“It exists without and within all beings, and constitute the animate and inanimate creation as well. And by reason of its sublety, it is incomprehensible; it is close at hand and stands afar too.”
Bhagavad Gita, chapter 12
Consciousness is the foundation for everything in your life. It makes your entire reality possible. The very fact that you can read these words and contemplate them makes you a conscious being. You are aware that you exist. To experience something – anything – there must be somebody experiencing it. There must be an observer “clocking” the experience. But even if consciousness is the foundation of your entire reality, it’s not yet understood by modern science. Consciousness remains a mystery; what it is, how it arises, and in whom it occurs. Modern science can explain many of the physical and mechanical processes and interactions in the brain. Still, it cannot yet explain how they give rise to subjective conscious experiences and sensations.
What we know for sure is that consciousness is not located in a specific area in the brain. Instead, it seems to be a “global” phenomenon within the body’s 80 billion neurons interacting with each other. Somewhere within that field, your conscious experience of reality exists. It’s challenging to find an accurate description of this mysterious force. Still, one famous description adopted by many contemporary neuroscientists is one that Thomas Nagel proposed in 1974 in his famous paper “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”. Here he gave a simple and informal suggestion that consciousness is simply what it is like to be something. This description has been used by many simply because it gets the job done.
THEORIES ON CONSCIOUSNESS
There have been many ideas and theories regarding consciousness throughout history. The theory of materialism has been persisting, suggesting that material things are the only real things and that consciousness doesn’t even exist. It’s an illusion; your thoughts, feelings, and inner experiences are not real, and your actions are just reflexes resulting from machine-based algorithms in your brain. According to this materialistic view, consciousness is just a byproduct of these algorithms, so we shouldn’t worry too much about it. Dualism is another popular theory that accepts the existence of consciousness but separates it from the physical body. This theory places consciousness only in the non-material realms, which makes science much more manageable since it doesn’t have to deal with this mysterious consciousness complicating things. Our subjective inner worlds get delegated to religions, psychology, and other mystical and esoteric realms. Without consciousness to worry about, we could study matter coldly and mechanically. This was practical for studying the physical world but created an unhealthy relationship between the subjective human experience and the natural world. It made us view nature as something cold, mechanical, and unconscious, but it also started an unhealthy relationship within ourselves. It separated our bodies from our consciousness and disregarded our thoughts and emotions impact on our physical body. This separation of consciousness and matter is at the heart of many of today’s environmental problems, not to mention many of our mental, emotional, and physical issues.
Another long-held belief is that consciousness magically happens in some types of matter – humans, for example, but not in stones, flowers, and trees. This idea suggests that humans have a sense of self, but dogs, elephants, roses, and rocks don’t. Viewing the natural world this way made it easier for us to do what we wanted. If there is no consciousness in the animal or tree, no sense of self, then there is no need to treat it with love, respect, and dignity. We look at ourselves as the only conscious beings on this planet. The animals, rivers, clouds, mountains, and forests are just stuff that mysteriously and randomly exists around us – allowing us to use and abuse them as much as we want. It would probably be much harder to slaughter an animal if it could tell us its name!
This leads us to the theory of panpsychism. This theory is gaining momentum and suggests that consciousness is an “inbuilt” feature of matter itself. That consciousness is a quality that is inherent in all physical matter. This would mean that consciousness is present in every single organism on earth – that there could be a conscious witness in all of them! The complexity in a specific form might determine the level of consciousness present in that form. Humans have the most complex brains on earth, but the octopus’ brain is incredibly extensive and contains 550 million neurons throughout its whole body! Dolphins, whales, elephants, apes, and magpies, to name a few, are also highly intelligent and can solve complex challenges. The sperm whale is one of the most intelligent animals on the planet, with a brain six times larger than our human brain. Nature doesn’t grow complex brains by accident because brains take up a lot of energy in an organism. Nature is efficient and wouldn’t “waste” all that complex biological matter if it didn’t serve a purpose. Nature is continuously evolving into better and more complex structures; yet, whales have had their brains 15 million years longer than ours. The whale’s brain results from millions of years of evolution longer than ours. Their brains were already incredibly complex long before we even stood upright!
THE THEORY OF PANPSYCHISM
Most people don’t look at trees, rocks, animals, and other objects as having any sense of self or conscious awareness of being alive. Some believe that certain animals have some conscious awareness, especially cats and dogs and other animals we have close relationships with. Still, nobody thinks about other things in their environment, like houseplants, trees in the garden, elephants, seagulls, the sun, and the moon as being aware of being alive. Thinking that these are unconscious beings who don’t even know they exist makes it easier for us not to care about them. If they don’t know they are alive or have a self, they don’t matter, right? But what if all these things in our environment – the animals, trees, and rocks – are conscious beings? What if they are aware just like us but don’t have the language to communicate this to us so that we would understand? Maybe all of them are in constant communication and interaction with each other, but we are so disconnected that we don’t notice it. We think that we are the most advanced species, with our smartphones, algorithms, and satellites, but maybe they are the truly evolved beings – able to connect to the conscious field that makes this reality possible – a field that our scientists still don’t understand?
The word pan means “everything,” and psyche means “mind.” These words hint at the interconnectedness suggested by panpsychism. Instead of separating consciousness from matter or only accepting it in humans – as we say in the other theories – panpsychism describes consciousness as an intricate part of matter itself. It suggests that consciousness exists in all matter but expresses itself on different levels depending on the complexity of the structure its in. When expressed through the highly complex human nervous system, consciousness becomes more sophisticated. It can express itself through various mental and emotional patterns that have evolved over millions of years, making the expression remarkable. Consciousness in a dog would be lower just because it expresses through a less complex nervous system. The consciousness would be the same but experienced and transmitted differently. The dogs’ nervous system is less complex than humans but more complicated than ants and rocks, creating a sliding scale of conscious expression. When the complexity in the organism reduces, the ability to communicate also reduces. It’s always the same consciousness, expressed in myriad ways through the incredible variety of forms on earth. Consciousness would then be able to constantly change and adapt, becoming more aware and able to express itself as it moves and evolves. It’s pretty genius if you think about it because consciousness could grow more rapidly because of the accumulated experiences from all the different life forms happening simultaneously.
Panpsychism is a very intriguing theory that might be able to transform our relationship with the natural world. It gives us a new perspective on life and might inspire us to see the world with new and more curious eyes. If this theory is correct, then even the smallest particles in the universe – atoms, electrons, and quarks – are conscious. It might also mean that even the properties of these particles – the charge, spin, and mass – also would be forms of consciousness, which is mind-blowing! It would also mean that the forest is filled with consciousness, and cutting down trees would suddenly have a moral significance, not just practical and environmental. Humans would have a much more intimate and conscious connection to them than imagined – it would mean that the entire universe would be brimming with conscious awareness!