1 – Introduction – Consciousness and Memory: Two Great Mysteries
What is the point of human life? Of much more immediate concern to you and me, what is the point of our lives; and of utmost concern for you, what will you organize your life around: Finding happiness, meaning, fulfillment? Having as many pleasurable experiences as possible? Feeling good physically as much as you can? Being productive? Having good relationships? Being creative? Fulfilling your duty? Finding love? Giving love and compassion to others? Improving your situation after this current life ends (getting to heaven, having a better reincarnation, getting off the wheel of rebirth, merging into the One, or whatever the reality turns out to be)? MORE
2 – Existence: Why is there anything at all?
For thousands of years, we humans have been looking toward the heavens with a sense of awe and wonder. Great monuments around the earth dating back at least 4000 years (such as the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge in England) demonstrate a remarkable knowledge of the movement of the celestial realm.[1] The great philosopher Immanuel Kant said: “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. MORE
3 – The Mystery of Consciousness
Somehow, for reasons we do not understand, we have consciousness, are conscious of our existence and can plan for the future, experience joy and sorrow, decide how we will spend our time, choose to be guided by what we believe to be right (or choose not to do so), love another person, and sacrifice our physical well-being for a cause we believe in or in service to people we care about. MORE
4 – Consciousness and Identity
Ask yourself: “Who am I?” Only by deeply exploring this question will you find the truth. — Ramana Maharshi
The Many Different Currents of “Me”
Many years ago, I awakened one morning and “I” was here. I don’t remember exactly when this occurred, for it feels as if I have been here forever. Of course, this feeling of foreverness is not logical (all the history books tell me a lot went on before I was born). Still, when I woke that morning back at the age of one or two or three, my awareness seemed to coincide with existence itself. I can’t explain this, and the feeling has changed as I have gotten older, but somehow the feeling persists that existence and I are somehow deeply entwined. MORE
5 – Inscrutable Memory
One day, walking on a trail in the mountains, I exchanged greetings with a passing hiker. Suddenly, the image of someone I had known 40 years before came to mind, and with that image, a series of memories. The strange thing is that the person who came to mind from all those years before had not been a close friend, and the memories that flooded in did not seem very important. MORE
6 – Are You an Electrical Impulse in the Brain?
Why do you insist the universe is not a conscious intelligence when it gives birth to conscious intelligence? — Cicero, Roman philosopher, statesman, and lawyer
What we know
There are a number of modern theories suggesting that consciousness is created solely by electrical/biochemical impulses in the brain. Yet there is no proof that this is the case. All such theories begin with the assumption that the brain creates consciousness all by itself—that it alone accounts for all our thoughts and feelings, for all insights and intuitions, for any sense we might have of a life trajectory or telos. MORE