The Science of Consciousness—
The Next Scientific Paradigm
William A. Guillory, Ph.D.
1. 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.”
I.
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
labored 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]