From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Sun Sep 11 2005 - 16:06:29 BST
Hi Dav,
> I'd like to hear how you (and others?) came to believe in
> consciousness as being external.
I guess it would be the same way I've come to believe in quantum physics
whereby, according to those who know about such things, consciousness
(awareness, observation) collapses the wave function to make physical
reality come into existence. In other words, consciousness is woven into
the fabric of the physical universe and is indispensable.
.
>As for me, if I'm in the "right
> mood" I am able to sort of "take a step back" and watch my own body/
> mind at work.
Which raises the question, what or who is aware of your awareness of your
mind at work?
> Which isn't to say that I am watching myself from
> outside myself, I am just aware of more things going on. I not only
> "see" the world in front of me, I am aware that the images are coming in
> through my glasses, then through my eyes, then that I recognise these
> images and that I respond to them. And the same with other senses. So I
> am aware of the process of awareness in more detail than usually.
Again, what is aware of your process of awareness? Further, you seem to be
aware of your awareness that observes the process of awareness. How many
awarenesses must you postulate?
> It's
> hard to explain, as it's something that would need to be experienced, but
> in these moments I feel very aware that my consciousness is working
> without my active intervention and that it's just inside my head. Think of
> it as standing in the middle of a large room, and where before you only
> had a flashlight and could only see a small part of the room at a time,
> suddenly somebody turned on the lights and you can see the whole room at
> once.
>
> That's part of what I base my beliefs and theories on, personal
> experience (dare I say enlightenment? no, I don't). Have you had
> something similar, or are you mainly basing your opinions on other
> people's quotes?
I've experienced the expanded awareness of which you speak several times.
I describe it as Maslow did as a "peak experience." Pirsig describes it as
a moment when static patterns are momentarily shattered and DQ shines
through, as in "The man who suffers a heart attack and is taken off the
train at New Rochelle has had all his static patterns shattered, he can't
find them, and in that moment only Dynamic Quality is available to him.
That is why he gazes at his own hand with a sense of wonder and delight."
(Lila, 9)
My experience, however, is somewhat different than yours in that my notion
of "I" as a separate entity disappears. In other words, I feel the
division between subject and object temporarily suspended. I am not aware
of my process of awareness. My "I' vanishes.
Platt
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