“I thunk me a thought” Humans can think about thinking, that one thinks
Consciousness definition: mystery of consciousness and the brain Bergson: instinct/intuition and intelligence combine in duration to consciousness Gazzaniga: the goal of the brain is to protect and regulate the body…period.
States of consciousness Awake Sleep Dreaming (subconscious)
Hindu Vedas (4) wakeful state dream state deep sleep state transcendental state
Hindu Yoga/Tibetan Buddhism (7 bodies of consciousness ) Christopher Calder 1) Physical Realm – simple awareness 2) Energy Realm – most people reside in this realm 3) Enhanced Mental Realm – (astral, meditation) 4) Super-Mental Realm – (“mental body”), intense, inspirational 5) Realm of Enlightenment – superconsciousness, Buddha Author rejects the notion of realms beyond the 5th 6) Cosmic Body 7) Nirvana
Hypnotic states – resemble deep sleep Out of Body Experiences (OBE) Masts – Meher Baba; persons disabled by experience of higher spiritual planes, may appear irrational or insane—claimed quite elevated spiritual status, “intoxicated with God.” Some had OBEs and could not reenter the body well enough.
Consciousness as awareness/cognition Race consciousness/white privilege/ Ta Nehisi Coates: “choose to believe you’re white,” “people who believe they are white,” “people who wanted to be white.”
Political consciousness – Women’s movement “consciousness raising groups” from the 1960s. CR groups in LGBT movement, mental health care Cultural consciousness – Aboriginal song lines and walk-abouts Insect consciousness – leaf-cutter ants Animal consciousness – 100th monkey Ecological consciousness – burning rivers; plastic ocean islands
Increasing levels of self awareness, as with CR groups, or active meditation will often strengthen ego consciousness, or ego-state consciousness which can become an obstacle to moving to higher realms.
Meditative role of “destruction of the ego” as an counterpoint to Western ego states
Mechanistic/electronic consciousness—deviance or extensions of consciousness?
Consciousness as imagination/”altered states of consciousness”
Maya-illusion, life as a dream, Source of creativity, creative genius phenomenon Artistic vision—paintings which speak to the observer Music and transcendence Chanting and trance states Use of intoxicants/”spiritual burglary” vs. rehearsal to alter consciousness? Huxley-Doors to Perception Levi-Strauss – studies of Amazonian tribes use of plants
Karl Jung archetypes of the collective unconscious
-- Thanks to Edwin Hackney
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