” Alan Lightman

7. “Global workspace model of consciousness and its electromagnetic correlates,” Ravi Prakash et al - Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, July-Sept 2008

8. Reality Plus | David Chalmers & Swami Sarvapriyananda(Youtube)

9. What Creates Consciousness? Video  - dialog between scientists (YouTube)

10. Vast Mirror of Consciousness | Swami Sarvapriyananda (Youtube)

11. “Drig Dristya Vivek” Lectures by Swami Sarvapriyanand (Youtube)

12. “Non-dual meditation”  Lectures by Swami Sarpriyananda (YouTube)