Consciousness, Mind, and Spirit: Three Levels of Human Cognition (original) (raw)
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Consciousness, Mind and Spirit
Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy, 2019
The explosion of interest in consciousness among scientists in recent decades has led to a revival of interest in the work of Whitehead. This has been associated with the challenge of biophysics to molecular biology in efforts to understand the nature of life. Some claim that it is only through quantum field theory that consciousness will be made intelligible. Most, although not all work in this area, focusses on the brain and how it could give rise to consciousness. In this paper, I will support this challenge, but I will suggest that the focus of work in this area reflects the failure to fully overcome the assumptions of Cartesian thought, associated above all with a defective understanding of consciousness as a 'thinking substance'. Firstly, as Bergson, Whitehead and Merleau-Ponty argued, consciousness is embodied. Secondly, as Jacob von Uexküll argued, consciousness is only comprehensible in relation to the organism's world defined as such by the organism. Thirdly, in the case of humans, this is a 'with-world', a world shared with others. The consequent social nature of human consciousness is better captured by the German word for mind: Geist, which also translates as 'Spirit'. And as Hegel argued, along with Subjective Spirit, there is also Objective Spirit, the realm of institutions, and Absolute Spirit, the realm of culture, with Subjective, Objective and Absolute Spirit being conditions, and even components, of each other. My argument is that this broader notion of mind as Spirit should be embraced, but without abandoning the work in biophysics. What is required is a further expansion of the notion of mind and Spirit as humanity comes to appreciate that it is part of nature and that it is through the development of institutions and culture that nature, through human subjects, is becoming conscious of itself and its significance. The development of process philosophy inspired by Whitehead, associated with the development of the concepts of field and ecology, should be seen as a development of the semiosphere and the advance of the Spirit of Gaia, essential for the creation of a global civilization able to augment the life of the current regime of the global ecosystem of which we are part. It is to orient humanity to create an ecologically sustainable civilization; an ecological civilization.
Mind and Spirit: a comparative theory about representation of mind and the experience of spirit
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2020
This special issue reports the findings of the Mind and Spirit project. We ask whether different understandings of ‘mind’, broadly construed, might shape the ways that people attend to and interpret thoughts and other mental events – and whether their judgements affect their experience of (what they take to be) gods and spirits. We argue in this collection that there are indeed cultural differences in local theories of minds, in the way social worlds draws the line between interior and exterior, and that these differences do affect the way people sense invisible others. This introduction lays out the ideas that inspired the project and the methods that we used. This is the first report on our work.
Consciousness, Mind, and Intellegence: Some Research and Notes
This paper compares the use of the words consciousness, mind, and intelligence in modern Western culture, which is currently influenced by reductionism (for example, " consciousness with an object "), as opposed to their use in some ancient philosophical traditions (" consciousness without an object "). A new trend in research in the fields of quantum physics and biology is also briefly examined, in consideration of a recent shift in the orientation of Western science. A broader understanding of these important words is proposed, one that aims at asserting the essential spirituality of humans and the true transcendent goal of human life, according to experiential evidence across millennia. Conscience, Esprit, et Intelligence: Recherches et notes Résumé : Cet article compare l'utilisation des mots Conscience, Esprit, et Intelligence dans la culture occidentale moderne qui est actuellement influencée par le réductionnisme, avec leur utilisation chez certaines anciennes traditions philosophiques. De plus, on y examine brièvement une nouvelle tendance dans le domaine de la physique quantique et de la biologie en tenant compte du changement récent dans l'orientation de la science occidentale. La conclusion propose une compréhension élargie de ces mots importants dont le but est d'exprimer la spiritualité essentielle de l'Humanité et du véritable but transcendant de la vie humaine, suivant l'évidence expérientiel à travers les millénaires.
Perceptual and conceptual content of human consciousness--a perspective of the philosophy of mind
Collegium antropologicum, 2001
The relation of the perceptual and the conceptual aspect of human mental states and process is discussed in light of some recent discussions. Several philosophical arguments for and against the conclusion that perceptual content is a non-conceptual type of representation are presented and critically assessed. The possibility of an objective criterion for resolving the issue, independent of introspective reports and intuitive conjectures, is considered.
Human Consciousness: Psychic and Energetic Approach
Journal of Intellectual Disability - Diagnosis and Treatment, 2020
Objective: The article researches the essence and bases of functioning and development of the consciousness (conscious level of the human psyche) in the context of the psychic and energetic conception of the psyche and psychic. Background: There are thousands of writings about consciousness. However, operational and functional processes of conscious perception of the world and self, understanding of various connections in this world, determining of attitude to it and self and forming responsibilities for results of interaction are described unclearly almost in all psychological conceptions. Method: To disclose the human consciousness, the following methods were used: analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction, generalisation and grouping of existing knowledge about a human, functioning of the human psyche. Results: It has been proved that the conscious is the plurality of different psychic, about which human is aware. We have found out that the personal unconscious contains phenomena that are in the subconscious, not in the unconscious because "came" from consciousness. Conclusion: This plurality is the basis of forming psy-programs of different degree of complication and perfection to transform the world as external psyche through activity, behaviour, their comparison with previous experience, isolation of "Self" from the environment to analyse it and consciousness from different perspectives.
What is Mind, What is Consciousness, and Where This Resides
Philosophy Study
The main purpose of this paper is to respond to the questions what is mind and consciousness and where this resides. The answers are based on the frontline Informational Model of Human Body and Living Structures (IMHBLS), which shows that mind and consciousness can be described by the activity of the Informational System of the Human Body and Living Structures (ISHBLS), consisting of seven informational components, each of them with specific activity and functions, inter-correlated to support the immaterial/informational manifestation of the body expressed by mind and consciousness. The basic concept of matter-related and virtual information results as a consequence of the operability of the physics, chemistry, biologic, or mathematics laws, which actually act as informational operators, such processes are informationally driven and manifested finally as a "media-like functions" of mind and consciousness, on the "screen/display" of prefrontal cortex. The mind is therefore described as the capacity of every individual to access the data field of own life experience, where the thought acts as an informational operator, which can activate the required information from internal/external reality. Consciousness is the result of the info-representation of the explored reality, accumulated by the momentary connection, and compared/combined with the life experience, serving as judgment reference/criteria. The question is discussed in relation with the localization of consciousness, showing that this resides in the brain, as a result of the activity of ISHBLS. The discussion on the experimental evidences concerning the minimal basic components necessary and sufficient to sustain consciousness, compared with the results of the informational model, indicates the cortico-thalamus axis, in a full agreement each other. One of the basic findings is that the activation of consciousness is operated in two steps, one consisting in a feed-forward reception and another in feedback perception for recognition of the info-significance, which is fully supported by the recently reported experimental results. The phenomena of intuition, inspiration, premonition, "deja vue", retrocausality, and intentionality are discussed. This model unifies the eastern and western concepts/models on consciousness and mind, explaining the energetic Yung/Yin Chinese model by YES/NO-informational Bit-type behavior, the Plato's ideas/forms by "information" concept as a participating component of reality, Aristotle's materialist view with matter structuration (assisted by information), and archaic model of the seven "chakras" at human, as vital informational centers connected with the body.
There is no thing such as Mind/Consciousness
ABSTRACT The introduction presents merely roughly (as they undergo change all the time) the contemporary, insular, Anglo-Phone speculations (supposedly by means of the discourse of philosophy and the socio-cultural practice of philosophizing) about notions of consciousness and mind. These, almost epistemological solipsistic, self-centered and anthropo-centered, restricted speculations about the notions of mind and consciousness are made by means of cognitively biased metaphysical, ontological, epistemological and methodological assumptions and selective interpretations of the nature and the doing of philosophy. Individuals or groups of them uttering those speculations form part of the professional academe and subscribe to the principles, attitudes, values and norms of a particular school, movement and community of Western academic philosophers. The next sections situate the individuals who utter these pronouncements and/ or argue for them by reasoning, logic and argumentation in the wider context of the multiverse, the universe, planet earth and our species as merely one type of contingent, living organism inhabiting and restricted to a certain eon, era, period, epoch, civilization, historical period and culture (or time and place) of this planet. In spite of this absolute restriction by place and time individuals try to depict from this restricted point of view an all-inclusive, god-like explanation of the nature, origin, meaning and functioning of every thing. I suggest that because of conceptual misuse mental objects such as the mind and consciousness are imagined and thought to exist. Such misleading notions lead to the creation of unnecessary ‘philosophical’ problems such as the mind-body problem and notions about things such as ‘qualia’. It is advisable to restrict any experiments to an investigation of particular senses and ‘acts’ of cognition and identify the areas in the body and brain that play a part in them - and to leave such research to experts of the specialized cognitive and neuroscientific fields and related disciplines, instead of trying to speculate about them or by the use of thought experiments, imaginary cases and simulations, fictional accounts and reasoning or arguments.
ABSTRACT This study posits the belief that consciousness is multidimensional and eternal, the soul incarnating repeatedly with purpose through time, expressing individualised consciousness. Memory as the linking factor to experience is carried as a subatomic imprint within DNA via the electromagnetic field. There is no universal definition of Consciousness which is instead defined from the differing perspectives of science, philosophy, medicine etc. Scientific focus is aimed primarily at understanding matter whilst the oldest spiritual texts available to us describe the interaction of the material and ephemeral worlds. Historical, medical, and philosophical perspectives are compared in relationship to the metaphysical definition of consciousness, proposing that an interactive hierarchical, energetic mechanism governs behaviour and belief. Two clinical case studies illustrate the multidimensional nature and structure of consciousness with trauma explored as a causative agent in energetic imbalance. The methodology and outcome of an energy alignment programme is evaluated from both physiological and metaphysical perspectives.
Towards the Complete Man: Consciousness, Psyche, Mind, Memory, Soul, and Spirit
2023
I present a general and personal view of the various aspects in which Man is and should be studied. The main problem lies in the lack of a fully accepted definitions of consciousness and 'normal' state of consciousness. The concepts of personality and consciousness are discussed. The most important issues in the study of consciousness are highlighted. The concepts of the field of consciousness and bandwidth are presented and discussed in relation with memory recovery and the processing capacity of the brain. The similarities and differences of consciousness, mind, and psyche are listed. The mind-brain problem is presented, and the many possible relationships are defined and commented. We highlighted some new topics such as the need and importance of being able to access all stored memories to become a more 'complete' Homo sapiens. Some possible non-physical components are briefly mentioned.