Science &

Consciousness

NAME : MINAL CHAHAL

CLASS: VII, A
ROLL NO.: 19
Science And Consciousness
During the past few years, an increasing number of scientists have claimed
insight into the nondual nature of reality. These claims, however, ignore a
fundamental truth: Consciousness falls outside the scope of scientific
investigation. Therefore, by their very nature, such claims cannot be valid.
There has always been a degree of animosity between science and spirituality.
The Catholic Churchs persecution of Galileo over his insistence that the Earth
was not the center of the universe comes to mind, as does the current debate
between Creationists and those preferring the more down-to-earth tenets of
Darwinian evolution. It is encouraging, therefore, to see the growing number of
books and articles written by scientists on the subject of nonduality. There is
even an annual conference with the title Science and Nonduality, thus making
it possible to explore these two avenues of knowledge in the same forum.
Paradoxically, both the power and the ultimate shortcoming of science as a tool
for investigating the nature of reality lie in its objectivity. The scientific method
of empirical observation and subsequent reasoning is something it shares with
Vedanta, along with the acceptance of findings from those who have gone
before (providing these findings do not contradict more recent discoveries).
Science And Consciousness
Science has made a significant contribution to persuading people
to consider that the world may not be as it initially appears to
our limited organs of perception. At one end of the scale, the
scanning electron microscope looks into the supposed solidity of
the matter beneath our fingertips. At the other extreme, the
Hubble telescope peers toward infinity into the swirling clouds
of galaxies invisible to the naked eye. Reality is far more subtle
than everyday experience would have us believe. The hardness
of the table on which I write is due to irrevocable laws regarding
the spin of electrons and their sharing of orbitals around atoms.
Massive energy sources in the universe result from entire
galaxies being sucked into black holes. Our own senses are quite
inadequate for the job of explaining the behavior of the world
around us, whereas science seemingly can.
Introduction to Consciousness
Abstract: Experiences are physical properties of certain brain
states. These brain states are given forms representing the
external world by information processing in our brains. The
model of the world thus created is the conscious world of our
experience. It is a Map used to compute navigation for our
organisms. The contextual relationships within the model give
meaning to its various images. It is the intent of this paper to
make it clear that experiences (qualia and sensorial
consciousness) are properties of physical brain states and to
show how things are given appearance and meaning.
The Nature of Consciousness
The worlds physical aspect (what-it-is-like to be some thing)
eludes us completely and always will because of the what it
means to know and to be a self that knows. Scientists speak
of sensorial experience (sights, sounds, tastes, smells, feelings)
as not having a known place in physics, as physics is currently
understood. The reason that scientists are frustrated by not
being able to decipher what experience is, is that they are
oblivious to the fact that they do not know what it is to be
physical. It is an error in their perspective. Experience is
physical and knowledge of experience is intangible. Then how
do we know of experience? This problem is explained and the
solution suggested
PINOCCHIO: Consciousness
The effort here will be to build the portrait of our conscious
experience by explaining the intangible mechanics affecting
experiential brain states.
Discovering Your Self
That the self is really a mystery is revealed. The self is not

the organism and it is not physical. It is an intangible

emergent property of information processing. It mediates the

response of the organism to stimulation from the organisms

environment and thus represents itself as the agent of the

organism
Self: From Action Plan to Person
The fundamental characteristic of the thinking mind is its ability
to formulate an action plan. It is the virtual processing
relationship of subject/action/object of action that creates the
function of the action plan. I will show how the 'self is an
extension of this function. The development begins with the
action pattern, which evolves into an action plan by the
volitional separation of effecter muscles and efferent neurons
from stand-ins representing them. This develops into the
reasoning intellect which eventually mistakes itself for the
generic subject of its organisms action plans.
An Introduction to Intangible Affecters
Functions, the specificity of dynamic relationships between
things, are co-affecters with physical nature of
events. Functions, as such, are intangible and therefore
intangible affecters. Intangible affecters do not exist in the
material world or for that matter in any world but their effects
evidence their existence. It is a new and difficult concept but
essential for understanding complex organizations such as
consciousness
Functions as They Relate to Physics
In this paper I will demonstrate that physics is inadequate to
explain physical events, that determinism is a false idea, how
free will is possible and how intangibles affect physical
events. The course of explanation will begin within the
contemporary scientific perspective and move toward
revealing its structure. It then proceeds to dissect our
perspectives to reveal where they have erred in understanding
events. The interface of intangible affecters with the physical
world is explained.
THANK
YOU