Consciousness Essays

All of an individual’s life takes place in varying sates of consciousness. Ranging from total awareness to complete lack of awareness. These states exist on a continuum and as such there is no exact position for each state. Usually these states are separated into two groups: normal waking consciousness (NWC) and altered states of consciousness (ASC). NWC usually consists of any state, in which you are awake and aware of your thoughts, feelings and external stimuli. ASC is any state, which is not

The term “phenomenal consciousness” is the least understood in the field of consciousness neuroscience. Despite many hypotheses in explaining the existence of phenomenal consciousness and its neural correlates, deep understanding of such concept is lacking. This can be plausibly attributed to the fact that it is almost scientifically difficult to study and most hypotheses were derived from inferences. On the other hand, “access consciousness” is significantly more understood, as there are scientific

Is consciousness real or imagined? Consciousness is something every living human has experienced. The understanding of consciousness is in depth and complex which means there are many ways to interpret consciousness. The fact that consciousness can’t be denied but yet can’t be proven or fully explained really sparked an interest what we do actually know about consciousness. We do not have a scientifically proven explanation on how to fully interpret consciousness. There are a few things that need

How do we interpret consciousness? M.P.Lietz Student University of Groningen Student number: s3013391 Mentor group number: 1514 Mentors: Dinha and Lieze Date: 18-10-2015 Introduction ‘I think, therefore I am’ (Descartes, 1637). Most people can agree on that because it is the only certainty about consciousness so far. The book ‘Psychological Science’ defines consciousness as the individuals’ subjective experience of the world, resulting from brain activity (Gazzaniga, Heatherton, & Halpern, 2015

of consciousness in sleep & how it may affect your well being. The states of consciousness have always been an interesting topic to scientists and philosophers of the kind. For myself, dreams, thoughts about thoughts, and the endless and restless potential that is within each human has intrigued me my whole life. Only by taking risks and facing the feared is an individual capable of becoming fully actualized in life allowing them to become fluidly creative and free of mind. The consciousness of

The enigma of consciousness has avoided the reach of science since the the time of Aristotle over 2300 years ago. This problem has become so notorious over the centuries that scientists have come to simply call it “the hard problem of consciousness.” As defined by Professor of Philosophy, David Chalmers (1995), this “hard problem” is experience. It is what it is like to be alive, to feel a soft blanket, or to eat a crisp apple. All of these events deliver sensory input to the brain, which then, somehow

Human Consciousness Human consciousness is generally termed as the awareness of an individual of their own thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and environment which keep on varying from time to time. This makes the individual’s experience fairly familiar and mysterious aspect of their lives. Consciousness also refers to the sharing of knowledge with oneself about something which has been already experienced. It may also come from the experiences and warnings given by others. In other words,

Consciousness is the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings, but there are different types of consciousness. There is meditation, hypnosis, substance use, and, sleep and dreaming and they are altered states of consciousness. It is crazy to me that when you meditate you are still conscious but you are in a different state, a more relaxed state. Like in normal consciousness we can zone out the things that aren’t important at certain times. When reading over what preconscious memories

Altered States of Consciousness Under everyone’s veneer of consciousness is an unexplored world of mental activity. There have been many scientists and psychologist try to explain what consciousness is, however, it isn’t such an easy task. Consciousness is aware of being aware. However, an altered state of consciousness is when there is a temporary change in a person’s mental state without them considered unconscious. They are very different from one another, but both have become new approaches

current research regarding consciousness from both a philosophical and a cognitive science perspective looking at questions such as what is consciousness? If asked, could you point at it? Is consciousness biochemical? Does philosophy still have anything to offer to the field? We have drugs that alter cognitive processes but are these processes together what constitutes consciousness? Is introspection a by-product of these processes or is it the root of consciousness? Is it possible that we are

-The book suggests that the term “altered states of consciousness” is not restricted by one true definition. Essentially, an altered state of consciousness is a variation in one’s regular mental state. 1. I was admitted to the hospital a couple of years ago because of a medical problem. Due to a mishandling, I was given the same medication twice. This caused me to experience the typical symptoms in a greater extent. While I was undergoing the effects of the medicine I lost visual clarity and could

Metaphysical Issues of Consciousness: How do we define Consciousness? Consciousness in its very fundamental form can be defined as an inherent and intrinsic property of mind. And in fact no other aspect of mind is as intriguing, appealing and perplexing as consciousness, and our conscious experience of ‘self’ and everything else except the ‘self’. Both the notions evidently appear as totally complementary to each other. The very concept of ‘Consciousness’ is undoubtedly the principal issue to be

To be consciousness means that you are aware of what is going on in your immediate surroundings. How you feel when you are consciously experiencing something can be altered by the individual or by a psychoactive drug. (Mathew, 2016) Psychoactive drugs are known to induce what are known as altered states of consciousness. (Mathew, 2016) This means the way that person perceives the world can be changed to increase or decrease the quality of how they feel. For example, some psychoactive drugs cause

An altered state of consciousness is considered to be when the individual’s brain loses a sense of self within one’s physical body or within one’s normal sensory perceptions. In the texts read in class, the altered states of consciousness are represented in a variety of ways, from dreams and meditation to hallucinations and sensory deprivation. Mystical literature works to incorporate these states of consciousness in a way as to link God or the divine to an individual who can then express the divine

Does hard problem of consciousness exist? When we think of consciousness, we think of the awareness of our individual thoughts, memories, feelings, sensation, and the surrounding environment. Consciousness is a very important part of us, yet it is also one of the most complex parts. Consciousness is something we experience constantly, yet we are not able to measure it, and do not have enough words to describe it. We are aware of its existence, but cannot physically hold it within our grasp. Despite

since their existence. The solution to this problem of consciousness, and several other related problems arising out of the same probably lies somewhere in the depths of our brains, its structure and function. There have been multiple views and opinions regarding the nature of consciousness and whether or not any substantial basis exists for consciousness, it is central to the notions of thought and personal identity. Some believe that consciousness could not arise from matter alone, as illustrated by

which results into enormously complex stew of thoughts, feelings, sensations, wants, snatches of pains, drives, daydreams, and consciousness itself, more or less aware of it all (Forman, 2010). Meditationists practice clearing this clutter and reaching to a stage of experiencing inner silence which has been termed as the pure consciousness event (PCE). Pure Consciousness Event lies at the core of mystical experience (Forman, 1990). The assumption that mystical realization is an experiential phenomenon

watching the two videos, I learned a great deal more than I previously knew about the stages of consciousness. I knew almost nothing about this subject before watching this video, so I was very surprised by all the information I learned. One thing I learned from the video on consciousness was how difficult it is to define what consciousness actually is. In the video, the man, Hank Green, explained consciousness as our awareness of ourselves and our surroundings. Shortly thereafter, Green tells about

ABSTRACT Behavior of the brain or, in other words, material brain activity is in some way correlated to the consciousness or mental activity. Since it is the most fundamental theory about the matter that is currently available, in efforts to understand the consciousness we can assume that the Quantum theory can be helpful. Various steps and studies have been carried out to achieve the extent of relation of quantum theory to the different neurophysiological levels of descriptions. In past and in current

to the core of consciousness, every observable phenomenon and even the void appear as a form of consciousness. Pg 58 The individual mind intently entering into the universal light of foundational consciousness sees the entire universe as saturated with that consciousness. Pg 59 One should consider the entire body or the entire world simultaneously without thought-construct as a form of consciousness, then he will experience the emergence of the highest consciousness. He who knows