Pranam MIND AND THOUGHTS Q: It would take a great deal more energy and interpretive work to understand the intentions and mental states of others. And then it is the same heuristic transparency-of-mind assumption that makes my own thoughts seem transparently available to me………………There is a great deal of experimental evidence from normal subjects, especially of their readiness to falsely, but unknowingly, fabricate facts or memories to fill in for lost ones……………………..Even after many years of consciousness studies, I’m still not all that good at it (*laughs*)…………… I think we already know a lot about how and where working memory is represented in the brain. Our philosophical concepts of what consciousness actually is are much more informed by empirical work than they were even a few decades ago. Whether we can ever close the gap between subjective experiences and neurophysiological processes that produce them is still a matter of dispute…….Important characteristics of consciousness include subjectivity (the sense that the mental event belongs to me), continuity (it appears unbroken) and intentionality (it is directed at an object). According to a popular scheme of consciousness known as Global Workspace Theory, a mental state or event is conscious if a person can bring it to mind to carry out such functions as decision-making or remembering, *although how such accessing occurs is not precisely understood. *
KR: 1 While *conscience* and *conscious* are two very different things, *conscious and consciousness* are in fact related to one another. Your *consciousness* refers to your *conscious* experiences, your individual awareness of your own internal thoughts, feelings, memories, and sensations. The principle maintained in the philosophy of yoga is that consciousness is unlimited. This is a very important point to remember. Here, when we encounter the definition or meaning of consciousness, we are likely to face several difficulties: What is consciousness? Endless definitions have been provided by various thinkers and philosophers throughout history. 2 So, in view of this problem, you will find that you cannot easily decipher the location of consciousness. When you think, you will agree that it is consciousness that is responsible for thinking. Who is thinking? Do you think that your body is thinking, or is something else thinking? You, as an intelligent, educated person, may not agree that the body is thinking, because when you say a person is coming, you do not mean that a body is coming. It has been held by certain thinkers (science and Rationalism) who are affiliated to a *materialist doctrine* that there is a certain unavoidable relationship between body and consciousness because the body, also, is conscious. When you prick the body with a needle, you will know that the body is pricked. If the consciousness is not vitally related to the body, organically, so to speak, consciousness cannot feel the prick. 3 We cannot know the object except in the manner in which we are able to entertain an idea about it. We have an idea that a tree is tall. We cannot conceive the tree as flat or as only a stub. In a similar manner, we have a particular idea of everything in the world. Yoga is the practical application of the deduction arrived at through the philosophical investigations of the Samkhya, which in basic principles does not differ much from the Vedanta. Invisible particles of matter seem to constitute the visible object we call the solid and other states. Anything that is distinguishable from another object can be dissected or reduced to its basic components. That which is indistinguishable cannot be so subjected to dissection or further analysis. There is a point where all analyses cease. That point is the all-pervading nature of the fundamental essence of the objects. The Samkhya calls this fundamental ubiquitous material essence as *prakriti*. The word *‘prakriti’*, though it appears very vigorously in the Samkhya philosophy, appears also in Vedantic scriptures like the Bhagavadgita, Mahabharata, Manusmritti, etc. It is best described as objectivity, and not an object. Objectivity is a characteristic, and an object is a thing as we conceive it. Inasmuch as our body, which is material in its nature, also is subject to reduction to its fundamentals in the manner we do other objects, it may mean that we, as so-called physical existences, are also inseparable in our basic material essence from this ubiquitous *prakriti* so that we cannot stand outside *prakriti* as physical embodiments. 4 Who becomes conscious that there is a *prakriti*? It is not possible that any individualised centre of consciousness can apprehend this all-pervasive material content. That which apprehends an all-pervading thing cannot be finitely located somewhere, because finitude contradicts the “all-pervadingness” of the object. Hence, the Samkhya concludes by the very force of logic that the knower of this ubiquitous material essence should also be ubiquitous. That is to say, the knowing consciousness cannot be located in any particular centre because if that had been the case, there would be nobody to know that there is a universal material content. So, the Samkhya is forced to accept a knower who is equal in its capacity to the nature of the object, known as *prakriti*. That is to say, the consciousness that knows this fundamental, material, all-pervading substance should also be all-pervading. This consciousness that apprehends this universal material essence is called *purusha*, which should not be identified with man or a human essence. It is a metaphysical definition given to the consciousness which is supposed to know that there is a universally distributed material essence. Consciousness cannot be identified with matter because there is a total dissimilarity between consciousness and matter. Matter does not know itself. Consciousness knows itself. This is the distinction between objectivity and pure subjectivity. This so-called subjectivity is also, as we have to remember, a universally spread-out unlimited consciousness; so, according to the Samkhya, *purusha* is infinite, all-pervading, and the *prakriti* that is known by it also is all-pervading. 5 This all-pervading *purusha* comes in contact with this ubiquitous material substance in some way, and we can only *say “some way”,* because exactly in what way it comes in contact, we cannot know. The usual example given by the Samkhya philosophy is that consciousness does not really come in contact with a material object, because they are dissimilar in nature. What happens is that the consciousness reflects within itself the presence of this ubiquitous material substance, as a pure crystal that has no colour by itself can reflect the colour of an object such as a rose flower brought near it, and because of the proximity of this coloured object, the whole crystal may also look red. *This is the reason why you cannot know what is happening between you and the object when perception takes place*. Some invisible operation which is consciousness by itself seems to be operating, because the link between the knowing subject and the object cannot but be conscious. 6 If we establish ourselves in Yoga, in this state of steadfast equanimity, each one of us will become more effective in the realm of action and more importantly find profound peace of mind. There will be clarity in judgment and a greater vision if one is not emotionally entangled in the outcomes of one’s action. Yoga is thus, skill in action. The Gita does not advocate asceticism, but self-control, a training of the mind, body and senses. “A portion of His consciousness as a cosmic creative force” and “from this vibration-less region”, emerges “all vibratory creation, through a cosmic rhythm of ordered activity.” “Revelation is never closed. So long as the human heart has qualities of devotion and friendship, God will disclose His secrets to them.” The union of Prakriti, the principle of mind and matter and Purusha, the principle of pure spirit, underlies all creation. This dual Nature of the Divine is the womb of all creation. “God, by His inner spiritual Cosmic Nature, creates causal and astral universes and their beings; by His outer physical Cosmic Nature, creates the physical cosmos and its material beings. “Prayer is theeffort of man to reach God. It assumes that there is an answering Presence in the world. If we ask, it shall be given to us.” 7 mayyāsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśhrayaḥ asanśhayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tach chhṛiṇu 7.1 BG with the mind attached exclusively to me, and surrendering to me through the practice of bhakti yog, you can know me completely, free from doubt. Intuition the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious *reasoning. (beyond the rationalism).* Often referred to as “gut feelings,” intuition tends to arise holistically and quickly, without awareness of the underlying mental processing of information. Scientists have repeatedly demonstrated how information can register on the brain without conscious awareness and positively influence decision-making <http://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/decision-making> and other behaviour*.* * 8 *Science is emphasised as systematic rationalism and at times empiricism too. But never, it accepts out of the commercialism and Ego that there is a holism and Intuition embeded under the current. Virtually without Mathematics the Indian Vedic culture recited in the absolute terms all these factors, making it holistic, Intuitive, empiricism and Rationalism which only should be EMPIRICAL. Where the mathematics in itself is a bundle of contractional, conditional data only, Where the experiments of modern science is similarly conditioned or else it cannot change later the ego of science stressing it as Empirical is a doubtful feature. On the contrary their opposition to their religion and other Religions of the earth as incongruent is reasonable; and 96% of the science books and atheism had never crossed the sword against the Vedic concepts except some doubting Thomas like Wendy Doniger and Carl Sagan; even the Hawkins who strived for a singularity, finally admitted the impossibility. Dawkins theories were so inimical that many wrote the impropriety of his theory. Science is just DISCOVERY; if all discoveries were science even Indian scriptures were called the VIGNANA; if mathematics alone shall prove the rationality, many inventors did not know it , yet discovered; hence systematic rationality and the Empiricism co-existed with the INTUTUION and holistic approach. 9 Science in the cognitive research in Q in the end words said that” from-where”? and the Vedic scriptures also said at least 5000 to 10000 tears ago said the same thing.( vide para 5); but adds solution in the later paras too which science stops at. K R IRS 25121 On Mon, 25 Jan 2021 at 09:57, Rangarajan T.N.C. <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/there-is-no-such-thing-as-conscious-thought/ > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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