Martin Heidegger, the celebrated German philosopher, reflected on consciousness as a self-contained mental faculty, as also a comprehension - of how things become intelligible and meaningfully relevant to human beings
Consciousness is, in essence, something that exists with its own identity. It may, therefore, be construed that it is distinct from all other objects, processes, energies and also realities the physics of consciousness would reveal. More so, because physicists do not mean anything that constitutes the substance-or, what is meant by the term, consciousness. It is a complex web, yes-one that is best caught with the comprehension of our Zen mind, just before our thought comes to achieve such an abstraction and goes beyond our mental capabilities.
All the same, it may be analysed that most physical things are measurable, or built on measurable constructs. You may also, likewise, contend that space is quantifiable, just as time is measurable. Yet, we cannot hold the answer with a similar yardstick vis-à-vis consciousness. Consciousness characteristics, such as pain, cannot be measured directly by the use of any measuring device known to science. More so, because consciousness is real and non-physical, but it exists. It unifies and constrains us all as individual beings. What's more, it 'orders' space and time out of chaos and random events. If this is not a classy postulate, what is?
Martin Heidegger, the celebrated German philosopher, thought of consciousness as the existential structure of life, or 'being there.' He reflected on it as a self-contained mental faculty, as also a comprehension - of how things become intelligible and meaningfully relevant to human beings. In other words, it is tantamount to a mode of directness, or openness, to being. Consciousness, for Heidegger, included the world - one that directed us outwards into that world through attention, care, thoughtfulness and participation. Existence, as he emphasised, was not merely thinking, but 'being in the world.' This led to future advances in phenomenology and cognitive science too. Heidegger's analysis of representationalism holds the credence that the mind embraces core images of outside reality. This resonates with cognitive theories of consciousness, just as Heidegger's external assessment of consciousness 'contests' the split between subject and object, as also subjectivity and objectivity. Put simply, it fosters a holistic, interactive, and personified, or bespoke, understanding of human responsiveness, or conscious expanse.
As Fritj of Capra, one of the world's foremost theoretical physicists, puts it in his landmark book, "The Web of Life," "(This) new paradigm implies that epistemology-understanding the process of knowing-has to be included explicitly in the description of natural phenomenon." Reason? Systems, according to Capra, are all interdependent. They also encompass a web of relationships, including nature, with a corresponding group of concepts and models, none of which is any more fundamental than the others. This novel mode of thinking, as Capra explains, recognises that all scientific concepts are limited and approximate; and, that science can never provide any complete, definitive, or total, understanding. According to Capra, the process of living is not the world, but a world - one that is always dependent on interdependent structures, including the genetic information encoded in the DNA.
A research study, published in "Nature," articulates that there is a functional relationship between neurons in initial, or early, visual areas of the brain and the frontal areas of the brain. This is suggested to process and comprehend our perceptions linked to our feelings, most notably thoughts. The findings shift the focus as regards the significance of the prefrontal cortex in consciousness. It also suggests their 'vital spoor' in activities, such as reasoning and planning, albeit consciousness has much to do with sensory dispensation and insight. Put simply, the credo translates intelligence 'to doing,' while consciousness is, as Heidegger said, connected to being. The study found that the posterior part of the brain appears to be critical for latching on to precise details of what you perceive, or see, just as the frontal area is keyed to recognising the overall type of the object - viz., visual explicit. The study provides the impression that the frontal brain grasps every innate 'smorgasbord' of our visual experience and how we 'understand' consciousness.
The credo relates to everything that we use in everyday life too. The mobile phone, the office desk, the laptop, or computer, the furniture at home, including the characteristic tonal patterns of your colleagues, their behaviour, or idiosyncrasies-in sum, their good and 'not-so-good' attributes. This is one part. On the other, we connect just as much to pleasant thoughts-such as achievement at the workplace, a sumptuous dinner, a good night's sleep, and happy tidings through a cheerful dream. Though the 'cycle' of such thoughts is symbolic, your intensity to 'live through the event' brings about a positive outcome-one that keeps you motivated all through the subsequent day. Just think of the opposite effect. If you were to feel miserable, or could not get a wink of sleep, or were awfully restless and disturbed over trifles, you would feel despondent and lethargic the following day.
You get the point. Our ancients were not only wise; they were also pragmatic. They strongly believed in goals, present-moment decisions, and actions. They believed that what you do right now would hold the bearing to distinguish between success and fulfilment, or ethically correct actions. For most of our philosophers, perceptual action, likewise, represented the present-moment, far beyond symbolic judgment, or context. This, they also exemplified, connected us with reality, with the hope that things would happen, or emerge, the way one visualised them.
This holds a lofty premise-the reason being feelings are dynamic. They are ephemeral too. It's only when you 'capture' them and define them as geometric patterns, or blueprints, would you be able to figure out what exists between your conscious feelings and words that you and others express. The moment you are able to attain such a simple, also profound, balance with your thinking, you will overcome your opinionated bias, or prejudice. For your good and others' good.