The Perplexities of Consciousness

The Perplexities of Consciousness

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”[1] Max Planck

What is consciousness? Where does it originate? Where does it exist? What is the relationship between consciousness, the mind, brain, soul, and body? How does consciousness relate to our concept of God? These are among the questions I intend to explore in this new series of Life Notes titled The Perplexities of Consciousness. As with many of my Life Notes topics, what I am about to reflect upon cannot be proven as either correct or incorrect. Indeed, such questions of correctness are not relevant to the topic. The purpose here is to explore possibilities, not to quantify universal truths. Exposing the underlying truths of consciousness within the confines of language is not possible anyway. Beyond the belief that consciousness does exist, everything else is an intriguing mystery.

I will begin by sharing a few of my biases that will become apparent as we proceed along this path of exploration. First, I do not believe that consciousness originates between our ears. In other words, it is not an exclusive product of our brains. Consciousness exists outside of us and our brains are receptors of limited aspects of that consciousness. Second, consciousness is received and communicated throughout our bodies. And third, the universal consciousness in which we live and move and have our being is what we call God, although our conceptual understandings and descriptions of God are  infinitely smaller than the unfathomable vastness emerging from divine consciousness.

The perspective from which I write is limited by my own experiences – physical, mental, and spiritual – as I attempt to ponder consciousness from the outside-looking-in. In other words, I try to objectively observe my interactions with the greater consciousness which surrounds me every moment of my life. I attempt to become conscious of the consciousness that sustains me – like a fish trying to become conscious of water. Admittedly, this is very much the blind (the limits of my conscious perception) leading the blind (my concept of me).

As I see and experience it, writing, whether music or the written word, is an informative exercise in consciousness. Ideas or melodies enter my conscious awareness from somewhere outside of me, and I explore them at my guitar or keyboard and form them into a song or an essay. The original inspiration for the work does not come to me in words or specific notes. Rather, it is more of a feeling or intuition that once received in my brain is translated into my words and/or music in a way that concretizes the inspiration, making it something I can share with others. I have never, nor will I everperfectly capture an inspiration in music or on the page. What results is always the imperfect product of that original inspiration as colored by the prejudices and biases I’ve formed over the course of my life and limited by my abilities in music and writing. In other words, I persist in trying to capture something inspiring, knowing the final product will be as much or more a reflection of me as of its original inspiration. Even so, I lay claim to what I produce by putting my name on it, knowing with certainty that it first flowed into my awareness from some unknown source outside of my body.

I encourage you to consider the previous paragraph carefully, especially if working with inspiration is not familiar to you, because it is critical to the understanding and interpretation of biblical and other spiritual texts. For example, I believe that when the author of 2 Timothy writes, “All scripture is inspired by God…”[2], which is the passage used by many biblical literalists to argue for the inerrancy of the Bible, that what is actually inerrant is the original inspiration and not the final product. Unfortunately, we cannot perfectly concretize the original inspiration as it cannot be put into words. Inspiration flows from non-verbal consciousness. The final product, as I describe for myself above, is necessarily colored and clouded by the personal world-view and experiences of the author. It doesn’t make the writings untrue per se, only biased and limited in scope.

And so, my interest in consciousness is to explore this mysterious ocean of beingness that surrounds and bombards us continuously. How we receive it and what we are willing and/or able to receive is fascinating, at least to me. While I will not vouch for the absolute truth of anything I write, I will posit that the inspiration for it comes from a place of truth. My hope is for you to catch a glimpse of the truthful inspiration residing within my imperfect representation of it. Indeed, such wordless glimpses are the closest we will ever come to pure truth, at least in the earthly phase of our lives.

This is the 1st in a series titled The Perplexities of Consciousness.Life Notes are my explorations into mysteries that interest me. They are invitations for readers to explore more deeply into life’s mysteries. Engage with me or explore contemplative spiritual direction at ghildenbrand@outlook.com.

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[1] Max Planck (1858-1947), theoretical physicist.

[2] 2 Timothy 3:16