Brain vs. Being

Hello friends, so you do know that I am in a way an obsessive compulsive neurotic when it comes to understanding consciousness which is the basis of all experience. So I have been attending conferences for the last four decades, scientific conferences but also spiritual conferences exploring the nature of consciousness and reality and in a sense I've been you know striding both the western scientific models of consciousness and the eastern definitions of consciousness and the first thing I've realized is that we're talking about two different things you know it's like happens in oranges when science talks about consciousness they're basically talking about conscious experience conscious experience and they're mostly looking in the brain to explain conscious experience which is natural you know when somebody is given anesthesia they lose conscious experience if they're in a coma presumably they lose conscious experience although there are now studies that show that they do have conscious experience not obvious to other people and if somebody is dead it seems obvious that they lose conscious experience but that is not the same thing as the ground of being in which all experience occurs so let me share with you the difference between eastern approaches and scientific models of consciousness and by the way just as I do that I want you to know the digital dharma how AI can elevate spiritual intelligence and personal well-being is available if you have the time ability or desire to read it and also you can continue this conversation with my digital twin digital debug dot here okay so for now let's explore the difference between eastern and scientific models of consciousness as you know the exploration of consciousness has been a subject of across various disciplines and cultures and the two prominent approaches to understanding consciousness are scientific models primarily rooted in neuroscience and the eastern philosophical models which are more metaphysical and spiritual than nature each offers a distinct perspective on the nature and essence of consciousness scientific models of consciousness are largely focused on understanding how the brain activity correlates with conscious experiences these models are grounded in empirical research and seek to gain consciousness seek to explain consciousness through observable and measurable phenomena such as neural correlates of consciousness NCC this approach attempts to identify the minimal set of neural events necessary for a specific conscious experience it views consciousness as a state dependent property of complex and interconnected biological systems there's something called global workspace theory proposed by a friend of mine or i would say colleague or acquaintance bernard bars whose theory suggests that consciousness arises from the integration and broadcasting of information across different parts of the brain akin to a global workspace that makes information available to various cognitive processes then there's the quantum and electromagnetic there are the quantum and electromagnetic theories some models like the orchestrated objective reduction or core theory proposed by my friend steward hammeroff and his colleague they propose that consciousness arises from quantum processes within neurons electromagnetic theories view consciousness as an electromagnetic phenomenon produced by brain activity so scientific models generally emphasize the physical and biological basis of conscious experience focusing on how neural mechanisms give rise to conscious experiences they rely heavily on neuroimaging computational modeling and physiological data to explore how brain states correlate with subjective experiences eastern models of consciousness particularly those from traditions like vedanta buddhism daoism offer a more holistic and metaphysical perspective so there are several points here to elaborate first consciousness is the ground of being in eastern thought consciousness is often viewed as the fundamental essence of reality undifferentiated and infinite it is seen as the ground of all being from which all differentiated experiences arise so there's undifferentiated consciousness and then differentiated consciousness it gives rise to species specific experiences of course altered states in meditation play a big role eastern traditions place significant emphasis in altered states of consciousness achieved through meditation and mindfulness practices these states are considered pathways to understanding the true nature of consciousness which is often described as pure awareness emptiness infinite possibilities beyond the ego and individual identity eastern models emphasize the interconnectedness of all life and the illusory nature of the ego consciousness seen as a field of infinite possibilities where individual experiences are manifestations of a deeper unified reality okay so that's that's some of what the differences are but here's the main thing to understand none of the neurological models of consciousness can explain subjective experience they only explain neural correlate correlates so neural correlates are not the same thing as experience itself scientific models particularly those grounded in neuroscience focus on identifying the neural correlates of consciousness these are the specific brain states associated with conscious experience however these models do not explain why these brain states are accompanied by subjective experience or what makes these experiences feel a certain way the scientific approach to consciousness is inherently third person and objective relying on observable and measurable data notwithstanding the fact that observable and measurable data requires consciousness itself so this is in contrast to subjective experience which is first person and qualitative posing a fundamental challenge to scientific methods objective scientific methods the subjective nature of consciousness is highly complex and varies significantly across individuals this complexity makes it difficult to pinpoint a singular biological or neurological substrate responsible for subjective experience there are epistemological limitations in fully decoding the brain mind relationship the self-referential nature of consciousness such as self-awareness and strategic thought may not be fully resolvable through brain analysis alone so the eastern approaches which i of course have used all my life start with or begin with the premise that consciousness the fundamental ontological primitive of the universe this perspective contrasts sharply with western scientific models which typically view consciousness as a product of complex neural processes eastern philosophies such as advait vedanta buddhism and daoism consider consciousness to be the foundational reality from which all experiences and phenomena emerge this view suggests that consciousness is not merely a byproduct of physical processes but is the essential ground of being itself advait vedanta is a non-dualistic school of hindu philosophy and it asserts that the ultimate reality brahman is pure consciousness all individual experiences in the material world are seen as manifestations or modifications of this singular consciousness actually schrodinger one of the greatest pioneers of quantum mechanics likened atman to the wave function atman is brahman the undifferentiated consciousness this apparent diversity and multiplicity in the world are considered illusions maya with the true essence being an undifferentiated consciousness in buddhist philosophy particularly in schools like yogachara consciousness is considered the ultimate reality with the external world being a projection of the mind of the conditioned mind the concept of annata no self no ego self no individual self no conditioned self inherently no has no reality that even the individual ego identity which is constantly changing of course is an illusion and what exists is a continuous stream of consciousness that is interconnected with all phenomena in daoism the interconnectedness of all things and the flow of the dao can be understood as a form of universal consciousness the dao is the foundational nature of the universe and aligning with it leads to harmony and understanding of one's own nature therefore i think in eastern traditions consciousness is not just a state of condition but the very essence of existence it is considered the source from which all differentiated experiences arise this view challenges of course the materialistic perspective by suggesting that consciousness does not emerge from physical matter in fact physical matter is a human name for modes of experience and knowing that we call sensory experience so matter and the universe itself are expressions of consciousness western scientific models rooted in physicalism and neuroscience typically regard consciousness as emerging from complex neural interactions and eastern approaches to consciousness propose that consciousness is foundational reality with all experiences including the experience that we call the brain the modifications of this fundamental consciousness in my view this eastern perspective offers a holistic view that contrasts with the more mechanistic reductionist approaches of western science so my question to you is what do you think okay because right now this experience you're having of listening to me and and looking at my image on your screen this experience is happening in your consciousness not in your brain there's no picture of deepak in the brain no sound of his voice in the brain nor are these colors and these objects in your brain this is the appearance that consciousness takes in you the real you and mind brain body and universe are a unified process within you this is very important because it then goes to all the deeper questions we have as human beings who are we why do we want what we want what is the meaning of death are we fundamentally a body mind and universe experience or the field of possibilities in which that is a unified experience etc etc have a great day my friends