Vethathirian Philosophy
Consciousness, Mind and Ethical Values: A Scientific Approach
Dr. G. Alagar Ramanujam,
Founder, Vethathiri Maharishi Ashramam, Peralam.
Email:gravity2003@gmail.com
Introduction:
Consciousness is a familiar word both with philosophers and the scientists, but it lacks a precise definition. Since ancient times, many thinkers worldwide have pondered over questions like: What is Consciousness? What is mind? What is the relationship between the two? Historically, this discussion has been in the domain of philosophers. In today’s world, however, Consciousness is also being addressed more frequently by physicists, cognitive scientists and neuroscientists.
Currently, there are a few theories at the forefront that address Consciousness. Many of them focus on the premise that Consciousness arises in the brain. A couple of them, like the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and the Global Neuronal Workspace (GNW) have developed sophisticated models and theories using insights from philosophy, psychology, computer science, and neuroscience, to formalize how the brain implements Consciousness. The two approaches differ primarily in their level of conceptual abstraction and anatomical specificity. Physicist Roger Penrose and noted anaesthesiologist Stuart Hammeroff have constructed an Orchestrated Reduction Theory of mind. It is a biological theory of mind that postulates that Consciousness originates at the quantum levels inside the neurons rather than the conventional view that it is a product of connections between the neurons.
A theory that also appears to be gaining ground in scientific circles is that the entire universe is inhabited by Consciousness (Panpsychism). In some physics circles, the prevailing theory is that there is a “Proto-Conscious” which is an invisible field that inhabits our universe. John Wheeler postulates that every piece of matter contains a bit of Consciousness, which it absorbs from this Proto-Conscious field. Thus, when a particle absorbs Consciousness from the proto-field, the concept becomes dualistic in character with the particle as one entity and the proto-field the other. This raises additional questions regarding the source of this proto-field and the evolutionary connection between the particle and the proto-field.
Certain Indian Philosophical systems are of the view that Consciousness is an attribute of the all-pervading Primordial source of the universe with Energy being the other attribute of it. Every particle of the universe is considered as an excited or manifest state of the all -pervading Consciousness-Energy medium (CEM). Every particle, due to its inherent spinning excites a wave in the all pervading Consciousness – Energy medium. Thus CE medium manifests in two ways. First as a spinning particle and then as a wave in itself.
Every system in the universe is of and by the CE medium. Energy makes the system function, while Consciousness of the system manifests as its “order of function.” In other words, that by which a system functions is called its energy, and that due to which its functional order arises is called its Consciousness. In science the functional order is called a law. It’s ironic that we humans recognize the person who discovers a law that is already existing but never think of crediting the Consciousness which became the law. There is no system in the universe without energy and it is equally true that there exists no system without Consciousness.
Consciousness of a system manifests as the functional order associated with that system. A scientist tries to understand that order and then tries to express it in a mathematical language. That expression is termed by him as the “Law of Nature.” It’s conceivable, however, that the mathematical expression may not completely reveal the functional order either due to the limitation of the mathematical language used or by the subjective limitation of the scientist’s preconceived notions.
In the evolutionary process of the universe, the twin principles of Energy and Consciousness remain inseparable and undifferentiated in the journey from primordial substance to a living being. Consciousness is not just a passive phenomenon but an active agent forcing the systems to obey a particular order. When you look at the structure of an atom, the first (lowest) orbit will have a maximum of only two electrons. If you have a third electron, it can only go to the second orbit as something prevents it from occupying the first orbit. That something is nothing but the collective Consciousness of the electrons that prevents the third electron from occupying the same first orbit. A scientist expresses this behaviour as a law. Thus, a law in physics is nothing but an expression of the functional order in a system designed by the Consciousness.
When we say every system is of Consciousness, we mean that the material cause of the system is Consciousness. When we say that every system is by Consciousness, we mean that Consciousness is also the efficient cause of the system.
Present-day physics takes the energy of a particle into account but not the Consciousness associated with that particle.
Consciousness is the natural rhythm guiding, regulating, and maintaining everything in the universe in an appropriate and specific pattern, precision, and regularity. Pattern refers to the structural form. Precision means the character and the quality of that structure. Regularity implies the timing in the functional order of existence. Thus, from the energy particle up to all its associated states, such as stars and all celestial bodies of inanimate nature, Consciousness manifests itself as “Order of Function” along with the principles of Pattern, Precision and Regularity.
The Origin Of Life
Life is a mysterious phenomenon in the universe. As the universe grows and evolves, the emergence of living beings with lifeforce or bio-current is a significant development in the transformation process of the CE medium. Let us discuss in detail what exactly we mean by lifeforce or bio-current in a living organism.
The physical body of a living system is made of five elements: solid, liquid, air, heat, and fundamental particles. There are four circulations in our body, namely blood circulation, heat circulation, air circulation and circulation of fundamental particles. We are all familiar with the first three circulations. The medical knowledge available today helps us to maintain only the first three circulations at the proper level. However, we are not that familiar with the circulation of fundamental particles. It is this circulation that gives rise to a current which we call lifeforce or bio-current. The bio-current in a living being energizes every part of the body and makes the whole body ready for action. Our bio-current is similar to the electrical current in a wire that arises due to the circulatory motion of electrons. The bio-current in a living being is referred to as Prana or Astral body by philosophers.
Our identification of lifeforce as a power arising out of circulation of fundamental particles needs further comments. For a long time, electric current was thought of as a fluid flowing between positive and negative electrodes of a battery. It was only after the discovery of electrons it was recognized that electric current is a power that arises from circulation of electrons. Similarly, we consider lifeforce a power that arises from the circulation of fundamental particles even though many philosophers consider lifeforce as a physical entity that enters the body, exists there for some period and then leaves.
Once Consciousness along with Energy has evolved into a living system, the system begins multiplying. Gradually, Consciousness develops into higher and higher forms of life, each with increasing faculties. Certain forms of life, however, were unable to thrive due to unfavourable environmental conditions. The remaining evolved into various living organisms like amoeba, insects, reptiles, birds, animals, and human beings. Darwin’s famous evolution Theory of Natural Selection demonstrates how life emerged from the lowest life forms and evolved through stages to the highest life form, human beings.
Genetic Centre (soul or Jeevatman) and Mind
In every living being, circulating fundamental particles constitute the lifeforce and due to their spin motion, every particle excites waves in Conciousness. These waves form a Biomagnetic Wave Complex in our body. This wave complex records the experiences of the living being and periodically reflects them. These reflections are what we call thoughts. This wave complex which contains the records of all our life experiences both borrowed through our parents and other sources is called our Genetic Centre which corresponds to our soul or Jeevatman. When the Genetic Centre reflects the imprints to the brain and makes it respond, it is called mind. So the mind is a wave complex in Consciousness always reacting to a signal received.
The memory of a living being involves two steps, namely, recording and retrieval of information. It is well-known that the recording process, retrieval, and its transmission to a different point can only be done by a wave system—examples include TV, Radio, Mobile phones, etcetera. The Genetic Centre in a living being performs all these three processes. Every experience of a living being adds a wave of a particular frequency to its Genetic Centre, making it more and more complex.
Inside every living being there is a Genetic Centre that contains the records of all the experiences of that living being. Let’s consider the situation of a tree growing from its seed. The seed contains in it all the experiences of the mother tree since its initial growth. In fact, we can consider the seed as an entire tree in a condensed form. Given an opportunity, the seed will repeat every function of the mother tree in the same order. Similarly, a male shrinks himself into his seed called the sperm. The sperm is a miniaturized version of a mature male, carrying all the imprints of the male in it. Similarly, a female condenses herself into an egg called ovum. Once the egg is fertilized with the sperm, the two combine to form a child (zygote). The child has the lifeforce and the imprints of both parents. In addition to these hereditary imprints called ‘Sanchita Karma’, every child while in the mother’s womb, also gets influenced by the Genetic Centre of its mother, by the waves from the stars and planets, by the waves from other living beings and from the waves in the cosmos of the beings that had lived and are gone. These influences continue even after the birth of the child. After birth, the child acquires additional imprints from its own life experiences like education, environment, and various other sources. The acquired imprints are called “Prarabdha Karma.”
The waves from the Genetic Centre of a human being, generally called mind waves, can travel beyond the physical body of the being and can link with the mind of another being. Even though the living beings are separated by their physical body, they are linked with one another by their minds. As a result, the mind of a particular person may affect the nature of the mind of another person and thereby influence his actions. The power of the mind is beyond our comprehension.
According to Materialism, the essential feature of the universe is matter. Consciousness in the universe is an emergent, local and temporary by-product of a living system made up of material particles. In sharp contrast, Idealism states that the essential feature of the universe is Consciousness. According to them, the material particles that populate the universe are a secondary phenomenon and they are local carriers of the Consciousness that constitutes the basic reality.
In CE medium perspective it is Energy that becomes the material particles of the universe and it is waves in Consciousness that become the mind of a living being in the universe. So, the universe is of both matter and mind. In this view, the mind is not a product of matter and neither is matter a product of the mind. They do not come into the universe one after the other but co-exist simultaneously.
At the lower level of living organisms such as animals, the material (physical) strength dominates over the mind power whereas, at the level of human beings, the mind power dominates over the material (physical) power. Thus, the material power and mind power of a living organism are complementary to each other; when one dominates the other becomes less predominant.
The mind-matter complementarity principle, when examined further, leads to the following conclusion. The primordial energy becomes the matter content of the universe. The reverse process of matter becoming energy is possible and this happens in the process of pair annihilation where an electron and a positron collide to produce light energy. In a similar way, Consciousness becomes the mind of a living organism in the universe. The reverse process of mind becoming Consciousness is possible theoretically and this is referred to in philosophy as Samadhi state or Mukti state or a state of Nirvana. However, in practice, this reverse process of mind becoming Consciousness is not possible because imprints in the Consciousness waves cannot be completely erased. At most, by regular meditation and contemplation we can minimize the effect of higher-frequency waves by making their imprints dormant.
Ethical Values
Freedom of action is a unique feature of the human race. When we receive a signal, there are many ways we can react to the signal. When an animal receives a signal, however, it can react only the way dictated by its unchangeable, hereditary genetic codes. Its reaction to a signal is instinctive and no ‘thinking’ is involved. We cannot praise or blame the animal for that reaction, because it cannot act any other way.
On the other hand, a human being has a freedom of action on how one responds to a given signal among the multiple possibilities that may exist. One’s response at any particular instant depends upon the relative strength of the various code imprints in his Genetic Centre whose nature is constantly changing. Therefore, human response to a particular signal becomes unpredictable. Structurally all human beings look quite similar; however, the way they react or respond to an incoming signal can differ vastly. Of all the possible responses, we call the response that is consistent with the following requirement ethical. The requirement is: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” This is the emergence of ethics and follows from the fact that in the core, we are all different forms of the same Consciousness and Energy medium.
Consciousness remains associated with every system and exists between any two systems. Any two systems in the universe are linked by the all-pervading Consciousness. The suffering or the happiness of one system reaches the other system through the medium of Consciousness. A perfectly isolated system does not exist in the universe. All of us are not only the excitation of the same primordial CE medium but also are linked by the same. Contemporary science does not consider living and non-living systems as different excitations of the same entity. Therefore, ethics does not emerge as a part of the science syllabus.
The primordial CE medium (CEM) is Plenum. Its manifestation includes inanimate objects, then into living beings with complexity increasing along the way from the single-cell amoeba to the human beings. The ability to transform into different ways is a general characteristic feature of the primordial CEM. During the transformation process, complexity increases as we move up the evolutionary ladder. The complexity of a system may be considered as a measure of the amount of information that can be stored in the system. The amount of information stored in the Genetic Centre of the human being is much larger than the information available in the Genetic Centre of an amoeba. We can say, therefore, that a human being is a more complex system than the amoeba. As the complexity increases, not only does the amount of information increase, but also the range of choices increases. As a result, randomness increases. Thus, for a human being complexity is the highest, randomness is also the highest, and hence he is completely unpredictable.
According to physicist David Bohm, a complicated or erratic behaviour should not be regarded as disorderly. Every system has its own order dictated by the imprints in its Genetic Centre. Randomness is the order of human beings. If the action of a living being is not conducive to the surrounding environment, he/she has the ability to change its action for a more conducive response. This measures the ethical level of that being. The ability to change one’s own action for the sake of others is not characteristic of any other life forms in the animal kingdom. This ability is endowed only to human beings. Ethics,
therefore, is solely a trait of human beings.
Reference:
Physics Redefined by Alagar Ramanujam and Vijay Arora, notion Press (2021)
1. World without war
2. Economic justice
3. A Fair Judiciary
4. One World Government
5. Reformation of Culture
6. Living under the guidance of intellectuals
7. Respecting Womanhood and giving full equal rights.
8. Living in tune with the law of Nature
9. Avoiding unnecessary rituals and festivals
10. Sports to be made Non commercial and sports facilities to be made
available for all children to make them physically fit.
11. The Education curriculum to include Teaching the law of
Cause and Effect.
12. Expounding the Philosophy of Magnetism
13. Food and Water to be Available for each person of the World.
14. To transcend the religions and the concept of many Gods by
realising the supreme Truth underlying everything.
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