"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them" ... Friedrich Nietzsche
Awareness
Cogito Ergo Sum – Je pense, donc je suis – I Think, Therefore I am ... Descartes
A little excerpt from Castanedian ideas and its way of life.
This has to do with awareness...
I Think, Therefore I am…
This must be one of the most stupid mistakes in the history of western philosophy. No doubt it is true, but it’s not such a fundamental truth as some may want us to believe. If it had been said by a Castanedian it may have been “I shit, therefore I am” (following the healthy tradition of general disrespect also found sometimes in Buddhism), or “I can move, therefore I am”, or “I have brown hair, therefore I am” or “They all have leather shoes therefore I am” or “the sky is very blue today, therefore I am” (have I made my point yet…).
The crucial condition for this statement is to be aware of something, and thus a feeling of being. A slightly more correct version of the above could perhaps be “I am aware, therefore I am”. To be aware that one receives perception, it could be awareness of being aware as well, or awareness of the sound of ones thoughts. Note that I chose to count thoughts as received perception!
There may be things in our world which do not have this crucial feature, awareness. Most agree that non living things do not posses awareness, a chair is not aware, nor is a rock. Some say that plants do not have awareness (even if there are some indications of the opposite. This is possible to confirm experimentally). Some say that awareness is unique to humans, other animals are not aware. Some even say that awareness is unique to the educated humans (issues of race and gender have also been heard). Those who make these wise definitions are of course ‘aware’, by their own definition… Awareness is like light in this respect, it can not look into the shadows. The ‘awareness’ in this respect only recognizes awareness of of own kind. This is why the medieval era in Europe is called ‘dark’.
A little experiment
Now, be aware of your right hand…... try it! where do you hold it, what position are the fingers in, do you have a wound? any scars, long nails, newly cut nails, broken nails?
Now, change your awareness to your left hand….... again: where do you hold it, what position are the fingers in, do you have a wound? any scars, long nails, newly cut nails, broken nails?
When you did this little test, where were your feet? You were not aware of your feet, were you?
Science
The science of awareness is as follows: An ordinary human receives somewhere around 10,000,000 bits of information every second through the various senses; sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing (thoughts not included). The human mind can hold somewhere around than 40 bits of information every second. This means that the brain somehow selects the appropriate data and throws away all but around a millionth of the collected information. Most humans have some kind of control of what the awareness should focus on. The brain also translates information into a form suitable for the awareness, the mind. Those two functions are the only functions of the total human mind which are certain to be located in the brain itself. Furthermore the scientific view of awareness is limited to the aspects which are measurable.
A Mystics View
Warning, it is time for speculation! There are no indications that the function ‘awareness’ should be attached to the physical body. Too many reports about people who have felt that they are ‘out of their bodies’ seems to indicate that awareness exists independent to the physical body, at least to e certain degree. There are no evidence that awareness will continue after the death of the physical body, although it seems reasonable if we accept that awareness can exists outside the body and travel independent of the body. However, not much is known about these things, and if we listen to different mystics we get different versions.
Reincarnation is one idea, heaven and hell is another, spiriualtism in its various shapes is yet another variation of a theme. Some believe that the ancestors have some power over their lives. The castanedian view is rather unique, no afterlife if you do not obey the scheme given in the Eagles Gift!
A question arises
Well, then, if we can be aware and even perceive without our physical body, how come we, and other animals as well, don’t use this ability for better survival? The obvious answer would perhaps be that it requires too much energy. The whole issue of castanedian practise (for instance) is to redeploy energy.
The Brain
The brain collects data, and translates data. The brain is the coordinator of movements, it reacts and acts without us being aware of it. We want to walk, and the brain moves our limbs in an appropriate way. The brain is centre of perception, all nerves from our sensory organs end up in the brain. Memory is also connected to the brain, damage to the physical brain may impair the functions of memory. This is no indication that the memory itself should be located in the brain, although this is probably the case for short term memory. Castanedians and other mystics believe otherwise. It is a fact that people can be made to remember the smallest details of their lives during hypnosis. This indicates that memory is located elsewhere, or at least that we have access to ‘another memory’. There is probably not enough room in the brain to house the complete remembrance of a normal human being during a lifetime, a fact which is overlooked by science. The brain consists of an enormous amount of brain cells (neurones) however, so it is difficult to draw any definite conclusions from this.
Awareness as a Subject
Practical implications of awareness is of course the important thing. I propose the following;
- Awareness has a degree, an individual can be more or less aware.
- Awareness can be enhanced by practise.
Furthermore, awareness is dependant of energy. The two propositions are of course not mine, they are rational assumptions.
- Awareness has a degree
That awareness has a degree may seem a bit odd to some. It may be seen as how many things one may be aware of at the same time. One may speak of the ‘width’ of ones awareness.
Signs of low awareness are: Often forget where you put things. Forget what you went into a room to get. Clumsiness. Easy to fool. Hard to concentrate on a single subject for longer periods. Easy to change your mind. Generally bad luck. Don’t remember your dreams. Easy to distract. May daydream often, retract to an inner world. Low bodily consciousness. Self deception.
Signs of high awareness: Generally the opposite of the above. The mental sphere of awareness of ones surroundings is much bigger. When closing ones eyes, the ‘inner room’ is much bigger and three dimensional. Dreams and thoughts are vivid. Control over situations in everyday life. Always aware of ones actions. Can do more than one thing at a time. Control over ones feelings. Self distance.
Its easy to see that the degree of awareness has a significant impact on ones life, regardless of one being a practitioner of some mysticism or a ‘normal’ being. Meditation is the obvious way to increase awareness, but most practises has this property, even purely physical exercises may have it.
Two activities which have been compared are meditation and watching television. Scientists measured brainwaves from meditators and from people watching television, and concluded that watching television was equal to meditation in terms of relaxation. What is the difference then? The answer is (apart from the general positive effects from meditation on everyday life) awareness. While watching television is an unaware passive activity. It lowers awareness. Meditation is a fully aware activity, which increases awareness.
- Awareness can be enhanced by practise
This assumption is necessary, otherwise practise would be meaningless. Easy practises are meditation. Anyone can learn how to meditate in five minutes. Well, at least it should not take more than half an hour to learn meditation. Other techniques which enhances awareness are ‘the right way of walking’, or recapitulation. Recapitulation is not an easy technique, however.
Awareness versus Energy
Generally it can be said that high energy is needed for high awareness, at least it increases the probability of high awareness. The opposite is not true, however, it is possible to have a high energy level, but still have low level of awareness. Like the story with energy, level of awareness is dependant of natural abilities, the individuals history of awareness, and the present use of awareness. I don’t believe that the naturally given awareness, for instance a naturally low level of awareness, may have anything to do with the attainable level of awareness.
I have made small grammar edits to the above text…I hope this has given someone some insight into awareness…
Commenting is closed for this article.