What is consciousness?

If you have reflected on this question before, you are part of a group of mystics, philosophers, artists, and scientists that have looked for its answer for eons. Yet, what do we understand as consciousness nowadays? Although there is not a unanimous consensus, we do agree that consciousness is closely linked to experience; in their book, "Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the science of consciousness," Barušs and Mossbridge define consciousness as "subjective events imbued with existential qualia that occur privately for the individual". And what do they mean by qualia? Qualia are just the subjective qualities of experience, for example, the redness that only you perceive when you see something red... which we could never know if it is the exact same shade of red that I perceive when looking at the same object (and vice-versa). 

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Ervin Laszlo shared that consciousness is "the localized yet nonlocal manifestation of mind beyond space and time." On the other hand, the TAO teaches that consciousness is what emerges from the interaction of the Yin and Yang.

 

Regardless of what definition resonates better with each of us, CONSCIOUSNESS is the raw and fundamental prima material through which we  build our perceived reality... which, by the way, is the only one that really exists for each individual, as a self-aware focus of consciousness in the eternal now... it is YOUR UNIVERSE! Consciousness is not a filter through which you interpret experiences, but the prism through which you CREATE them... magical, isn't it?

 

Theories such as panpsychism and pan-consciousness propose that consciousness is fundamental in the universe, hence, everything emanates from it. Barušs and Mossbridge masterfully summarized panpsychism in a few words; for them, panpsychism "is the view that all things possess mind or mental quality." I don't know about you, but I believe this sounds very similar to the Hermetic Principle of Mentalism, which tells us that The All is mind and the Universe is mental. Moreover, my own meditative and spiritual journeys led me to conclude (a long time ago) that we are just a thought, an idea, a dream in the mind of God... just like everything that exists is also an emanation of a Divine Mind. So, learning that science is starting to recognize this really made my heart sing!

 

Do you see now why I am passionate about the study of consciousness? I feel it is the key through which my personal and academic search is finally coming full circle, so the spiral of my imagination and my creativity can also expand!