Thursday, 19 November 2009 17:00
Someone contacted me with the following questions:
I have a question about the Self, our true identity, about Who we, you, me, all really are: Are we not simply the Brain? And if not, how can we know this? Am I not simply just this brain, is the brain not the source of consciousness and awareness?
It seems quite compelling, that the brain is just an evolved organ as is the eye commonly used as an example in explaining the evolution of complex life, that has evolved in increments over millennia from single celled life to its present blinding complexity... but is that not all that we are? A body that has this awareness through this unprecedentedly sophisticated organ, the brain? I wonder whether the interrelation between the left and right hemespheres is what creates this awareness of awareness - like two opposing mirrors, creating an infinity of reflection...
But if we are the brain, then we are mortal, we will die, and we are not this Eternal Self... Is that too not simply another comforting idea like that of God? Is that awareness of awareness experience simply the experience of being the animal, experienced from its centre of intelligence, the brain - merely an evolved state of brain activity?
And here is my response:
These are very thoughtful questions, and yet there is a limitation in them that is based on a faulty assumption that is also at the core of most scientific reasoning. And once that faulty assumption is accepted then all of the logic that proceeds from there is faulty. It is as if you leave on a trip believing you are in Kansas when you are in Montana. There is very little chance that you will arrive at your intended destination when your starting assumption is so mistaken, even if your navigation skills are very good. And as I said, your questions are very thoughtful good questions.
So what is this mistaken assumption? It is the idea that things are separate. If things are separate from one another, then your questions about the brain are the most relevant ones. And of course the brain is a truly amazing expression of this thing called awareness or consciousness. In fact it is such an amazing expression that it is natural that we have come to assume that it is somehow the source of the consciousness we can observe operating through the brain, and really through the whole body since the nervous and endocrine systems actually use the entire organism to think and perceive.
But what if this more fundamental assumption of separateness is simply mistaken? What would that mean about the body/brain organism and its amazing functioning if it is not separate from anything else around it? What if there is really just one thing here? What would be the source of the awareness we observe?
Just as scientists can no longer really think about the brain and its functioning as somehow separate from the body because the processes we call thought are actually happening in the entire body, it turns out we cannot accurately consider thought as something that happens in one body. Every movement of consciousness that we recognize as thought or awareness is happening in the entire field of awareness that our bodies and brains appear in.
I read recently about an experiment based on the unique brain wave patterns one observes when a bright light is directed into just one eye. Scientists chose complete strangers and introduced them to each other for a short conversation, then separated them into rooms that were electrically shielded from each other. And they found that if they then directed a bright light into one eye of one of the strangers, that the other stranger in the other room would also exhibit the same unique brain wave activity as the person whose eye was being illuminated.
While this seems impossible if we are believing the idea that the brain is a separate object, existing apart from all other objects, this result becomes quite possible (although no less amazing) if we assume that the two brains in this experiment are part of one thing called consciousness. And if this miracle we call awareness is actually arising in the space or the field where the two brains are both appearing.
One thing I can add is that the idea that objects (including brains) are separate and unconnected does explain a lot of what we observe, but it does not explain the results of that experiment. And the idea of separate objects also does not explain a huge amount of the rest of our experience, including profound experiences of insight, intuition, psychic knowing, and ultimately the mystical experiences of people throughout the ages.
In contrast, the idea that this is really one consciousness expressing through every brain and through everything does not contradict any of our experiences including the experiences that seem to suggest that we are separate beings. Your left hand can be scratching your ear while your right hand is writing a letter, and yet that does not contradict the underlying reality that they are both part of one being. And so, your brain can be discussing something with or even arguing with my brain, even if we are ultimately one thing.
So the idea that everything is one thing fits with and explains more of our experience than the idea that we are separate entities. I would suggest this means it is a truer idea than the idea of separation. The idea of ultimate oneness answers all of your questions. And since it is such a radically different assumption, there is also a whole lot more that we can ponder and discover when we start our journey from this more true description of our starting place.
Thanks for your questions and I hope this helps.
0 Comments