Philosophy: Mind, Soul, Consciousness, Body - Part 8
Next, let's turn to the question: What is consciousness and what is perception?
This question sounds simple, but certainly is not easy to answer. It has been my experience that in the case of complex problems, it often helps to graph the situation, initially focusing on the basic components of the problem. The following figure is supposedly based on Simon Magus' teachings who in turn is likely to have fallen back to Platonic ideas. However, by whom this representation actually comes is unimportant for everything else to be discussed here. So let's take a look at the figure below which I'd like to call "The Circle of Being".
There are three key points:
The word "intellect" has undergone a change of meaning over time, and now means something very different from what was originally meant by "nous". When we speak of the intellect, the term "rational" or "rationality" resonates subliminally. This is not "nous". But "nous" does not mean "irrational" either.
"Nous" is the "knowing principle", a formulation derived from Plotinus (an ancient philosopher who was the founder and most famous representative of Neo-Platonism). Actually, "nous" is "that 'something' in us that knows". It is the "subject of all experiences we make". It is that "something" which we all commonly refer to by saying "I". This "I" is not per se irrational; on the contrary, when we do science, we try to think rationally and to argue rationally. However, rational reasoning, i.e. rational thinking in the scientific sense, again is not "nous".
We all experience again and again that we do not get rid of the contradictions which we come across when we want to reflect, describe and understand ourselves and the world on a purely rational basis, which, as I shall show later in this essay, is particularly blatant of modern physics.
In general, we find that as a rule we alternate daily between three states of consciousness to which we can assign three levels of being. As we awake from sleep, we move along the radius from the center to the edge of the circle, becoming aware of our psyche and body, and in the waking state, we have self-awareness and are able to reflect ourselves. When we dream, we "forget" our body and retreat into our psyche.
I have labeled the "Circle of Being" a bit different in order to clarify what has just been said. Let's take a look to the figure below.
The Circle of Being – Labeled a bit Different
The outer circle now represents the physical waking state. In the physical waking state we perceive the world and the physical being of our body in this world and are aware of ourselves. We are aware of ourselves; that is, we have self-awareness. We are awake and perceive the world as an "external reality" as opposed to our "inner reality", and all scientific striving is based on gaining objective statements about this "external reality" while it is the task of the so-called humanities, to make statements about the "inner reality". Just as we strictly separate inner from outer reality, we also strictly separate science and humanities.
Ultimately, we see ourselves as a complex physical system with an inner life, consisting from psyche and consciousness, the coming about of which we have not really understood up to now, but – so we hope – we will understand sooner or later.
However, we also need to be aware that what we consider to be the "external reality" can at best be an interpretation of it, for our connection to this so-called "external reality" is our five senses, and their perceptions are permanently being interpreted by our consciousness.
For example, as a matter of fact, there is not the color red. If we perceive something as "red," then our consciousness has interpreted electromagnetic radiation that we have perceived with our eyes as "red". When we listen to music or talk to one another, our consciousness interprets a superposition of vibrations of the surrounding air, which we have perceived with our ears, and so on. Note the parallel to the view of Leucip and Democrit, who taught our five senses could not be provide us with a real image of the world for they are not working perfectly (ideally in a sense).
In the symbolic representation shown by the figure above, the inner circle represents not only "nous", the spirit/mind, but also the state of physical deep sleep. In the state of deep sleep, we completely withdraw into our "nous", which is our interior and may also be called our "pure consciousness", or our "essential identity".
Paradoxically, in this state of "pure consciousness", we do not perceive anything, we are not self-aware but un-conscious. Consequently, we do not perceive our "essential identity" for when we are just "essential identity" we are unconscious; actually "un-conscious", so we are free of self-awareness.
In between lies the state in which we sleep, but are at least conscious in the sense that we are dreaming. In many cases, later in the waking state, we can at least partially remember these dreams.
Dreams arise in our psyche, and they often reflect states of our psyche. But we also process experiences that we have made with our everyday awareness while being awake. We associate this state of mind with the psyche, and it seems to us that the psyche is in our body.
The process of physical awakening can be represented by an arrow running from the inside (physical deep sleep) to the outside (physical waking state). Conversely, of course, the process of falling asleep can be represented by an arrow running from outside to inside.
When we try to explore ourselves by means of science, or may I say in the scientific perspective of ourselves, we are, in a sense, walking the path of falling asleep. When we try to scientifically analyze and understand ourselves, we begin with the body, that is, we start on the circumference of the circle shown in the figure above. We then understand ourselves as a complex organism that interacts with that which is around this organism. We explore our brains in an attempt to understand how our psyche and mind actually do function. From this external point of view, looking inward from the body, we seem to have an inner life that we call psyche, and therefore we seem to be aware, in particular, we also seem to be aware of ourselves, so we seem to be self-conscious. In fact, neurology tries to penetrate ever deeper into our inner self and so to explore our psychic and unconscious functions and to understand them on the basis of neuro-physiological processes in our organism, especially in our brains.
To be continued
This question sounds simple, but certainly is not easy to answer. It has been my experience that in the case of complex problems, it often helps to graph the situation, initially focusing on the basic components of the problem. The following figure is supposedly based on Simon Magus' teachings who in turn is likely to have fallen back to Platonic ideas. However, by whom this representation actually comes is unimportant for everything else to be discussed here. So let's take a look at the figure below which I'd like to call "The Circle of Being".
The Circle of Being
There are three key points:
- The outer circle (more precisely, its circumference) represents the material world in which we live. It is what we commonly call the cosmos or the universe. The individual points on the circumference represent our physical bodies (physis), whereupon each individual perceives its body as its "Outer Self", and also as the boundary between the outer world and the inner world. With our physical body, we stay in the material world.
- The radius of the circle represents our psyche or soul, which we perceive as our "Inner Self". Each person is assigned an arrow that represents their individual psyche. I will use the terms "psyche" and "soul" synonymously (at least until further notice).
- In the middle of the outer circle, there is an inner circle which in this view represents what I would like to call "our essential identity" or "our actual being". The psyche represents the connection, or the bridge, if you like, to the outside world (the psyche as "Pontifexa").
The word "intellect" has undergone a change of meaning over time, and now means something very different from what was originally meant by "nous". When we speak of the intellect, the term "rational" or "rationality" resonates subliminally. This is not "nous". But "nous" does not mean "irrational" either.
"Nous" is the "knowing principle", a formulation derived from Plotinus (an ancient philosopher who was the founder and most famous representative of Neo-Platonism). Actually, "nous" is "that 'something' in us that knows". It is the "subject of all experiences we make". It is that "something" which we all commonly refer to by saying "I". This "I" is not per se irrational; on the contrary, when we do science, we try to think rationally and to argue rationally. However, rational reasoning, i.e. rational thinking in the scientific sense, again is not "nous".
We all experience again and again that we do not get rid of the contradictions which we come across when we want to reflect, describe and understand ourselves and the world on a purely rational basis, which, as I shall show later in this essay, is particularly blatant of modern physics.
In general, we find that as a rule we alternate daily between three states of consciousness to which we can assign three levels of being. As we awake from sleep, we move along the radius from the center to the edge of the circle, becoming aware of our psyche and body, and in the waking state, we have self-awareness and are able to reflect ourselves. When we dream, we "forget" our body and retreat into our psyche.
I have labeled the "Circle of Being" a bit different in order to clarify what has just been said. Let's take a look to the figure below.
The outer circle now represents the physical waking state. In the physical waking state we perceive the world and the physical being of our body in this world and are aware of ourselves. We are aware of ourselves; that is, we have self-awareness. We are awake and perceive the world as an "external reality" as opposed to our "inner reality", and all scientific striving is based on gaining objective statements about this "external reality" while it is the task of the so-called humanities, to make statements about the "inner reality". Just as we strictly separate inner from outer reality, we also strictly separate science and humanities.
Ultimately, we see ourselves as a complex physical system with an inner life, consisting from psyche and consciousness, the coming about of which we have not really understood up to now, but – so we hope – we will understand sooner or later.
However, we also need to be aware that what we consider to be the "external reality" can at best be an interpretation of it, for our connection to this so-called "external reality" is our five senses, and their perceptions are permanently being interpreted by our consciousness.
For example, as a matter of fact, there is not the color red. If we perceive something as "red," then our consciousness has interpreted electromagnetic radiation that we have perceived with our eyes as "red". When we listen to music or talk to one another, our consciousness interprets a superposition of vibrations of the surrounding air, which we have perceived with our ears, and so on. Note the parallel to the view of Leucip and Democrit, who taught our five senses could not be provide us with a real image of the world for they are not working perfectly (ideally in a sense).
In the symbolic representation shown by the figure above, the inner circle represents not only "nous", the spirit/mind, but also the state of physical deep sleep. In the state of deep sleep, we completely withdraw into our "nous", which is our interior and may also be called our "pure consciousness", or our "essential identity".
Paradoxically, in this state of "pure consciousness", we do not perceive anything, we are not self-aware but un-conscious. Consequently, we do not perceive our "essential identity" for when we are just "essential identity" we are unconscious; actually "un-conscious", so we are free of self-awareness.
In between lies the state in which we sleep, but are at least conscious in the sense that we are dreaming. In many cases, later in the waking state, we can at least partially remember these dreams.
Dreams arise in our psyche, and they often reflect states of our psyche. But we also process experiences that we have made with our everyday awareness while being awake. We associate this state of mind with the psyche, and it seems to us that the psyche is in our body.
The process of physical awakening can be represented by an arrow running from the inside (physical deep sleep) to the outside (physical waking state). Conversely, of course, the process of falling asleep can be represented by an arrow running from outside to inside.
When we try to explore ourselves by means of science, or may I say in the scientific perspective of ourselves, we are, in a sense, walking the path of falling asleep. When we try to scientifically analyze and understand ourselves, we begin with the body, that is, we start on the circumference of the circle shown in the figure above. We then understand ourselves as a complex organism that interacts with that which is around this organism. We explore our brains in an attempt to understand how our psyche and mind actually do function. From this external point of view, looking inward from the body, we seem to have an inner life that we call psyche, and therefore we seem to be aware, in particular, we also seem to be aware of ourselves, so we seem to be self-conscious. In fact, neurology tries to penetrate ever deeper into our inner self and so to explore our psychic and unconscious functions and to understand them on the basis of neuro-physiological processes in our organism, especially in our brains.
To be continued
