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Conciousness Revisited (2007)
by Swami Nityamuktananda
Out of the corner of Western science in its many facets a mountain of books on “Consciousness” is appearing. Some are written by philosophers, some by biologists, Neuro-scientists, Psychologist and what have you. They start with the premise, that there is and was matter and from it, the human evolved and with it consciousness. A great pallet of theories comes with this and goes into fascinating details, and yet they all stop at a locked door with the sign “the in-penetrable mystery of consciousness” on it.
So far we have been trying to understand life, the universe and...ourselves from the base-thought that there is Space, Time and Matter. Few books I have come across question this. BUT what if, it isn’t an evolution from matter to consciousness, but the other way round - a manifestation of consciousness into matter.
Eastern Science and Mystics have taken this road all along.
But let’s investigate: Eastern and Western thought cultures agree that consciousness somehow has to do with mind. However, - one sees it as the high-point of mental evolution, and for the other, mind is actually limiting the expression of a greater consciousness. In their actual description of how the ordinary human mind works, East and West come pretty close to each other; I will use Yogic terms, to illustrate it.
Mind has several (four) aspects, there is the ordinary thought mind, which keeps chattering away inside our head, is opinionated about everything it meets…and works on the basis of memory, i.e. understands by relating things to what it has stored in the memory(Manas).
Then there is the second aspect, which is that aspect of Mind which relates everything back to this body/persona that “I am”, and identifies with the filing cabinet of the thought mind, (memory) as well as the physical body (Ahamkara) Then there is intelligence per se, that aspect which is able to discriminate intelligently and creatively using the information, available to it. This is the instrument of our Awareness, called buddhi (Awakening)…so the Buddha is someone who’s Buddhi is fully awaken! In Yoga these three together are called Chitta; and are described as working on the background of Chit (Sanskrit/consciousness), the fourth aspect of mind.
So the question is : What is this Chit, translated as consciousness.
In the scriptures it is talked about as the substratum, that which lies underneath everything else. It is compared often to a mirror….
Imagine a mirror lying pure and clean in the garden, at sunrise…it reflects the radiance of the sun! If that mirror is dusty, or patterns drawn on it with our fingers, the sunlight is reflected distorted “by that individual’s pattern;” or worth, if: the mirror is covered with mud - nothing is reflected…it can not even be seen.
Another metaphor used to describe this sub-stratum, is the canvas on which a picture is painted. Without the canvas…the brush-strokes, of even the greatest artist, will not make a picture…Chit, this underlying support, generates everything, in the human mind and outside it, hence it is also called the power of illumination; and likened to Light!
The “light of Awareness”; here means not simply “being aware of…” – awareness is not a verb, it’s a noun, referring to the nature of That…which supports all! Meaning, Consciousness, (con- science….with knowing) …is the fiber out of which the universe is woven. Modern scientists talk of the Self-Aware-Universe and/or of Consciousness as the ultimate building-block. But what is it?
It definitely has little , or rather nothing…to do with collecting factual knowledge, physical data, or literary wisdom…(that’s the job of memory (manas)! In fact Science and ancient philosophy agree, that we have to get out of that kind of thinking mind. The mind is a valuable tool, but who’s or what “hand, uses the tool?” Which brings us back to looking at the necessity of changing our mode of thinking; i.e. a Paradigm shift.
The word Paradigm comes from the Greek, meaning “Pattern.” A pattern of set assumptions in which science operates, and people think/act/live; i.e. the world is flat…. the world is round; Newton’s mechanics; Darwin’s theory of evolution; the psychoanalytical model of the unconscious mind, Quantum theory… all these are/were paradigms at a certain time. Then human consciousness shifts… a new paradigm arises.
The Buddha said: All descriptions of reality are temporary hypothesis. Such shifts start with people coming across things, that don’t fit…in the ruling paradigm. New ideas develop, but the establishment doesn’t accept it. Gradually there is so much new evidence that the whole scale tips…. and base thinking changes.
Shopenhauer said: “Every truth passes through three stages, before it is recognized.
In the first it is ridiculed
In the second its opposed
In the third it is regarded as self-evident.
Now all our scientific Paradigms and our own experience are based on the assumption, that the physical world is real, that space, time and energy are fundamental components of reality. One thinks, given enough time and research, by investigating these, ... one day we can explain everything. This base assumption is called a Mega –paradigm, because it’s underlying all others.
We live in a time, where science questions this Mega- Paradigm. Why?
Since Einstein we know…Space and Time are not, what they seem to be. Even energy seems to behave unexpectedly strange… (as per Quantum physics) Our Mega Paradigm is shaking; and all questions land at a door labeled “Consciousness”. There is intelligence, awareness, consciousness, yet there is nothing in any of the known paradigm that can even vaguely explain what it is. Quantum physics, medicine and neuron physiology have made enormous progress in explaining the brain… but they too come to this door… which has written consciousness on it. And it has no handle! The question that is now asked is: How can something as immaterial as consciousness rise from unconscious matter; there seems no bridge….from matter to consciousness!
Some tried to say, it’s just very complex, many- dimensional calculations needed… something like a computer; with this artificial Intelligence projects (Robotology) have made enormous progress… but they too come to the door; labeled consciousness!
The door is closed, because we assume, that consciousness …like everything else we have scientifically investigated, rests on the Mega- paradigm, i.e. it arises out of space, time and matter. But this seems a dead-end... no satisfactory answer is found. So now, whether quantum physics or some other sciences start to turn the question on its head! May be, we need not to look how matter evolved into consciousness…
but how consciousness (the subtle) became the gross, matter!
This, has long been indicated by ancient wisdom (i.e. Yoga and Vedanta). From there the whole thing takes on a different angle. But first we must get over the “doorstep”, of looking at consciousness as a separate human quality; and open to the vision of Consciousness not of someone, or something…but as existing in itself, as itself.
Making the question “what is it?” even more intriguing, leading to a possible new paradigm: Consciousness as the cause of matter!
May be the time is ripe for a new Mega paradigm…that would change the world.
Think of it this way:
The mind can be likened to a film projector, who shines light on to a screen, modifying the light, so that it produces the images we see. These images are the thoughts, perceptions, sensations dreams, memories and feelings we experience. They are the forms of light limited by the conditioned filmstrip?
The light illuminating the screen … is the faculty of consciousness.
When we watch the movie, we identify with the hero, and suffer, and laugh with him, as though he were real; while we do so, we have forgotten/ are not aware of the light itself (which projects it!) and …even more intriguing, we can’t see it because to do so, the film has to be removed/stopped! So normally we are not aware of the light, just as we are not aware of the consciousness behind the mind and its projections and experiences of the world.
Let’s go back again; we have said, this mind, our personal mind is the filter through which all and everything in our life is seen and experienced. Meaning: without the experiencer… there is no experience. The experiencer itself is made by the experience, all the time new! So really we are millions of experiencers with millions of experiences
……..or (shifting perspective) we are neither! Experiencer and experiences as well as what there is to experience, disappearing in one big beam of light!
Hm, which is it to be?
In the former case, it means: I am different now, from this morning, as new threads have been uncovered, new neuropath-ways made in the brain; I am no longer the person I was this morning! That’s understandable; but raises the question who am I….underneath all these shifts…? This points to the second perspective: I am that, which finds expression in those experiences, through this body–mind entity. I am the underlying light of consciousness.
What holds all these experiences together as one Me, or even the illusion of me?
Let’s start with another universal understanding: The premise…that ultimately all is energy! Energy constantly moves; it changes from one form (experience) to another, How? There is the previous experience… being one Me…then there is the experience causing a second Me… in between is what? A step we are not aware off, we can’t see!
To make us aware, imagine you were looking at a slow motion film of a flower unfolding, first you see the flow…of unfolding; then if we slow down the film even more … you would see the flower being in a state we could call (A)…. and then it disappears for a micro-moment, and changes into a state , we call A1. We can determine /see state of A1…but we can’t perceive what/how the “change-over” happens. This change-over is the interesting thing…In quantum theory , the moment, where the “thing” is neither “here not there”; neither this, not that; is called non-locality.
However, this “In- between stage” is crucial, as it determines the form of the future ”A1”. It holds all the potential, all creativity, all options. This stage “In-between” is what holds “Me” together. It holds all potential of the next experience, and acts in intelligent coherence. It must therefore be intelligent! Sages, like Ramana Maharshi simply say: “You go to sleep, you wake up….you are the same? There is some intelligence that knows, even though your mind has lost track in sleep of your body and mind. Are you aware of your body in sleep. No! There you are!”
This coherence (as the Quantum jump is called ) or this intelligent awareness…that is there without cause, without mind….is what is called Consciousness. Or in some India tradition : Shiva! (The ascetic that holds all potential expression within). From that moment “In-between” all is possible, somehow intelligent coherent decisions are made; by some impersonal intelligence, bound by no conditioning.
Mystics call this Consciousness.
Science ask: Behind the Mind, that creates my world in each step… an intelligence, a consciousness must exist, which is not bound or limited by the perceptions of my mind? So, basically both agree: experiences are held together by some intelligence that acts as cohesion; a power “in-between”, “potentiality” or “still-ness”;- science calls it: “non-locality” or “discontinuity”; or “coherence amongst bundles of frequencies”. When there is no more intelligent coherence, there is no more life experienced; Now in the talk of the “olden days: one would say: behind it, is God and he is omniscience! Really a difference in label only!
So let’s recap:
Consciousness, when expressed in and through the human organism, is …what we call mind. Consciousness as the ground of all being can be expressed, as Amit Goswami (quantum physicist) does: “the fiber of which the universe is made “meaning, “we live in a Self-aware Universe.” So we accept Consciousness is there, we know that, but we don’t know anything more about it, it remains the ultimate mystery! But hold on, here is another angle; remember our example of the film-projector, or rather “the light behind”. Mystics and scientists speak of “Light” as possibly the last or first building block of creation. (The Old Testament starts the Creation- story with: Jihi Ohr…let there be light!)
Let’s investigate:
Both Einstein with his Relativity theory and Planck with Quantum physics…started their explorations, with anomalies in Light. Light has a very special place in the cosmos; one now thinks it is more fundamental than Space and Time; which are both variables.
BUT Light is constant! Unchanging, immutable!
The little science knows about light, is that there are no variations in light; in what ever context or time of day it is measured… it is the same! Sounds loony? Well many scientific examples proved … light is constant! The apparent variations are due to our perception of what light is. Light itself is electromagnetic radiation, which our eye and mind…converts into “light”! (Here is not the place to go into details: but rest assured :
We see light and dark… merely because the limited equipment of our eyes and brain; they can only pick up a certain type of electromagnetic radiation , hence our mind makes up the concept of light and dark; of day and night).
Light is behind all and everything; and it is constant.
Now I am no physicist, but what I understand is, that the second great revelation about light concerns its energy, being organised in frequency bundles, packets or quanta. These bundles carry energy. The energy carried in these quantas varies (can be huge and blow cells/or worlds apart or small like of a candle); yet the amount of frequency bundles remains the same, meaning light itself is the same, whether candle light or sun. The variant is the energy carried, leading to “sunburn only, when it comes from the sun and not when light comes from a candle).
Sri Aurobindu, an Indian Sage of our times said rightly so: All matter is just a mass of stable light! He is totally backed up by scientist from Einstein and Plank to more modern ones, like Eddington, Schroeder , Libet and Searl etc. From that we understand, that light is the only thing in the known universe, that does not change! Peter Russel, another modern day Physicist says: The light that strikes the eye is known only through the energy it releases. This energy is translated into a visual image in the mind. Although the image seems to be composed of light, …what light actually is…we don’t know. …with light we may have reached the threshold of knowability.
Now listen to this:
The consciousness that works through the indriyas (the organs of perception) is only known through the Shakti, the energy it releases. This energy is translated into a visual image in the mind, that we take for real. All though the image is nothing but a reflection of consciousness…what consciousness actually is… we don’t know. With consciousness we might have reached the threshold of knowability!
Is light and consciousness…the same? They are both described in the same terms: unchanging (speed/movement); all pervading (quantum action) and un-knowable.
These parallels suggest that there may be some deep relationship between the light of physics and consciousness. If we put “light and consciousness” into ‘Google’ we get 3 million- entries; when we put God and Light we get 79 Millions of entries. It seems man has always linked – Light, God and/or Consciousness; there characteristics making them one: they are indescribable and unknowable – (in the normal way).
As I was told when a student of Theology…”If we could understand God… he would not be God….but some miserable little entity, small enough to fit into my brain!” (filing cabinet). Hendrik Scolimowski, (Polish Philosopher ) says: “We need to get out of our mind…in order to even glimpse what consciousness is.”
We need to learn to see the world and ourselves, through the new Paradigm, and yet we talk about consciousness, sub-consciousness, all consciousness, animal consciousness…etc. as though we know what it means! We talk of conscious habits and unconscious desires… and feel sophisticated when we are more conscious than other…or than “a Cash Machine…” We play with the word without real understanding. In Indian philosophy, consciousness is often referred to as Shaksi (witness, one of five qualities associated with Purusha, the Self). This quality comes out well in the quote by Helen Keller (she was blind and deaf since a few month old). She writes: “Before my teacher came to me, I did not know that I am. I lived in a world that was a no-world. I cannot hope to describe adequately that unconscious, yet conscious time of nothingness……..Since I had no power of thought, I did not compare one mental state with another. (1908)
This is a powerful statement, of someone experiencing pure consciousness, thoughtless witnessing. Consciousness as described by mystics and scientists is “de-personalized” …not referring to human consciousness; Consciousness as such; intelligence, immutable expressing through all eyes, through all creation, in fact throughout the universe. This consciousness is not bound to the “I” of the experiencer, but is itself the “eternal witness”…as it is called in the Yogic scriptures.
Daniel Dennett writes: In our brain, there is a cobbled together collection of specialist brain circuits which, thanks to a family of habits conspires to produce a more or less orderly, more or less effective; more or less well designed virtual machine….By yoking these together it …performs a sort if internal political miracle: It creates a …virtual reality.”
Much like the Virtual reality, on the TV screen and Computer Games; only when we play with these, we get up…and say “oh, it was just a game”, knowing that it is not real. The Yogic teaching say: The same thing is true, we need to wake up and see the play! Once woken up, we realize that the relative world is nothing but:
“the Play of Consciousness!”
Meaning we see that consciousness…is not bound to my perception, my mind…but it works through my mind; it expresses through my brain/mind just as it expresses through all minds to create a magic film of the world on the backdrop of the Absolute Reality, which we cannot fathom. We have to shift perception, from the individual creation of our mind according to space, time and matter, and wake up to the underlying substratum, Consciousness!
Huston Smith, portraits Buddha in the following conversation:
“Are you God?” they asked the Buddha.
“No” he replied.
“Are you an angel, then?” “ No”
“A Saint?” “NO”
“Then what are you?”
The Buddha replied. “I am awake”.
To be awake to the Truth, of one underlying Consciousness, one Self….one Light….one interdependent Reality…has as a consequence, totally different behavior. We might not like every one, but we will honor them and look upon everyone and everything in creation as an embodiment of THAT.
That is the path of Yoga, of sadhana…of spiritual practices. It calls for dis-identifying, with the cinema of our mind (and the body/personality etc. that produces it)! Then the world looks different! Different but never empty, because once the personal “virtual reality” disappears, we see reality as it is. Totally present in each moment we live in
“Divine awareness”! Living in Consciousness…as consciousness. Being in the Presence of Life…a presence where separation of individuals, separation of meaning, concepts and action disappears; where all theories and concepts vanish. To get in touch with that pureness of Being…is getting in touch with Consciousness.
How?
Through Meditation, through witnessing thoughtless mind! Thoughtless mind is Consciousness; is the goal of all Yogic practices!
