What is Consciousness?
Reflecting on Consciousness is fascinating. It is such an important subject in the arena of Science and Spirit that I want to continue this thread for a bit. I thought I'd begin with some thoughts about what it actually is. Looking up some definitions on the web, we find such things as:
* an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation; "he lost consciousness"
* awareness: having knowledge of; "he had no awareness of his mistakes"; "his sudden consciousness of the problem he faced"; "their intelligence and general knowingness was impressive"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
* Consciousness is subjective experience or awareness or wakefulness or the executive control system of the mind.Farthing, 1992 It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness
* Vijñāna (Sanskrit; Devanagari: विज्ञान) or viññāa (Pāli; Devanagari: विञ्ञाण) is translated as "consciousness" or "life force" or simply "mind".See, for instance, Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness_(Buddhism)
* Strong AI is artificial intelligence that matches or exceeds human intelligence — the intelligence of a machine that can successfully perform any intellectual task that a human being can. or see where he defines strong AI as "machine intelligence with the full range of human intelligence. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness_(artificial)
* The state of being conscious or aware; awareness
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/consciousness
* conscious - intentionally conceived; "a conscious effort to speak more slowly"; "a conscious policy"
* conscious - knowing and perceiving; having awareness of surroundings and sensations and thoughts; "remained conscious during the operation"; "conscious of his faults"; "became conscious that he was being followed"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
* consciously - with awareness; "she consciously played with the idea of inviting them"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
* Conscious - This article contains episode summaries as well as directing and writing credits from Season 3 of the American drama/adventure television series Alias. Season 3 aired starting on September 28, 2003 (U.S.) and concluded on May 23, 2004. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscious_(Alias_episode)
* conscious - alert, awake; aware; aware of one's own existence; aware of one's own awareness
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/conscious
* A state of awareness or lack thereof
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/First_Aid/Appendix_A:_Glossary
* Some define consciousness as the totality of experience at any given instant, as opposed to 'mind', which is the sum of all past moments of consciousness.
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/sub/spaceodysseys/glossary.html
* The intelligent, supremely independent, divine Energy, which creates, pervades, and supports the entire universe.
www.siddhayoga.org.in/glossary.html
oh, and this:
* Consciousness is the fourth full-length album by post-grunge band Smile Empty Soul. The album was released on August 25, 2009. "Don't Ever Leave" was chosen as the first single off the album. It was also revealed that the band will be shooting a video for the song.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness_(album)
Obviously, there are a lot more excerpts I can put here, but I think you get the idea!
So, the next question is: could consciousness be more than this? Is it embedded, latent, into the constituents of matter? Or is it something that slowly emerges, evolves and expresses itself differently in degree and type with each species? The latter is the general consensus in science and philosophy, the former tends to be a more spiritual perspective. I will be posting some more of the different perspectives on this next.
What makes you aware, and aware that you are aware? While you are reading this, I invite you to reflect on what it is that is being conscious of your reading this!
To be continued...but right now I am starting to head towards that time of the day where I become less conscious...
As always, please chime in with your thoughts if you feel inspired.
thoughtfully yours,
Julia Bystrova
Science and Spirit Moderator