The Science of Consciousness—
The Next Scientific Paradigm
William A.
Guillory, Ph.D.
I.
Introduction
The Science of Consciousness is
essentially the study of the non-material world. It is the study of metaphysical phenomena that, for the most
part, are not subject to the theories and laws of Newtonian-Cartesian
science. However, the human
implications of the results of studying consciousness, beyond the physical
realm, are immense.
The most impacting result of studying
the metaphysical realm is the acquisition of wisdom. I distinguish wisdom from knowledge, as a way of knowing, by the
expression: “knowledge is of the mind, wisdom is of the spirit.” In short, wisdom is a way of being
that provides the level of intelligence necessary to permanently resolve
personal, collective, and global conflict.[1] Wisdom also allows the creation of a
context to manage and govern the planet, we call Earth, in a way that truly
works in the best interest of all inhabitants—both animate and inanimate.
The study of metaphysics can also
provide the systematic development of metaphysical skills that have practical
applications in our everyday lives; for example, the many forms of “healing” to
assist healthcare, “remote viewing” to assist law enforcement,
and “channelling” to provide information, insights, and wisdom about our
existence and beyond.[2]
It is my view, that many, if not
most, scientists are driven most by curiosity and an innate desire to discover
through experience. We have learned
much about the immediate environment we inhabit called Earth. Certainly enough to have survival handled. However, this innate desire to know about
“things” must be balanced with a desire to know, in-depth, about ourselves in
order to preserve our existence in any quality manner.
If we had to give an accounting of
how well we manage this planet in the best interests of all to a visitor
from outer space, this is what our report might include:[3]
1.
Scientific and technical advancements to ensure survival and assist the
quality of life are highly developed.
2.
Many humans of this planet are underfed or starve daily in spite of the
overwhelming quantities of food we produce, store, and throw away.
3.
Most of this planet’s resources are “controlled” by less than 10% of our
global population, in their own interest.
4.
Our environment—land, air, and sea—is deteriorating at a rate that
seriously threatens the continuing support of our increasing populations.
5.
Our ability (level of wisdom) to resolve human conflict—in comparison to
our potential for destruction—is elementary.
6.
Most of all, we do not recognize or acknowledge that “our fates are
inextricably bound to each other.”
From our scientific and technical
achievements, we might conclude that we are a very intelligent species. In fact, we even sometimes muse as to
whether other intelligent life even exists in the Universe! This is a very elementary form of
human ego gratification.
In spite of the fact that we tend to
avoid the systematic study of metaphysics, the phenomena have been around since
the existence of humankind. In fact,
prior to the declarations of Decartes’Discourse on Methods, they were commonly
taken as valid as scientifically-observed proof. In other words, much of the present population actively develop
and practice metaphysical skills in spite of Newtonian-Cartesian science’s
resistance or outright condemnation.
This state of affairs is most common
when a new paradigm is about to legitimately emerge.[4] The real difference here is that preceding
paradigms were transitions from one form of material-world study to another
material-world study. For example, the
Philogiston Theory to the Atomic Theory to the Nuclear Theory to Pure Energy!
Metaphysics involves the transition
from the material to the non-material world.
Which means, new skills, new tools, new forms of observations that are
radically different from the “see-feel-touch-hear-smell” world of measurements
with which we are so comfortable. To
traditional scientists, this transition can even be threatening. Particularly, where Newtonian-Cartesian
science defines “who they are.” This
situation is not too unlike Copernicus’ declaration that the Earth revolved
about the sun, rather than the Earth being the center of the universe.
In spite of the resistance, the need
for the study of consciousness is so compelling that it is presently
inevitable. As Victor Hugo stated:
“There
is one thing that is more
powerful
than all the armies of the world;
and
that is an idea whose time has come.”
II.
Consciousness
I define Absolute Pure Consciousness
as a uniform field of potentiality without form, composition, consistency, or
properties; it simply is. It is
unexpressed potential that is infinite in its potential for expression, limited
only by the form it expresses through.
Consciousness assumes form by a
disturbance in its uniform field to create an infinite array of expressions,
e.g., universes, ether, physical or non-physical forms, and energy. From a localized perspective, “consciousness
expressed,” can be defined as a dynamic field of intelligence. Again, limited only by the form it expresses
through.
If it expresses through a star, it
has the expressions of a star, like our sun, to “burn” for millions of years as
it consumes its hydrogen content to become a black hole. If it expresses through a rock, it has the
limitations of a rock. If it expresses
through a flower, it has the limitations of a flower. If it expresses through a human being, it has the limitations of that
particular human being.
Everything that exists is conscious
of itself and to varying extents, its environment. As consciousness relates to human beings, we are aware of our
existence, our surroundings, and to varying extents, how our surrounding
stimuli affect us. Using our ordinary
five senses for recording our experiences, we apply interpretations based upon
our sphere of consciousness--knowing as intelligence and wisdom. Some individuals are significantly more
conscious than others in terms of their interpretation of five senses
experiences.
For example, some individuals
interpret a verbal disagreement as a possible threat to their survival and
thus, react in a correspondingly aggressive or defensive manner. Someone who is more conscious simply
recognizes that some people “feel” that their point-of-view is synonymous with
their personhood, and responds in a way to allay their fear of a
physical attack by laughing, giving in, confirming the validity of the other
person’s view point, etc. The latter
individual is more conscious than the person who reacts and might be described
as having a greater “sphere of consciousness.”
In this sense one’s personal consciousness might be described as
everything one knows—including information, knowledge, and wisdom. The relationship between information,
knowledge, and wisdom can be represented by the following equations:
Data interrelated Information creatively Knowledge
integrated
Interrelated data produces
information and “creatively integrated” information produces knowledge. In this sense, knowledge is acquired by each
individual via an experiential process of the creative integration of
information. The experience of
knowledge in the process of transformation results in wisdom.
Knowledge transformation Wisdom
The form of such transformations may
be personal or spiritual. Personal
transformation refers to the invalidation of a localized belief or attitude,
e.g., “a woman’s place is in the home,” “children should be seen, not heard,”
“godless societies are evil,” “democracy is best for everyone,” etc.
Spiritual transformation refers to the
restructuring of one’s sense of who he or she is, e.g., an existential
crisis. This transformation commonly
involves the invalidation or expansion of a major belief pattern one has about
their existence as a human being, e.g., the Copernicus’ observation or the
validity of metaphysical phenomena.
Werner Erhard[5] refers to
these belief patterns as a “fundamental life principle.” They are synonymous with our perception of
“who we are.” The perception and the
person are one. Examples of
“fundamental life principles” include, “the strong silent type,” “the savior,”
“the intimidator,” “the perfect parent,” “the loyalist,” etc.
If we have devoted a lifetime to
perfecting these “personas,” then our attachments can be so immense as to be
life-threatening to release them. We
are often so unconsciously willing to live consistent with these descriptions
of ourselves, that we endure immense pressures of stress, conflict,
approval-seeking, and ultimately severe illness before releasing them and
opening fully to our inner spiritual consciousness.
In summary, everything that exists
is an expression of Absolute Pure Consciousness (a noun) and is simultaneously
consciousness (a verb) of itself. The
extent to which it is conscious of its environment and can act upon it, is
dependent upon the form it expresses through and the sphere of intelligence,
knowledge, and wisdom of which it is capable.
III. Newtonian-Cartesian Science
Newtonian-Cartesian Science was
created to assist our understanding in dealing with the material world. In this sense, it has done a marvelous
job. We have also experienced its
limitations as we have conducted subatomic experiments. Beginning with Decartes’ Discourse on
Methods (1637) and combining the Newtonian Laws of Physics (1670), humankind
has developed an extraordinary ability to harness, mold, and consume the
resources of this planet we call Earth.
Sometimes for purposes that enhance
the human condition and sometimes (or quite often), for the purposes of
conquest, power, and control. The
reason I “mix” this discussion of science and the human condition, is because
the study of the Science of Consciousness naturally combines the two. For example, the metaphysical phenomenon
called “channeling,” most often conveys information (or knowledge to the
channeler) that appears to correspond to a significantly expanded state of
being—a sense of knowing, as wisdom.
The wisdom acquired is quite often
of value in providing a barometer of where we are as well as a direction we
might desire. As Newtonian-Cartesian
science continues to persevere in mastering the functioning of the human body
(not its spiritual consciousness!), it will become “painfully” obvious that the
humanistic dimension is not simultaneously being understood or advanced. Hence, the necessity for consciousness
exploration for the balance required to continue the Earth-plane existence of
the human species.
So, we find ourselves at a precipice
and deciding whether or not to jump off into what appears to be nothingness,
but consciousness. The conscious jump into this new realm requires
a new set of rules that will eventually be bridged back to Newtonian-Cartesian
science, but for the present, it requires the creation of a “new” (or
different) paradigm of exploration.
A Description of the Domains of
Consciousness
A model describing the familiar
states of consciousness is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The Bodymind and
Metaphysical Domains of Consciousness
Below the discontinuity line is the bodymind
(consciousness) domain and above the line is the immediate realm of
metaphysical consciousness. It should
be understood that “consciousness expressed” in its broadest sense, extends
infinitely to other phenomena beyond those described in this diagram.
The blocks below the discontinuity
line represent “strongly held” beliefs about reality that often prevent the
exploration of the realms beyond the bodymind domain. These beliefs must be realized as representations of
physical reality –sometimes valid and sometimes not. From a metaphysical perspective, they must be realized
as a single type of representation of how physical reality can manifest; and
not the only way. Therefore, these
representations do not reflect “truth.”
In this sense, they are often described as “illusions of physical
reality.”
For example, time is created in
physical reality by the sequential occurrence of connected events, dawn to
morning to noon to afternoon to night, etc.
From a metaphysical perspective, where events occur in multidimensional
fashion, dawn to night occurs as a single event, depending upon one’s focus of
perspective. Hence, time does not
exist! A human being may think in terms
of minutes, hours, day, years, or lifetimes, but a mountain “thinks” or
“experiences” in terms of eons!
Minutes, hours, lifetimes are meaningless within a mountain’s
consciousness. Additional contrasts of
phenomena between the physical/metaphysical realms are: Finite/Infinite; Laws
of Physics/Metaphysical Laws; Three-dimensional/Multidimensional;
Combinations/Gestalt; and Knowledge/Wisdom.
Access to the spiritual domain is
achieved by a “channel of communication.”
This channel is created by a “breakthrough” experience or realization
relating to an individual’s strongly held belief about physical reality. A breakthrough experience is sometimes
described as an existential crisis—or a crisis of being. Decartes experienced days of fever and
delirium prior to writing the Discourse on Method. Kekule experienced a sequence of dreams of snakes in a pit
grasping their own tails that led to his circular-hexagonal proposition of the
benzene ring. Jesus is said to have
laboured in the desert to breakdown his bodymind structure as preparation for
his enlightened teachings. These are
all examples of experiences and realizations that create free access (via a
channel) to the spiritual domain.
This channel allows the manifested
phenomena we observe in physical reality known as insight, intuition,
creativity, imagination, vision, inspiration, holistic seeing, and
quantum-thinking. These expressed
phenomena are only limited by the knowledge base and intelligence of the
channeler. Again, we note that human
mastery involves the combination of both the spiritual and bodymind
domains. For example, Einstein “rode” a
ray of light around the sun in his imagination, but the Theory of Relativity
also required the in-depth knowledge of science, mathematics, and relativistic
physics. Da Vinci may have experienced
all of the above phenomena, but also had human mastery of science, mathematics,
art, and architecture. Martin Luther
King and Mahatma Gandhi may have been spiritually inspired, but also required
the human qualities of charisma, rhetoric, and commitment.
In summary, the Science of
Consciousness is the study of:
§
Phenomena that is beyond physical form
§
That aspect of consciousness that gives rise to physical form
§
The expanded nature and potential of humankind
§
Innerspace phenomena—without human limitation
IV.
Contrasting Physical and Metaphysical Science
In 1637, Decartes declared in his
Discourse on Methods that science could be studied by the assumption of an
“objective observer” drawing conclusions from an independently occurring
event. The observed and observer is
separate. Thus, an experimental
observation might be represented by the following sequence:
Experiment Experience Explanation
Observed Observer Theory or Law
In essence, the scientist (observer)
uses the five senses or highly sophisticated instrumentation to experience
the experiment. These
observations are in turn interpreted, primarily by existing theories and laws
of the discipline to provide an “acceptable” explanation.
It is vital to recognize two
important points:
1.
The experiment is, in most cases, set-up by the experimenter to make
observations that essentially confirm the existing theories and
laws. So there is a bias in the
set-up and preparation, and hence the observations. The observer is not independent of that observed. An aside:
sometimes, nature plays games with us and creates observations contrary
to our theories and laws. We usually
describe these as anomalies.
2.
The explanation we provide is two discontinuous domains away from the
experiment. Therefore, the explanation
is not the “truth” of what is occurring in the experiment, but a good enough
representation to have limited predictive capabilities. Hence the study of science is not the study
of reality or truth about the physical world.
It is the study of conceptual representations that “mimic” physical
phenomena. As Werner Heisenberg stated:
“What
we observe is not nature itself,
but
nature exposed to our method of questioning.”
In the metaphysical world, there is
no assumption of separation between the observed or observer—or more precisely
between the projection (phenomenon) and the projector (scientist). They are one. Thus, a metaphysical experiment might be represented by the
following sequence:
Experience
And Explanation
Experiment
Observed Theory or Law
and
Observer
We use the terms projection and
projector, since many metaphysical experiences involve the “projection of
consciousness,” such as astral travel, remote sensing or viewing, empathing, or
psychokinesis (PK). The subsequent
explanations although subjective, can be summarized as a body of knowledge that
is characterizing the same process with different ways of expressing one’s
metaexperience (experiencing beyond the five senses).
V.
Inner Space Exploration—Metaphysical or Physic Skills
The exploration (experimentation) of
“inner space” obviously requires the development, and possibly mastery, of
metaphysical or psychic skills. It is
assumed that one or more of these skills are both inherent and latent within
every human being. The extent to which
they are acknowledged and developed is dependent upon the receptivity and
openness of an individual to exploring inner space.
For example, someone who is
consciously resistant to the acknowledgement that metaphysical skills exist and
are available may impose on himself or herself an insurmountable barrier to
inner space exploration. Unless, of
course, such an individual has an existential crisis that spontaneously opens a
channel to the spiritual domain. In
general, there are numerous ways to open the channel to self-discovery of one’s
physic ability. This article proposes a
systematic “scientific” approach to discovering, developing, and applying those
skills to inner space exploration.
Physic skills necessary for inner
space exploration include:[6]