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What is Consciousness - An Introduction
By - John Paily
The term consciousness and intelligence were known to
human from time immemorial. The term consciousness invariably means awareness.
Awareness of change in its field and the field in which it is enclosed. This
means to be conscious the system should have a field and a element that perceives
the change and reacts to it. The action of the perceiver is understood as
intelligence and perceiver is understood as "Brahman" or the "Spirit".
The ancient spiritual scientists understood everything in nature to be conscious and intelligent. This
realization is reflected in the words of Max Planck
"There is no matter as such! All matter
originates and exists only by virtue of a force. We must assume behind this
force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix
of all matter."
~ Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning
father of Quantum Theory
The understanding of nature by ancient knowledge systems
especially Vedas and the Hindu Philosophy centers around the term consciousness
and intelligence, they
understood nature to be a conscious field, with a perceiver who manifest as
intelligence causing the creativity and causes sustenance. They understood nature as inter related
whole consisting of many individuated consciousness and intelligence existing
with in the Universal Consciousness and Intelligence. The ancient scholars had
complete understanding of consciousness /intelligence and were at home with
these terms.
In contrast to the ancient, the modern knowledge system
[science] the term consciousness is rather ill defined and misunderstood term. These
terms had little place in the Newtonian/Einsteinian mechanical predictable
worldview which still rules much of science and its investigations. The
revelation of quantum nature of energy transfer and discovery of uncertainty
principle in the micro-world broke the foundation of science and set the platform
for emergence all forms of ancient knowledge systems [mystical, spiritual etc]
in parallel to science and its development. A basic reality of nature on which
humanity could pursue his search and function was lost. The break down
caused a major shift in the focus of science, from physical/material to life and
spirit. The world of computer and information science is the product of this
shift. From the world of computer and information, his attention has shifted to the
"mind" and its marvelous functioning. The reinvention of terms like
consciousness and intelligence is related to Human quest to advance his now
mechanical computers and develop intelligent ones that works like the mind of
humans.
In short, science from the premises of seeking the
secret of nature in material level has advanced to seek it in the mind level,
but has not changed in its basic instinct, that is to conquer nature.
He is still bonded to Plato's Chair of science at the
mouth of the cave that restricts him from 360-degree to 180-degree freedom.
To understand consciousness and intelligence, it becomes mandatory that
we review
the evolution of science and seek the
fundamentals on which nature is constructed. It is
important that we answer, why motion occurs? how motions occurs? What causes
motion? Why force originates? The
problem with science is that it Quantified force and developed tools to predict
motion and thus set out to conquer nature. But never bothered to understand the
concept motion. Unless we attain freedom from Plato's
Chair of Science at the mouth of the cave and find answers to these questions
there is little chance we understand nature and the secret of consciousness
Go to - "Evolution of
Science" then to "The Foundation of
Conscious Mind"
