Consciousness…?
The longing for that pull of deeply nostalgic memories reminding you of home. Winter mornings as a kid, craving the breath of cold mountain air filling your lungs when it had snowed. The way a melody entrances your foot to tap or your eyes to flood with the painful waters that carry your past. The ability to understand the acceptance of absolute certainty does not leave room for doubt and without doubt we do not question and if we do not question we do not learn. The understanding you are experiencing a reality. This undefinable yet unequivocal certainty, that you are you and you exist. There is a conscious Self with a subjective nature. Reality seems to be experienced through both body and mind. While modern medicine has made significant advancements in treating the body, slower progress has been made in the treatment of consciousness. Consider the questions however. Are the mind and body separate? Can we justify consciousness if there is a duality? Can we justify consciousness if there is not? Why should subjectivity suggest both body affects mind and mind affects body? Why should there be any correlation at all? Even more challenging, to answer these, where do we even begin? I argue the Self. The ability to possess subjective curiosity, the need of ownership over ones reality, the irrefutable keystone that consciousness seems to be, the Self cannot be ignored. Ironically, it seems, the elegance of consciousness is its allowance of consciousness.
From then until now…
The majority of study and research into this later termed ‘hard-problem’* fell on great thinkers throughout human history. From early philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle to the minds of 17th century Rene Descartes and 19th century Friedrich Nietzsche, Man has sought to reconcile this most foundational conundrum of our existence. Not without progress, philosophy has begun to narrow the rational interpretation of consciousness, most readily exampled Cartesian Dualism was once the most popularly held belief among scholars, however, is now widely accepted to be an inaccurate understanding of consciousness. While philosophers were busy engaging in thought experiments, scientists were unable to actively participate or offer contributions into solving the hard problem until recent advancements in technology. Now, with the help of discoveries and development into instruments such as fMRI’s used in neuro-imaging, neuroscience is beginning to uncover and explore the intricacies of brain mechanics and processes with the ability and capability of observing different aspects of our physical reality more so than even before. It would seem as technology continues to improve, so can our understanding of the world we experience around us. Neuroscience aims to discover and understand the mechanics and processes of the brain, but can identifying responsibilities assigned to regions of the brain or what role mechanisms have in enabling communication between them give us a better understanding of what consciousness is? Perhaps in a physical sense, but many profess by studying and unraveling how the brain works physically will only give you just that, how the physical brain works. What about the Self, our consciousness and the subjectiveness of it?
What is consciousness? Why is it subjective? What makes us, ‘us’?
My Thoughts…
Advancements in science and technology are a testament to human intellect, that is historically apparent, but what can these rapid improvements tell us about the subjective experience itself? That is, after all, the very thing we are trying to understand, is it not? For example, we have discovered what parts of the tongue are responsible for different tastes we encounter (sweet, sour, bitter, etc.), but it is our perspective, our subjectivity, that completes the experience. Experience without subjectivity may result in consciousness, but it is the awareness of consciousness that enables our individual perception of the world and adds the richness that is our reality. By solely focusing on an objective understanding of the world, it would seem we would be in danger of producing an objective answers. Even if all knowledge of brain mechanics and parts were discovered, how do any of the physical parts rectified the seemingly crucial nature of subjective consciousness and the dependence of perspective on an individual experiencing it. If sounds, feelings, memories, experiences and so on are perceived by the conscious Self through both body and mind, is there a way to account for subjectivity that would satisfy and merge the physical and the mental?
I am anticipating a major critique of my writing in this introduction will be due to my failure to present any clear definition as to what I believe consciousness is. I had intentionally delayed my own insight as long as I could, partly because I honestly did not have a complete idea of what my definition might look like, and partly because what I had conceptualize at the start my research kept changing as my studies progressed. Initially, I may have defined consciousness as: ‘Any subjective experience we have. Of being a self. It is the appearance of and our perception of the world around us. The awareness of waking in the morning and relying on intuitive common sense that consciousness is present. The understanding that without it and its subjective property, there is nothing, no world, no self, no meaning, no experience and no perception’ (in relation to the self. I am not arguing that without consciousness the entire universe would cease to exist, I am merely driving home it is the Self, the subjective being, that we are focused on here). However, this definition has evolved throughout my writing process and now I am more inclined to differentiate the Self from consciousness. That the subjective experience is a piece of consciousness and not its totality.
*Chalmers, David J. (1996). The Conscious Mind : In Search of a Theory of Conscious Experience. Oxford University Press.