Monday, January 26, 2015

An attempt to understand the phenomenon of human-thought !



"Like legs to body,thoughts are what make MIND to MOVE-AROUND, making realities In the course;More the distance it walk,returning gets tough"

(Tweet dated 16th Aug,2016)
"It makes much sense to understand 'thoughts'as the substance that circulate thru mind, like blood thru body: http://hiddenobserveronthelimitationsofmind.blogspot.in/"


An attempt to understand the phenomenon of human-thought !


The major questions this paper intent to take-up are:

1) To distinguish the act of thought from mind and consciousness
2) What precedes what: Neuron firing or thoughts?
3) Can we isolate thought phenomenon from its physical explanation? If we succeed, will it end-up identifying the physical realm, merely as the architecture/ structural realm of reality?
4) Can thought be an open-ended act, or is it restricted by certain design and laws?
5) Can it affect and alter the physical realm?
6) Identifying various mind-activities that we usually brand under the single umbrella of thought
7) Similar to work energy and thrust, can we identify and recognize 'thrusts' or 'inherent directions' that make us think and guide its directions?
8) Identifying thought with physical work; it builds-up, and accumulates as aggregate, in an irreversible manner, like work by hand and legs makes man move his location and environment.( your realities are there where your thoughts are!) If hands and legs that help the body to work and move, do thoughts accomplish a similar function for the mind ?
9 Another important question; if thoughts are not preceded by neuron firing, can we, or how could we attribute it to an unknown, unrecognized realm of reality?
10) Can a realm of 'silent-consciousness' ( without thoughts) is possible, as a desired ideal for dealing with life? 

1) To distinguish the act of thought from mind and consciousness

If this kind of a paper attempt to base the theme on the writings and opinion of past philosophers and thinkers on consciousness and thought, it will turn-up as another scholastic exercise, wherein the conclusions should derive from the pieces of evidence presented. If any new observation of the author is added, it will receive the attention of the scholastic world only if the author has some reputation as a researcher in some reputed university! Then, how can an altogether new approach to a given theme could be introduced to the world? It is really a tough task!

This author is an unknown researcher in the world. He was into free-lance experiments in Hypnosis from his age of 18, ( his college days) and he had conducted hundreds of experiments making his experimental subjects, his classmates, family members, friends and associates.

During these experiments, a very few of his subjects were found blessed with 'clairvoyance' faculty.( the rare faculty to see what is going on real-time at distant places in Hypnotic state, and also able to say correctly  in 9 out of 10 cases, what playing cards are there in a sealed envelop)

Such encounters with the hidden faculties of mind made him a mind-enthusiast from that young age, and this interest actively continued for 3-4 decades. It is continuing even today.

Though it is difficult to present citations for whatever is presented here in this work, the author realizes the importance of relating the theme to a contemporary work or controversy, for getting a touch of currency. Therefore, he wishes to relate, and address the 'hard-problem' lately introduced by David Chalmers.( See link: http://blog.ted.com/2014/03/19/the-hard-problem-of-consciousness-david-chalmers-at-ted2014/)

Those who oppose the questions raised by him ( Dr.Chalmers) must come out with an equally sensible response, after also considering whatever this paper has brought-forth.  

So, let this paper be an altogether new approach to the phenomenon of thought and its relation with mind or consciousness.

Sticking on with 'consciousness' to denote and understand the much wider realm of thought is like sticking on with pre-Copernicus notions about solar-system! 

To end the confusion between mind and consciousness here, this paper will use the term MIND only in future references, for convenience. It is assumed that the Western thought system prefers to call whatever the mind realm does as attributes of 'consciousness' only because, it prefers to limit the realm of, apparently non-matter / non-physical aspects of reality, to some or other kind of raw function of matter itself. So, the purpose of limiting the vast activities and properties of mind to its minimum possible relevance was served by the usage of the term 'consciousness'. Here is an appeal to have a re-look at this practice, and be massively more open about accepting that, the existing notion of 'consciousness' is very inadequate, and even belittling about whatever is apparently non-physical ( by our inadequate definitions !) about life and existence in general!

First of all, the realm of thought is NOT a passive state, as the term 'consciousness' appears to sound. Without the rays of thought falling upon any object of consciousness, the act simply does NOT take place! So, a conscious or unconscious ( reflective) act upon the object in question is a must for having consciousness. On this very base and logic itself, the term 'consciousness' could be put to task, for its function-wise misconception.

Thought can be said to be like the concept of Big-Bang; from the moment consciousness emerges, it travels outward, in good speed. If the self does not care to control its wild-direction, it results in plain 'STRANDING' of the self at strange, remote locations! The entire responsibility of taming own-thoughts rests with the individual himself. If not controlled, the individual gets caught up in whirlwinds or storms, like what happens in massive uprisings in the world. During Hitler's regime, the entire people's consciousness got trapped in the storm that their leader had triggered, and here individual consciousness got diminished into a vacuum, and everyone got caught up in one singular ideological ( thought) whirlwind!

We can say with confidence that, in the matter of consciousness also, the contemporary world is caught up in a similar collective whirlwind, unable to stand-out to face more sensible truths about this most central aspect of life and existence! Modern man is caught up in the whirlwind of a media created, collective 'world-idea'! World idea has made his 'sense of self' around collective categories of reality. He is unable to realise his real core relation with existence today. Such a dimension of self itself non-existing today.

So, in the next para, we take up the necessity of the thinker, the core self of man.

Thoughts presuppose a thinker! 

Coming back to thought again, it originates from an equally non-physical source; ie. the 'self of man. The self of man is not confined to his body and brain activities. It has dimensions and features that out-perform body and the neuron-structure. It always shows features and characters beyond the routine objective descriptions. One of the most intriguing factors of such a 'self'  is that it is the originator of thoughts, something real to our routine conceiving tools, but we do not have a satisfactory explanation to its genus, energy phenomenon, dynamics and directions.

If the phenomenon of 'self' is derived from some kind of a 'pattern' formation of neuron-energies, it might be also represented by a corresponding special physical 'pattern' of neurons too, as thought/consciousness acts might always result in a, at least temporary, neuronic-'registration'. As we proposed earlier, the neuron-level 'registration' ( or physical manifestation) of thought takes place after the actual act of thinking !( thought precedes neuron-surge) Thoughts might be caused by some kind of an emission from the special circuitry 'field' of the self !

What we suggest is, as also did by Prof. Chalmers, we need not speculate that thought originates from the realm of mythologic spirits or God. It could have a sensible physical explanation, once Science opens-up on its base Dogma as to what matter is !  Science might be able to identify and master the new energy source, or the criteria that leads to the formation of self pattern, ( or field) and then, how this unique 'field' exercise its will to create thought emissions.

How does the self of man emerge, as an autonomous knowing entity exclusively from his social-interactions and ties- -an unbelievably smart and creative plan of nature- -is depicted in blog: http://anatomyofrealities.blogspot.in/2013/08/thinking-understanding-it-as-internal.html. 

This plan is akin to the equally unbelievable and creative design of the structure of atom, and how from its ever-wiggling electronic structure, the stability of material world has emerged ! ( please share blog post: http://patternsofapproachtodiscoverreality.blogspot.in/, that describes this great scheme of nature !)

This paper would like base its premises to the ground that, matter-realm is simply the structural realm of the ultimate reality, or its architectural realm.So, mind serves a similar kind of relation to thought, ie, serving the purpose of a structural or architectural realm to thought, though not exactly the way physical realm serves the reality realm, but only in the 'organizational' sense. Mind, as far as the range and reach of our scientific tools go, is not an observable or measurable realm, or an energy type. 

It was the 'word' there in the beginning, in the sense that, word denotes  thought, or thought always preceded the 'word'.This 'word'or thought was the most primeval-creative energy, that had opted for an 'organization' like the matter realm, and then, a sub-organization realm like mind, with all its architectural paraphernalia described in some detail at blog link; http://hiddenobserveronthelimitationsofmind.blogspot.in/.

For some better clarity here, one would say that the creative 'drive' or 'urge' to exist preceded the rest everything associated with it, like matter and mind. In plain human term, the most primeval thought realm was an 'emotional' realm, or a realm of a predisposition or predilection ! There was no law of any kind here in this realm or state, but only absolute and infinite freedom. This freedom had creatively 'chosen' a realm like that of matter, followed by an organization like 'mind' to execute the above referred creative thoughts. This most primeval creative thought realm opted to share the same kind of FREEDOM of creative choice for man too, in their role as independent entities on the surface of earth ! As these entities were basically synthetic,or manufactured entities, their so called freedom also was kind of synthetic, or in other words, they were allowed to have the sense of such a kind of infinite 'freedom' in their role as sub-creators of further realities in their habitat, the world !

It is obvious that, the base question at human-beings level, as to what is the stuff of the THOUGHT is immaterial here, as their ( human-beings') very concept of 'basic-stuff' itself was part of,or part of the synthetic stuff that the above ultimate 'choice' source had devised !

 So,the criterion for defining the ultimate stuff of man turns never applicable to the above most primeval realm. Human-kind does not possess any detecting or measuring devise,or concept to measure, recognize, or conceive any stuff that originally had constituted their own very realms of entities, meanings and realities !

Then, on what base, or with what knowing tool or faculty that we have presented the above speculations ? Does an unrecognized sense-realm exist that 'senses' realm such as that of thought?

Was the above contentions plain,blind theorizing ? The firm answer is no ! Please see details of our own, not yet recognized ( by the mainstream) knowing faculties that always existed, using what, man had fixed whatever was exact and reliable about our knowledge, about himself and the world. If nature has provided man sense faculties like eyes and ears to know about the physical world, it is safe to assume that She might have had provided similar faculties for knowing the deeper stuff also for knowing ultimate causes, and primeval organizational details about thought and mind realms. We do not have a collective understanding and recognition  about the existence of such inner faculties, hence many will find it extremely difficult to accept man's ability to speculate on such organisation level details about his essence, nature's organizational scheme around such stuff. If we had no such collective agreement about what eyes and ears provide, the data provided by these external sense organs also would have been met with similar dis-belief and despise !

Please share our most central paper on the special role and faculties of our inner organ of Reason, at link: http://philosopherskorner.blogspot.in/  

Here, what we have attempted above was, to distinguish 'thought' from our known realms of matter and mind.

2) What precedes what: Neuron firing or thoughts?

From the above description of the possible existential organization of man's realities, and the criteria for having such realities, it becomes evident that the structural realm,or the architectural realm of matter, say brain and its neuron-level manifestations,  always preceded by the mind and though realm. Neuron firing takes place only as a result of thoughts. At neuron level, thought get a material representation, or manifestation, as matter realm was very creatively chosen to manifest thought ( creative realm) in the original scheme of things. While man remains a slave of his matter-centered stuff and essence,(by his own ignorance) he has but no option to claim the reverse, ie, it must be the neuron firing first, that results in his thoughts and other mind-activities ! But very simple logic and common sense is enough to conclude finally that, thought realm exists independently of brain and neuron-firing, and it is the former that activate or trigger the latter !

It needs only simple imagination and sense to infer that, purely mechanical act of neuron firing can not be creative to give the out come of the highly creative ( or at times highly destructive,but still creative) thoughts !
If we conclude that it is neuron-firing that results in the thoughts of man, it would be a total negation of the creativity and spirit of innovation of man ! It is equal to concluding that that man is mere dead-matter bundle, while it is the mechanical, or the pre-designed brain-cells that deserve all the credit for whatever mankind had achieved on the face of earth through out history ! In his obsession to belittle mind, he belittle whatever is creative and innovative about him...

Science must exorbitantly open -up from Her dogmas about matter-centered-ness, and the 'zero-sum' valuation about human-life. She could now open-up, and attempt to build-up a separate science of thought and mind, and also about the 'organization' of human-'self' mechanism !

3) Can we isolate thought phenomenon from its physical explanation ? If we succeed, will it end-up identifying the physical realm merely as the architecture/ structural realm of reality as it appears to man's special perceiving-mechanism? ( the analogy of metallurgy to explain the futility of analyzing the physical structure of the world to understand the engineering marvels of cars ,or high-tech machinery )

If we stick on to explaining thought, mind etc. by the physical realm, with the typical argument of the need of 'information'( this informative needs met by the faculty of 'consciousness' of matter !) for energy conservation and optimum subsistence of the world, it will leave a whole lot of questions begging for answer, chiefly the following :

a) Upon close observation, it comes out to even the ordinarily intelligent that, nature does not depend much on the rational might of living beings to sustain itself, whether it is energy conservation oriented dependence, or the volition to mutate appropriately to meet the changing environment. We are familiar with the miraculous self-healing tendency of wounds and routine ailments in animals and man. Though man aids this tendencies of nature with supportive medications, wound-bandage etc, animals species simply wait for nature's own healing process, which happens as definitely as the coming of seasons. We know that due to excessive dependency of man on antibiotics, this naturally inherent immunity against diseases and infections is on the wane, and he is much more vulnerable today to diseases and infections than in the past ! This must reveal the weakening of nature's original capacity in preserving life instead of assuming that it was our intelligent action that was expected to help assist in the routine upward progress of nature.

b) If we look very closely at the evolution-theory based on natural selection, mutation etc, we will observe that,living-organism's will, effort or intelligent action has no role at all in the alleged evolutionary process.

The freewill of the individual members of the species has no role in this natural phenomenon, because such individual member, whether an animal, or a plant, is a helpless 'object' of various energies and strategies of nature. The 'member' can not ever wish, or will to 'mutate', so that a more developed offspring could come out of him/her. When the most developed species, man, can not wish to shed a heir on his body, or stop growing his nails, how can he be aware of his mutational needs to better and effectively respond to a mutation need ? 

 Hence, the entire responsibility to produce a better adapted offspring rests with the same NATURE ! The species are absolutely BLIND about the possibility of evolution. The hero, or the villain here is, the same 'nature', who acts at the individual cell level in the body,and simply mutate, without any involvement of the volition of the member of the species. Can the cell level act/interaction of a living being be considered and defined as the will-full act of the animal itself ? Cells and their various other higher organization in the living body ( like Tissues and different internal organs) act and behave independently, without any element of volition of the animal. 

This is serious philosophical question or issue that the evolutionists must address.  

Moreover, the above clear answer that, neuron-firing will always be preceded by thought, itself has isolated thoughts from a physical explanation. Neuron activity was simply a physical expression of thoughts that preceded thought. If some one insists that, no, thoughts are neuron-genic, it would be greater task to attribute the infinite possibilities and complexities of thought to them; such attributes if neuron-genic, we will have to  believe that, it carry a complex prior-programming that is capable of achieving the infinite creativity and complexity of thoughts, which is, by the degree of evidence and the simple sense of reason, is a more difficult intuition than assigning thoughts a precedent position.

If former was the case, thoughts would have to be believed as product of pre-conceptions and past experiences of man, that the neurons must have manifested as present thoughts.To prove this argument as wrong, the only way-out is to do real time experiments to ascertain whether thoughts or neuron firing takes place first. Such an experiment might not be difficult considering the highly sophisticated imaging techniques neuron-science has with them.

4) Can thought be an open-ended act, or is it restricted by certain design and laws ?   

Can man think in an open-ended manner, without any pre-set direction by nature,and ride-his horse of thought go any where ? The most sensible answer would be, yes ! Poets and fiction writers often indulge in such free-rides of their imagination, realizing clearly that, such thoughts are their products of imagination, created intentionally for artistic expressions.Creative thinkers like scientific-fiction writers said to have thought future possibilities, where science, at later stages in future, had actually laid their hands on.For example, space-travel had been first visualized by such science-fiction-writers.

  But, thoughts based on life and existence grounded around its stark metaphysical realities seems always stand restricted within certain bounds and patterns. The inherent 'Drives' restricts man ( see link:http://unrecognizedobjectsofthemind.blogspot.in/) for keeping his life within certain set-directions and patterns. This must have been so, because, life's basic goals are met by man. While thoughts can ride-like horses, the horses have to return and settle at home every time at the end of the wild journey.

This observation is extremely relevant because, modern scientific speculators are thinking of having a 'hyper-hole' that runs through universes, so that when our solar-system shrink in future in the event of Sun turning a black-hole, mankind could escape through such 'hyper-holes' to other safe universes ! In such speculations, base meaning of life gets reduced to its survival levels, where it defined and understood at its chemical and physical meaning only, ignoring its metaphysical essence if nay, bestowed by nature. Here, man simply think as a competitor of Nature, where he think he could defeat her designs and grow beyond them. Such thoughts flows from the base-premise that life is merely a chemical and physical whole, like such attributes enforced upon existence as a whole.

5) Can the above thought-directions affect and alter man's physical realm ?

Definitely yes ! Every physical alterations happened to world, like its ever increasing concrete-structures rising in the sky-line, the ever decreasing forest cover,ever-increasing number of fast-moving surface and air crafts etc. are the result of some or other kind of 'thought' of man. So, it is safe to infer that, thought precede every human action. Present is the result of past thoughts manifested. Yes, it is thoughts that alter the physical realm of life of man.

As we have discussed in one of the above sections, thought travels non-stop, and where mankind stand today, with his ideological and scientific advancement is the very proof of this fact. It gets accumulated, often self-corrects its path even by means such as revolutions,wars and similar great tragedies ! Please refer to our earlier comparison of thought to the Big-Bang event; a static state, like what 'consciousness' makes it to sound, is unthinkable about thought when we compare it with ever speeding-out heavenly bodies after the Big-Bang ! Movement of everything is the rule. Static state is unnatural, and even non-existing. Like mankind is settled( static state) on the surface of a planet amidst the ever-moving heavenly bodies, man has thought-ways too, to achieve similar static states to attain static moments, hours, years and ages, to lead life !

Plato wrote, thoughts are internal conversation ! 

Yes..He was absolutely right, considering the direct (observational) evidence about it. Conversation needs two parties, unlike monologues. Here, who is the other party that converse with the self ? The answer is there at link: http://anatomyofrealities.blogspot.in/2013/08/thinking-understanding-it-as-internal.html.

How thoughts affects the physical realm will depend on the 'spirit' that self chooses as the 'other' within, to converse with. Whatever that 'other' ( spirit of the world-SPOW) the self chooses manifests itself as real, and then physical. Even the brain and the neurons might be getting 'circuited' into a certain peculiar-pattern so that, as a new aggregate, it could produce thoughts of a particular kind in future.

6) Identifying various mind-activities that we usually brand under the single umbrella of thought.

Every act of conscious-mind, or wake mind can be stated as a thought. Mind, like the tentacles of insects, extents to everything it does. It is the touch and feel organ of mind. Though we do not know the exact metaphysical classifications of the variety of thoughts as set by nature, we could make an attempt to throw some sensible light into this area:

When we attempt to have a broad classification of thought , by their effect-wise in the world or to the self, it could be:
1) Creative, ie. creation of new concepts, new explanation, or splitting of existing ideas, new possibilities etc.
2) Frequent tours through what has been already produced by mind ( reflection, day dreaming etc)

3) Destructive thoughts, ie. When the self fails to cope-up with the hostile features of the external, or even internally created thought habitat, mind creates negative or destructive thoughts, thus damaging, or even annihilating not only the self, but also men and objects in the external physical world.



So, thoughts can be compared to the constructive or destructive work of man's hands and legs; it can-build-up as well as destruct. Legs can walk-along to distant places, and at times run,or even jump-down from hills.

Now let us take-up some very familiar as well as unfamiliar varieties of thoughts, based upon the above 3 broad-classification.

a) Let us first get to know the most familiar act, the day dreaming, or the casual-thought act. ( that pertains to sr.2 of the above classification) Day dreaming is usually our shuttling between past events and past thoughts. This variety of thought is thought without any specific goal, except spending time. When man is free from any constructive work related thoughts, or even in the middle of work related thoughts can indulge in casual thoughts, or day dreaming. Building 'castles in the air' is also can be safely added to this variety of thoughts for convenience. We could also add our sexual fantasies into this realm, as they are also nothing but empty thoughts for its own sake.

The only difference here is that, when thought is concentrated on any particular subject, say sexual fantasies, it builds-up certain hardness, and it tends man into convert it into a permanent reality of a sort, that he is compelled to take real action to convert such thought into an objective reality in real world. Repeated sexual fantasies and its hardened reality compel one to actively seek sexual partners and full-fill his/her needs. Similarly, thoughts of hurt and humiliation suffered from some other, when engaged in repeat thoughts on the subject, gets hardened and the subject gets compelled to take revengeful actions.

We could infer that, any casual thought, when occurs in more regularity, hardens itself, similar to real objects build-up by hands, and becomes integral part of the mind sphere. Man is then compelled to take action, or at least consciously 'unwind' such build-up thought, to escape from its hardness.

In short, thoughts are very similar to the acts of hands and legs; it is extremely difficult to keep it stable or even passive, without some momentum. Hands and legs always tend to engage themselves in apparently involuntary acts like taping, moving,scratching, touching ears, nose and objects around. Similarly, thoughts too wander from palace to place, object to object, subject to subject and incident to incident every moment of the wake state, as well as in dreams.

b) Now, to try to identify thoughts of a very particular kind, we could observe that,thought follows where the sense-organs go.This particular mode of thought can not be classified under the above 3 varieties, as this is more a mode of thought than a category. For example, where-ever the eyes falls, thoughts too follow,and in case it observes something unusual or non-routine, it gets into an analysis mode, seeking to know its relevance to the self. So, thought always go parallel with direct sense-perception,giving 'sense' to them.

If the object is familiar, it gets converted into whatever way already identified objects treated- if man, then into words and language sense- and if animals, their own symbolic methods of identifying familiar objects and relations.If the object is unfamiliar, thought gets directed into inquiry and analysis mode.

c) The final classification is the most systematic of all thoughts, ie. the so called analytical variety of thought- the act of formally pondering or contemplating over any given subject, seeking to know more and better about it. The not yet recognized 'spectrum; function of our faculty of reason is availed here, and then the 'detecting' the order or consistency factor of the newly emerged facts with what ever was already known etc ( see following link for more details on this -not yet recognized by the mainstream world-functions and role of our faculty of Reason: http://philosopherskorner.blogspot.in/)

The crux is that, thought is a very real act like touching and feeling, and making sense of mind's objects.It is not like 'making lines on the surface of water', an empty act. It builds, as well as destroys. It moves man to remote distances from self, in certain type of lingering, same theme thoughts, making it extremely difficult to return to the previous position ! If un-checked, it leaves man STRANDED at strange realms of reality, from where a home-coming becomes extremely tedious a task, like getting stranded in think jungles of unknown lands ! The process of Psychiatry is fundamentally a job of bring-back the affected patients home, to the safer, routine realities of mainstream-life !

7) Similar to work energy and thrust, can we identify and recognize 'thrusts' or 'inherent directions' that make us think and guide its directions ?

While discussing about mind and thought, what makes the subject so complicated and miserable is the popular term 'CONSCIOUSNESS', as already discussed in the beginning ! The West is extremely reluctant to identify the realm of thought except as part of 'consciousness', that they want to claim as a property of matter. The entire realm is nothing but human-brain's faculty to be conscious about its surroundings, and act as per the needs of self-survival by conserving energy. They ridicule the inherent Drives of man, very similar to Newton's laws that guide the moment of physical objects, despite the fact that, every one could sense such Drives within, very similar to the urges of defecation, sex or hunger ! As we have a very specific post on DRIVES, instead of repeating it here, its link is provided here: http://unrecognizedobjectsofthemind.blogspot.in/

8) Identifying thought with physical work; it builds-up, and accumulate as aggregate, in an irreversible manner, like work by hand and legs makes man move his location and environment.
( your realities are there where your thoughts are !) 

 Thoughts, like touching by hands, seeing and hearing by eyes and ears, is kind of journey through new or old domains and planes, where self too follow, as if thoughts is the self itself. It is like body follows where hands, eyes, ears and nose journey...Thoughts really builds-up, create, and destruct, like the organs of body do ! One can not disown what thought does, similarly to what body does.Thought are not like lines drawn on water or air; they are real world creations, journeys and destruction. Hitler developed a hell lot of nasty and destructive thoughts, and he could transmit this thoughts to his country-men, and then the entire country got converted into a destructive machine, and had drawn the entire world into WW-2.

In one of the above sections, we have already discussed the phenomenon of GETTING-STRANDED in strange lands, if thought directions are not checked by every concerned individual ! Every thought gets accumulated in a snow-baling effect, and all further thoughts that emerge from this AGGREGATE would be peculiar to such unique aggregate. What we call NORMAL state of mind is nothing but one's following similar 'pattern' of thought of the mainstream society, whatever rational or irrational it might be ! In Hitler's Germany, ones who were opposed to his anti-semitic thought found it difficult to live peacefully among the majority who believed otherwise. Similarly, modern world is a kind of whirlwind, with a particular socio-political ideology, mostly based on science's dogmas, including Darwin's evolution theory.Hence, their realities are similar.

Reality for every human-being is the realm where his/her thoughts usually dwell !This is the reason for the never-ending debate on what is 'reality' in human society. Thought of each individual man gets initiated from different base premises, or mother generalizations, and then all subsequent thoughts follows from this base, most of the time logically, that is, 'consistent' with such base premises, or base generalization
( Universals) While man tend to infer his conclusions and attitudes often from 'localized', or the need-of the hour logic, his sense of Reason often rebels, and compels him to be 'consistent' with his base beliefs and premises ! If he doesn't oblige to such inherent compulsion of his sense of reason, it will result in the break-down of his moral and rational integrity ! Such men are many in modern world, as its ideological complexities are such that, no one can follow one's moral and rational base in normal-course of life. An animal way of life, more or less based on mere survival and self-sustaining mode, is today's best option.

9) One last question; if thoughts are not preceded by neuron firing, can we, or how could we  attribute it to an unknown, unrecognized realm of reality ?

Here we are back at our basic question; if thought is NOT having its base on physicality- brain and its neuronic functions, how could we account its source and energy-dynamics ?

We might have to reconsider our base dichotomy of matter-mind here ! We might have to be open to accept that, the emergence of the category of matter in our consciousness was due to the particular fashion in which our external sense-organs such as eyes, hands ( touch) nose etc.stood designed. Like now science is now ready to believe in 4th, 5th, 6th  or a multi-dimensional world, it could also be willing to accept that there would have, perhaps, many more 'categories' in existence other than that of sight, sound,taste, touch and smell.It is quite possible that, nature had opted, in a creative choice that, human-beings be allowed to have our particular world of reality,with our touch and feel 'category' of physical, with other few categories such as smell, sights and taste associated with it ! Life of species on planet earth was made to have their reality around hardness of matter, the stuff its realm of tangibleness !

Considering the stuff that provided 'tangibleness' was not needed to be considered as the ultimate stuff of the rest of realities about existence. By this logic, it could also be possible that, matter stuff was merely the tangibility achieving stuff that suited the chosen features of our sense-organs, while the ultimate essence of existence might be something other than this tangibility stuff. It could be merely, like the metal or allied stuff that enable a car to carry its essence,ie. its fuel and energy system that runs the car. Or 'matter' stuff could be similar to the hardware system that is exclusively meant to carry a software system-the 'essence' in comparison with mere 'structural' stuff of the hardware !

Can an intelligent alien species get to know the fuel and energy system of a car if it chooses to believe that the ultimate stuff of the car could be found in the metallurgy of the body, and that of other structural material of the car ? ( share more on this line of thinking from blog links: http://argumentsagainstscientificpositivism.blogspot.in/, and  http://patternsofapproachtodiscoverreality.blogspot.in/)

Here, the most sensible attitudinal change from the part of Science would be to have a serious re-thinking on the solidness, or the physicality ( with all its solidness image) definition of matter. Her image and understanding about matter could be more INCLUSIVE and OPEN, to accommodate the characteristics and known features of 'mind' ( or 'consciousness', if she is very particular to call it by that name!)also in such understanding. She can conveniently, or sensibly ignore the old dichotomy of 'matter-mind. Like we have 'space-time' as one stuff now in science after the entry of relativity theory of Einstein, matter and mind also could be united into one single stuff- 'matter-mind', to end the tussle between the two. She can accommodate the 'special laws of nature' in the working of the self/mind/thoughts into the realm of science, and be 'inclusive' and 'richer' a larger knowledge realm ! The formation of self,exclusively by the observable ( by the hidden sense organ that has been referred above, at Section-1) dynamics of the mutuality of human social interactions etc, could add-up to the existing physical theories of atoms and cells.   

  
10) Can a realm of 'silent-consciousness' ( without thoughts) is possible, as a desired ideal for dealing with life ? 

In the beginning of this paper, we alleged that the Western concept of 'consciousness' is grossly inadequate to include and explain all that the non-matter realm ( mind) of man routinely does in the usual course of life. Now, in this last section, we try to see, in what sense a mere passive 'consciousness' is acclaimed as the right-path of leading life in many non-western cultures and traditions. 

The intention here is to further proclaim that the sense in which the term ‘consciousness’ used by the West is totally inadequate, and even misleading to depict the multiple modes and roles in which the non-physical realm( of mind and thought) function. Let us examine how the orient traditions, especially their religious traditions look at ‘consciousness’ in a passive way, though very un-similar to the way the West mean by the term. The difference is more about the way both traditions look at life and existence, than a difference in the understanding of a particular psychology term.

This last section (10) is about the open nature of consciousness, like life itself, that could be lead, and the life-course defined and directed, the way one likes it.   

Many open minded writers and thinkers of the world now agree that, it was only a matter sheer 'chance' that the Greek-bundle of knowledge and philosophic systems reached European world through the Muslim invaders, and then the modern world and its current institutions got built-up predominantly on Western thought lines.

Mr. Marc Edmund Jones (in his Book ‘Occult philosophy’– ‘SAMBHALA’ USA), wrote in favour of the greatness of Eastern traditions by equaling it with the classic Greek tradition in every sense:
He writes: “Any effort to determine causal connections more than two millennia afterwards would be futile, but it must be remembered that developments in philosophy east of Indus, paralleled very completely to those among the Hellenic thinkers. It may as well have been pure historical accident as the circumstances of any particular genius, that led to the building of modern western idea upon the Grecian rather the Hindu Contribution”  

We better take-up the Hindu and Chinese traditions, and see what they have got to say on the silent-consciousness, ( without active thoughts)to lead an ideal way of life. 
In Hindu thought, the centrally advocated attitude towards life is 'nishkam karma', ie, doing one's duties (work) with the least expectation about its result. It is submitting to the truth of life and nature, and go on doing whatever duty comes one's way, with total detachment. One's ego is not at all a ‘participant’ while undergoing life this way. It is the way of passive 'consciousness', or leading one's life as if it is, in an act of blind-participation in the nature's ( of the Almighty's) intended ways. This view on life presupposes a ‘self’ other than the ‘ego’, or at least a transcended ego,( or a nullified ego) that undergoes the ‘experience’ of life.

A renowned Hindu spiritual Guru, Acharya Rajneesh ( popularly known as OSHO) preferred to call this way of leading life  'witnessing', ie. encountering life without any emotional participation or judgment.  In other words, leading life as if he is only a passive 'witness' to it ! He also liked to call it 'living without mind'. Here, mind for him is the instrument that create, and run on thoughts. 'Consciousness' is meant to be the mode of passively being  ‘conscious’ of  life that goes around one…

This central Hindu view of  life was not much different from the early Chinese thought. The ‘plane of the sage’, as per ancient Chinese thought was, that of an enlightened man who has achieved mystical union with the universe. The later developed 'Taoism' was the way of looking at nature, and learning its WAY, the TAO. The thrust was on acting 'spontaneously’, trusting the intuitive knowledge of every person. Taoism is interested in intuitive wisdom than rational thinking, rational thinking here means, the activity of the mind, or the tool of ego- the worldly self of man.  

In the Zen tradition of Japan, a mix of the vital essences of Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism, again the thrust is on experiencing life as it comes, without any ‘abstraction or conceptualization’. Zen asserts freedom from all fixed beliefs. This is true spirituality as far as the Zen-way  is concerned. 

If one look deep into the essence of Christianity, he will find that, Christ also had advocated a similar outlook on life, without any worry about 'what one eats or drink'. It is the God in heaven that looks after such needs of man. Look at the birds in the sky. They are not sowing, harvesting, or accumulating anything for future. It is the God in heaven that looks after them. Indirectly, the way of life advocated by Jesus Christ also is very similar to the spiritual ways advocated by the eastern traditions; that of leading life as it comes, with a certain oneness with existence and God.
Man’s provisions comes not exclusively out of his labour and effort, but it happens with the care and Grace of the divine.  

Leading life the above way calls for only a passive 'consciousness', without involvement of a rational mind. Life has a certain inherent sense, meaning and unity with whatever is the ultimate
Truth and reality. Having a ‘sense of time’ akin to one’s irrefutable relation and unity with one’s said origin and substance is what gets translated into this special, ‘live’ consciousness. It is rather about keeping a ticking consciousness about this sub-realm of eternal time, than having it around the nitty-gritties of ego’s synthetic( or the relative) sense of time.

This difference of the Western-world about the way they look at life and world is very evident from certain uttering of Francis Bacon, an early days champion of modern science: He called-on science to:  
Ø       ‘Haunt’ nature in her wanderings
Ø       She should be bound into service    
Ø       Made her a slave
Ø       Put her in constraint
Ø        Torture-out the secrets of from her
( words ‘haunt’ and ‘torture-out’ refer to old Europe’s witch hunting tradition )

The stark difference in the approach towards life and nature of the Orient and the West has come out clearly here.
The silent ‘consciousness’ that the Orient traditions appear to advocate is not to exploit nature with the intention of creating a culture and tradition of rational utilization of her resources. It is a Way, or Journey with nature, NOT seeing her as a commodity to consume.

The  way of the Orient appears to advocate that, it is possible to lead life with a ‘live’ relation with nature, or the subtle energies of existence. Man can be ‘conscious’ ( intuitively) about such WAY of nature, or existence, without any need of utilizing the rational ( or analytic) faculties of mind.

So, better we understand the way of the West and that of the Orient as TWO distinct modes of utilizing consciousness, or, two distinct cultures of letting the faculty of thought, defining life. Once let it ( thought) out to move, like a wild-storm, it takes many courses, sometime even beyond the control of the one who had let it go ! What lets one know the ultimate truth and reality may not always be the inquiry mode of thought, but a way of its ‘absence’ ! Eyes and ears do not toil to see or hear. They are un-closable widows towards the external world and its reality. Man is a passive receiver of various ‘categories’ ( or qualities ) of existence these sense –organs  provide. Similarly, man seems to have an intuitive faculty (or a hidden, internal sense organ, as once referred in a previous section of this paper ) that goes on  providing man with ‘sense’ and knowledge that is adequate for leading life.

In the Way of nature, and in the way of passive consciousness, while the subject- man- is actively engaged in the routine course of life, a silent awareness of the timelessness of the act is actively ALIVE in the background ! The conscious-mind takes-on life, in a reflective way, as if he is NOT separated from existence in any sense. The active mind is never felt required in the act, as it is the tool of another kind of entity, the ego. Ego is a social product, and it tend to consider each person, and each object in the surrounding as a potent threat to his life. In this mode, the mind is a tool exclusively of the ego, connected only with whatever the sense organs and the world have constituted as life. It has nothing prior, or nothing beyond the empirical, or the overt life. In the former model, the subject never open, or operate the ego mode. His belongingness is to a wider whole, that needs no definition for language-interpretation, like the newborn child does not ever need any defining act before seeking out its mother, or her nipples !

 It poses a very serious philosophical question, as to what model from the above two examples fits in leading a more contented way of life; whether the analytical and inquiring WAY of the West, or the not yet fully explored way of the Orient.   



 Author: Abraham J. Palakudy

contact him at: ajoseph1@rediffmail.com

Twitter: Voice of philosophy@jopan1

His brief profile: He is an ardent seeker and researcher of truth about human-mind, faculty of Reason, social and political institutions,spirituality, and metaphysical dimensions of life.. He was awarded a residential Fellowship by Indian Council of Philosophical Research during 1990. 

His books:1) 'Is reason a sense organ? A super-mind above the known mind' 2) Is democracy a fake-coin? 3) Funniest joke about modern-world; It is FREE&OPEN !4) Many doors of new knowledge that mankind yet to knock-at, all self-published at Amazon.com 

His research paper on DEMOCRATIC CULTURE was accepted for presentation at International Society for Universal Dialogue, Athens, Greece during 2012. He is West Asia coordinator for 'World Philosophy Forum;See link:http://www.wpf-unesco.org/eng/acthk.htm 

His research paper on 'police and human rights' was chosen for presentation in 2013 by Kalyani University, West Bengal. A similar paper on 'Indian Heritage' was chosen by M.S.University, Baroda (Gujarat, India) in January, 2014, for presentation during the 'National Education Summit' at Gandhinagar.









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