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Consciousness is a loosely defined concept that addresses the human awareness of both internal and external stimuli. This can refer to spiritual recognition, psychological understanding, medically altered states, or more modern-day concepts of life purpose, satisfaction, and self-actualization.
Levels of Consciousness can be presented in a map. Some levels are more continuous or complex than others. Movement between levels or stages is often bidirectional depending on internal and external conditions, with each mental ascension precipitating a change in reactivity. In the most basic sense, this alteration might lead to a reduced responsiveness as seen in anesthesiology; more abstract facets of tiered consciousness describe characteristics of profoundness, insight, perception, or understanding.
First appearing in the historical records of the ancient Mayan and Incan civilizations, proposals of multiple levels of consciousness have pervaded spiritual, psychological, medical, and moral speculations in both Eastern and Western cultures. Because of occasional and sometimes substantial overlap between hypotheses, there have recently been attempts to combine perspectives to form new models that integrate components of separate viewpoints.
Any of these proposals, models or viewpoints can be verified or falsified, and are open to question.
Although many cultures have incorporated theories of the layered consciousness into their belief structure, the Ancient Mayans were among the first to propose an organized sense of each level, its purpose, and its temporal connection to humankind.
David Hawkins was the first who brought the Levels of Consciousness into a map.[ citation needed ]
The pyramid of consciousness has defined Mayan thought since the dawn of its civilization around 2000 BCE. Shamans and priests defined consciousness as an awareness of being aware, commonly referred to as a branch of metacognition. Because consciousness incorporates stimuli from the environment as well as internally, the Mayans believed it to be the most basic form of existence. [1]
This existence, which they referred to as a loose translation of Cosmos , was made up of nine underworlds, depicted concretely through the nine-storied Pyramid of the Plumed Serpent in Chichen Itza, the Temple of the Jaguar in Tikal, and the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque. Within these nine underworlds are a specified "day" and "night", symbolizing periods of enlightenment, increased consciousness, and a heightened ability to interact with the universe. [2]
Cycle | First Year | Consciousness Developed | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Cellular | 16.4 billion years ago | Action/Reaction | Developed all physical laws, chemical compounds, star fields, solar systems, and planets |
Mammalian | 820 million years ago | Stimulus/Response | Individual cells from the Cellular cycle began to develop a survival mechanism with increased consciousness toward stimuli and responses |
Familial | 41 million years ago | Stimulus/Individual Response | Recognition of individuals and establishment of the family relationship as opposed to herd, school, or flock mentalities |
Tribal | 2 million years ago | Similarities/Differences | Development of "the mind" to detect similarities and differences in our experience |
Cultural | 102,000 years ago | (Shared) Reasons | Search for reasons for everything, as a basis of all cultural understanding |
National | 3115 BCE | Law | Concept of right and wrong |
Planetary | 1755 CE | Power | Understanding and derivation of power from natural laws |
Galactic | January 5, 1999 | Ethics | Understanding of ethical matters |
Universal | February 10, 2011 | Conscious Co-Creation | Achievement of godlike status of all-knowing consciousness |
A common cause for debate is the exponentially accelerating dates separating each level of consciousness, where each stage occurs roughly 20 times faster than the previous one. [3]
Whereas the Ancient Mayans defined consciousness in almost evolutionary terms, the Inca civilization considered it a progression of awareness and concern for others, [4] similar to the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama.
Level ("Attention") | External Change | Internal Change | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
First | Perception of space and time | Awareness of physical body; focus on individual survival | |
Second | Separate good from evil | Distinguish the self from others | |
Third | Capable of discrimination | Choice to align with goodness rather than evil | Level of most people |
Fourth | Reverence toward nature; oneness; against harming others | Decreased attachment to material possessions | |
Fifth | Ability to heal others in certain circumstances | Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual restoration | Signals the taripay pacha (Incan Day of Judgment) |
Sixth | Ability to heal others in any condition | No value in individuality; importance of community contribution | |
Seventh | Teachers of all others | Exemplify four principles of honesty, faithfulness, service, and truthfulness |
Although historical views of the separation of consciousness into various layers do not exactly mirror modern-day perspectives, many parallels can be gathered from the overarching themes found in Eastern and Western cultures.
Many specific similarities have been drawn between Ancient Incan and historical Eastern views of tiered consciousness. [5] Within most Eastern belief structures is the principle of the Cosmos as a joint entity with human awareness. Many branches stress the importance of AUM, also written Om, as the first sound produced after the world was created. Within Christianity this concept can be likened to the first words of Genesis regarding the holiness of the Word. [6]
The majority of Eastern perspectives assert that while consciousness originates from the sound of AUM, it has incorporated itself into flesh, which therefore gives humankind the goal of attaining oneness with the universe once more. [7] Unlike Incan tradition, this oneness eliminates the separation of external and internal changes into one general indication of movement from stage to stage, commonly known as the Seven Shamanic Levels of Consciousness.
Consciousness | Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
Personal | Knowledge of the self and of personality | |
Mankind | Knowledge of human evolution and its experiences | |
Amphibious | Sense of separate identity between water and land | "Water" and "land" are symbolic of man and earth |
Spherical | Perceive using the five bodily senses | |
Crystal | Perceive using emotions, thoughts, and purity | First inorganic level undistorted by bodily senses |
Light | Attained only by near-death experiences; "tunnel effect" | First level above the human world |
Sound | Only heard when the mind attunes itself to the world | From the primeval vibration AUM |
Like the Seven Shamanic Levels of Consciousness, yoga meditation practices as well as the teachings of Vedanta and Tantra emphasize the importance of self-realization, a concept that has become increasingly popular in Western philosophy after Abraham Maslow's and Carl Rogers's research in Humanistic Psychology.
In particular, the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy has been a topic of extensive study in both Eastern and Western cultures for its tiered depiction of the steps toward attaining self-realization. [8] Unlike the unidirectional nature of Mayan, Inca, and ancient shamanic perspectives, however, this particular belief structure arranges the attainment of oneness with OM through rows and domains, each of which constitutes a fragment of this vibratory sound. [9]
Row | Level | Realm | Description |
---|---|---|---|
1: "A" | Waking | Conscious | External, active conscious |
2: "U" | Dreaming | Unconscious | Subtle images and impressions |
3: "M" | Deep Sleep | Subconscious | Focus on latent or inactive thought patterns |
4: "AUM" | Absolute | Consciousness | Transcending of all three levels |
Similarly, the seven levels of consciousness defined by modern-day OM mantras strive to reach Absolute Reality through the same four realms described in the Advaita Vedanta, with three transitional tiers in between each. It is widely believed that the sound OM is generated by the radiation of the sun. [10]
The Ananda Sangha movement has evolved following the teachings of the late yogi and guru Paramhansa Yogananda, who studied under Sri Yukteswar Giri of the Advaita tradition. Compared to the multi-dimensional theories of consciousness in shamanic and OM mantra perspectives, this particular ideological faction stresses simplicity rather than detail. [11]
Fluctuations in consciousness theories are not particular to Eastern cultures. A surprising degree of overlap can be found within the field of health and social sciences with regard to dulled, standard, and heightened intensities of awareness, both naturally and as a result of injury or disorder. [12]
Like many psychological theories within the particular field of psychoanalysis, one of the most popular theories of consciousness was proposed by Sigmund Freud, who described three facets of the psychic apparatus: the unconscious (id) or instinctual facet, the preconscious (ego) or rational facet, and the conscious (superego) or moral facet.
Although not unlike the Vedic vision of consciousness as a form of intelligence, Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development is not commonly considered a form of knowledge awareness but instead as the evolution of the brain's capacity for thought throughout the human lifespan. [13]
Similar to previously mentioned psychological views, medical and pathological perspectives often hypothesize tiered consciousness as a result of disease or disorders. The Altered Levels of Consciousness (ALC) theory is one such measure, in which a person's arousability and responsiveness to environmental stimuli are classified by their behavioral response.
Although many such ALC tests take place in hospital settings, the primary evaluation of patient alertness is the Glasgow Coma Scale, which separates levels of consciousness from standard conscious awareness to a comatose state. [14]
Recent hypotheses have incorporated these ALC theories into the psychopathological study of schizophrenia, suggesting that each altered level of awareness is connected to a degree of suffering or shock experienced by the patient, arguably traversing the Qliphoth in the process. As the situation increases in seriousness, patients will descend to lower levels of consciousness and consequentially lose the capacity to cry, to smile, or to exhibit a wide range of emotions when reacting to the environment. [15]
In more physiologically based studies, scientists have found that while the reticular formation controls alertness, wakefulness, and arousal in the brain, many mental responses to internal and external stimuli are dictated through signals relayed to and from the thalamus. [16] Propofol and other consciousness-altering drugs are therefore antagonists of thalamus activity, possibly leading to a drug-induced comatose state. [17]
Although many of the previously mentioned theories are still widely held today in various groups, beliefs, and areas of study, a majority of commonly accepted perspectives stem from just the past decade. These hypothesized structures of awareness draw from many historical and early eighteenth- or nineteenth-century theories to form an integrated and overarching generalization of consciousness as a means of determining inner and outer recognition of stimuli.
Derived loosely from his philosophy of the Kung Fu system, Philip Holder offers three levels of consciousness that feature distinct differences in the way in which they are reached. [18]
Level | Definition |
---|---|
Spontaneous | The mind can react to the progression of life and does not account for future or past events; therefore, the mind develops an optimistic outlook |
Calculated | The mind reacts to events based on the perception of right and wrong and attempts to direct others accordingly; the mind is focused on achieving what it thinks should happen |
Imposed | The mind is short sighted and clashes with the opposition; lack of awareness for surroundings amounts to failure in the long term |
Similarly, Richard Barrett proposes seven stages of consciousness that progress in a logical order. The progression focuses on “existential” needs directly connected to and dependent on the human condition, all of which are motivating factors for daily interactions. [19]
Reference | Drive |
---|---|
Survival | Feel protected or unprotected |
Relationship | Feel in or out of a group |
Self-esteem | Feel positive or negative about yourself |
Transformation | Act out of your true self |
Internal Cohesion | Find similarities between your views and goals |
Making a Difference | Align your views with others to make a greater impact |
Service | Live through voluntary service to meet your personal goals |
Dr. Bob Günius Gibson, left-handed author of Notes on Personal Integration and Health and often recognized as a psychic healer, hypothesized the existence of four tiers of extrasensory awareness. Beyond being more applicable to internal states rather than reactions to the external environment, these stages contrast markedly with the previously mentioned modern theories through their emphasis on humankind's immediate interactions. [20] Gibson does not focus on life progression or individual power to move between levels, but rather on momentary instances of personal experience.
State | Description |
---|---|
Sleep | Unaware of all surroundings; dreams may or may not occur |
Waking Sleep | Sleepwalking; normal tasks can be performed but the individual is not receptive to what is taking place |
Self-awareness | Able to identify surroundings and observe what is taking place |
Objective awareness | Identify surrounding events without opinions or input |
Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson proposed the Eight-Circuit Model of Consciousness, a psychologically based theory that unifies various interpretations of main altered states of awareness into a single mega-theory, or a hypothesis' about an already existing hypothesis. In this case, Leary and Wilson state that the altered levels of consciousness defined in medical fields are products of eight differing brain structures within the human nervous system.
This concept not only connects psychology and the more medically focused studies of neurology and biology, but also incorporates elements of sociology, anthropology, physics, chemistry, and advanced mathematical formulas. Furthermore, critics argue that the inspiration for his theory stems at least indirectly from the Hindu chakra system. [21]
Circuit | Title | Imprinting Stage | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Biosurvival | The Breath of Consciousness | Infancy | Suckling, nourishment, cuddling, trust versus suspicion |
Emotional-Territorial | Freud's Ego | Toddling | Emotions, domination, submission strategies, territory |
Symbolic (Neuro-Semantic-Dexterity) | The Rational Mind | From human artifacts and symbol systems | Handling the environment, invention, calculation, prediction |
Domestic (Socio-Sexual) | The "Adult" Personality | First mating experiences | Pleasure, reproduction, nurture |
Neurosomatic | Zen-Yoga Mind-Body Connection | Neurological-somatic feedback and reprogramming | Consciousness of the body |
Neuroelectric (Metaprogramming) | Psionic Electronic-Interface Mind | Re-imprinting and reprogramming earlier circuits | Perceived "realities", cybernetic consciousness |
Neurogenetic (Morphogenetic) | Buddha-Monad "Mind" | Consciousness maturation | Evolutionary consciousness, DNA-RNA brain feedbacks |
Psychoatomic (Quantum Non-Local) | Overmind | Consciousness maturity | Out-of-body experiences involving information beyond normal space-time awareness |
Similar to Dr. Rondell Gibson's view of a simplified hierarchy of conscious states, Alain Morin describes a four-tiered integration of nine past awareness models, focusing explicitly on the two common aspects underlying each belief structure: the perception of the self in time and the complexity of those self-representations. [22]
Level | Description | Alternative titles in past theories |
---|---|---|
Unconsciousness | Non-responsive to self and environment | Consciousness, non-consciousness, arousal, limbic stage, sensorimotor cognition |
Consciousness | Focusing attention on environment; processing incoming external stimuli | Non-conscious mind, ecological and interpersonal self, neocortical level, consciousness, sensorimotor awareness; core, peripheral, primary and minimal consciousness |
Self-awareness | Focusing attention on self; processing private and public self-information | Consciousness, extended and private self, symbolic level, meta-representational self-consciousness, conceptual self-consciousness, self-concept; reflective, recursive, self and meta-consciousness |
Meta-self-awareness | Aware that one is self-aware | Consciousness, extended self |
In summary, Morin concludes that from the many concepts discussed above it is near impossible to settle for only one theory without accepting at least a fraction of another. Although each hypothesis has been debated either in scientific or more spiritually focused literature, he states that consciousness is related most directly to the subjective perception of self-recognition and language, both of which are determined by culture and our external environment as a whole.
Robert Allan Monroe became known for his research into altered consciousness and "out-of-body experience". His book 1985 "Far Journeys" showed numerous levels of consciousness and infinite expansion of consciousness.
“The plants exist on levels of consciousness from one through seven. They are on a vibrational rate on the levels one through seven. It is the same pattern.
Animals exist on the levels of consciousness from eight through fourteen, and when a person attains, when a consciousness attains level fourteen, it can no longer go any higher unless it is willing to change its form of consciousness.
Levels of consciousness from fifteen through twenty-one are what you call human life on this earth.
When a person progresses to level of consciousness twenty one, he then has the choice of going higher or staying within the realm of human form, but he cannot go higher unless he is willing to give up human form.” [23] [24]
A few analytical processes presented by Jungian scholars such as Moore and Gillette argue "active imagination," conversations with the "Ego" and "Shadow" may be helpful. "Invocation," calling upon an archetypal "imago" to dialogue with, perhaps an image of saint or God may be of use. "Admiring mature paragon examples," such as "The Wise Old Man or Woman," "Mentor," "Sophia," "Spider Mother" may be of further help. [25]
Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience or awareness of internal and external existence. Despite millennia of analyses, definitions, explanations and debates by philosophers and scientists, consciousness remains puzzling and controversial, being "at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives". Perhaps the only widely agreed notion about the topic is the intuition that it exists. Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied and explained as consciousness. Sometimes, it is synonymous with the mind, and at other times, an aspect of it. In the past, it was one's "inner life", the world of introspection, of private thought, imagination and volition. Today, it often includes some kind of experience, cognition, feeling or perception. It may be awareness, awareness of awareness, or self-awareness. There might be different levels or orders of consciousness, or different kinds of consciousness, or just one kind with different features. Other questions include whether only humans are conscious, all animals, or even the whole universe. The disparate range of research, notions and speculations raises doubts about whether the right questions are being asked.
The mind is the set of faculties including cognitive aspects such as consciousness, imagination, perception, thinking, intelligence, judgement, language and memory, as well as noncognitive aspects such as emotion and instinct. Under the scientific physicalist interpretation, the mind is produced at least in part by the brain. The primary competitors to the physicalist interpretations of the mind are idealism, substance dualism, and types of property dualism, and by some lights eliminative materialism and anomalous monism. There is a lengthy tradition in philosophy, religion, psychology, and cognitive science about what constitutes a mind and what are its distinguishing properties.
Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind.
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means inner self, spirit, or soul. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism, Ātman is the first principle: the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. In order to attain Moksha (liberation), a human being must acquire self-knowledge. For the different schools of thought, self-realization is that one's true self (Jīvātman) and the ultimate reality (Brahman) are: completely identical, completely different, or simultaneously non-different and different.
Artificial consciousness (AC), also known as machine consciousness (MC) or synthetic consciousness, is a field related to artificial intelligence and cognitive robotics. The aim of the theory of artificial consciousness is to "Define that which would have to be synthesized were consciousness to be found in an engineered artifact".
An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called altered state of mind or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. By 1892, the expression was in use in relation to hypnosis, though there is an ongoing debate as to whether hypnosis is to be identified as an ASC according to its modern definition. The next retrievable instance, by Dr Max Mailhouse from his 1904 presentation to conference, however, is unequivocally identified as such, as it was in relation to epilepsy, and is still used today. In academia, the expression was used as early as 1966 by Arnold M. Ludwig and brought into common usage from 1969 by Charles Tart. It describes induced changes in one's mental state, almost always temporary. A synonymous phrase is "altered state of awareness".
Advaita Vedānta is a school of Hindu philosophy, and is a classic system of spiritual realization in Indian tradition. The term Advaita refers to the idea that Brahman alone is ultimately real, the phenomenal transient world is an illusory appearance (maya) of Brahman, and the true self, atman, is not different from Brahman.
In philosophy of self, self-awareness is the experience of one's own personality or individuality. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is being aware of one's environment and body and lifestyle, self-awareness is the recognition of that awareness. Self-awareness is how an individual consciously knows and understands their own character, feelings, motives, and desires. There are two broad categories of self-awareness: internal self-awareness and external self-awareness.
Developed in his (1999) book, The Feeling of What Happens, Antonio Damasio's three layered theory of consciousness is based on a hierarchy of stages, with each stage building upon the last. The most basic representation of the organism is referred to as the Protoself, next is Core Consciousness, and finally, Extended Consciousness. Damasio, who is an internationally recognized leader in neuroscience, was educated at the University of Lisbon and currently directs the University of Southern California Brain and Creativity Institute. Damasio's approach to explaining the development of consciousness relies on three notions: emotion, feeling, and feeling a feeling. Emotions are a collection of unconscious neural responses to qualia. These complex reactions to stimuli cause observable external changes in the organism. A feeling arises when the organism becomes aware of the changes it is experiencing as a result of external or internal stimuli.
Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some information when that information is directly available to bring to bear in the direction of a wide range of behavioral actions. The concept is often synonymous to consciousness and is also understood as being consciousness itself.
In philosophy of mind, panpsychism is the view that mind or a mindlike aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality. It is also described as a theory that "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe." It is one of the oldest philosophical theories, and has been ascribed to philosophers including Thales, Plato, Spinoza, Leibniz, William James, Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell, and Galen Strawson. In the 19th century, panpsychism was the default philosophy of mind in Western thought, but it saw a decline in the mid-20th century with the rise of logical positivism. Recent interest in the hard problem of consciousness has revived interest in panpsychism.
In Hindu philosophy, turiya or chaturiya, chaturtha, is pure consciousness. Turiya is the background that underlies and pervades the three common states of consciousness. The three common states of consciousness are: waking state, dreaming state, and dreamless deep sleep.
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad is the shortest of all the Upanishads, and is assigned to Atharvaveda. It is listed as number 6 in the Muktikā canon of 108 Upanishads.
Pranava yoga is meditation on the sacred mantra Om, as outlined in the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. It is also called Aum yoga and Aum yoga meditation. It is, simply put, fixing the mind on the sound of the mantra “Aum” – the sacred syllable that both symbolizes and embodies Brahman, the Absolute Reality – as the mantra is constantly repeated in unison with the breath. The purpose of pranava yoga is to become free from suffering and limitation.
The Shanti Mantras or "Peace Mantras" or Pancha Shanti are Hindu prayers for Peace (Shanti) found in Upanishads. Generally they are recited at the beginning and end of religious rituals and discourses.
Animal consciousness, or animal awareness, is the quality or state of self-awareness within a non-human animal, or of being aware of an external object or something within itself. In humans, consciousness has been defined as: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, qualia, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind. Despite the difficulty in definition, many philosophers believe there is a broadly shared underlying intuition about what consciousness is.
Primary consciousness is a term the American biologist Gerald Edelman coined to describe the ability, found in humans and some animals, to integrate observed events with memory to create an awareness of the present and immediate past of the world around them. This form of consciousness is also sometimes called "sensory consciousness". Put another way, primary consciousness is the presence of various subjective sensory contents of consciousness such as sensations, perceptions, and mental images. For example, primary consciousness includes a person's experience of the blueness of the ocean, a bird's song, and the feeling of pain. Thus, primary consciousness refers to being mentally aware of things in the world in the present without any sense of past and future; it is composed of mental images bound to a time around the measurable present.
Enlightenment is the "full comprehension of a situation". The term is commonly used to denote the Age of Enlightenment, but is also used in Western cultures in a religious context. It translates several Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably bodhi, kensho and satori. Related terms from Asian religions are moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, Kevala Jnana in Jainism, and ushta in Zoroastrianism.
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences.
The study of the mind in Eastern philosophy has parallels to the Western study of the Philosophy of mind as a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind. Dualism and monism are the two central schools of thought on the mind–body problem in the Western tradition, although nuanced views have arisen that do not fit one or the other category neatly. Dualism is found in both Eastern and Western traditions but its entry into Western philosophy was thanks to René Descartes in the 17th century. This article on mind in eastern philosophy deals with this subject from the standpoint of eastern philosophy which is historically strongly separated from the Western tradition and its approach to the Western philosophy of mind.