(11) Consciousness

The study of Consciousness is a "hot" topic today and is likely going to be

even more of cutting edge effort of study in the future.  Over the past few

years scholars and scientists representing a variety of specialties have

met annually at the University of Arizona discussing, presenting papers,

on the topic of Consciousness.  Nonetheless, the difficulty remains that

Consciousness is still very much an unknown.  Put plainly, we still have

little understanding as to the how and why we humans are actually

conscious sentient beings.

However, there has been no lack of effort trying to figure the nature of

Consciousness.  Three major scientists have been in the forefront when

it comes to the study and theoretics of Consciousness.  There's Henry

Stapp, a particle physicist who has carried out research on the foundations

of quantum mechanics--with a particular focus on the role and nature

of Consciousness at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the University

of California.

There's also Sir Roger Penrose, a mathematical physicist, who is the

Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford,

as well as Stuart Hameroff, a M.D., currently the Director of the Center 

for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona (Tucson).

Together. Penrose and Hameroff speculate that Consciousness is the

result of quantum gravity effects in microtubles, which they dub

ORCH-OR (orchestrated objective reduction).  Microtubles are part of

a structural network (the cytoskeleton) with the cells cytoplasm.

Even more esoteric thinking regarding Consciousness can be found

in considering the topic of non-local consciousness.  Basically this

refers to morphogenetic (or mental) fields, about telepathy, even about

prayer.  Non-local consciousness extends from one individual's

consciousness outward to other conscious persons!

In a sense Consciousness remains a "shapeshifter," in that in recent

years there has been so many perspectives.  The philosopher and

transpersonal psychologist Ken Wilber provided a useful  list of these

perspectives:

"  *Cognitive Science* tends to view consciousness as anchored

in functional schemas of the brain/mind, either in a simple 

representational fashion...or in the more complex emergent/

connectionist models, which view consciousness as an emergent

of hierarchically integrated networks...

"  *Introspectionism* maintains that consciousness is best

understood in terms of intentionality, anchored in first-person

accounts...

"  *Neuropsychology* views consciousness as anchored in

neural systems, neurotransmitters, and organic brain mechanisms...

"  *Individual psychotherapy*...tends to view consciousness as

primarily anchored in an individual organism's adaptive capacities...

"  *Social psychology* views consciousness as embedded in

networks of cultural meaning, or, alternatively, as being largely

a byproduct of the social system itself...

"  *Clinical psychiatry* focuses on the relation of psychopathology,

behavioural patterns, and psychopharmacology...

"  *Developmental psychology* views consciousness not as a single

entity but as a developmentally unfolding process with a substantially

different architecture at each of its stages of growth...

"  *Psychosomatic medicine* views consciousness as strongly and

intrinsically inter-active with organic bodily processes...

"  *Nonordinary states of consciousness,* from dreams to psychedelics,

constitutes a field of study that, its advocates believe, is crucial

to a grasp of consciousness in general...

"  *Eastern and contemplative traditions* maintain that ordinary

consciousness is but a narrow and restricted version of deeper and 

higher modes of awareness...

"  *Quantum consciousness* approaches...consciousness as being

intrinsically capable of interacting with, and altering, the physical

world, generally through quantum interactions...

"  *Subtle energies* research has postulated that there exist subtler

types of bio-energies beyond the four recognized forces of physics 

(strong and weak nuclear, electromagnetic, gravitational) and that

these subtler energies play an intrinsic role in consciousness..."

[Ken Wilber, an article entitled "Integral Theory of Consciousness.]

It's obvious the tremendous challenge that the topic of Consciousness

poses, now and in the future.  But it's important.