Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness

[Rhondazvous]

It would be nice to have a general field theory of consciousness but we have so little nailed down even about the kind we know from the inside.  It only seems reasonable to establish a beach head at human consciousness and then see what progress might be made toward a more general theory from there.

caveat lector.

I’ve been toying with what might be a step toward a general theory, but it is one that someone like Harris would dismiss out of hand because it involves what he would call dualism (separation of mind and body). Maybe I’m not studied enough to realize that dualism must of a necessity be inimical to science. Yet, as I read his book I wonder if trying to understand consciousness apart from dualism might not be like trying to understand water part from wet.

In his book, Harris asserts that the constant stream of thoughts that run through our minds is what keeps us unhappy and he explores different forms of meditation that promise to halt thinking and make us aware that the “self” or “I” is only an illusion. Once we realize that there really is no “I.” we will find peace and joy. I can’t help but see the paradox inherent in this. When “I” realize that “I” am an illusion then said realization is also an illusion. How can an illusion realize an illusion? Otherwise it is not “I” but something else making the realization. Without realizing it, he has created god or at least made god necessary for his theory to make any sense.

My theory is that the energy flowing through our brains and creating our thoughts and consciousness is sentient energy and its relationship to our physical brain is the same as that of electricity flowing through a light bulb. When we sleep it is the same as turning off the light. When a light bulb blows, the energy still exists, but it will never flow through that particular bulb again. We can’t grab hold of or measure the energy that used to flow through a bulb any more than we can grab hold of the energy that used to flow through a brain once it is dead. Yet we don’t feel the necessity of insisting that the energy is just an illusion.

I may be totally wrong, but there may be something to it as well.