- Aug 23, 2021
- 34
- 15
There are three big questions of life that science has not answered for. These questions deal with the origin and nature of life, the Universe, and consciousness. For this topic I will focus on consciousness.
To date, scientists study consciousness by looking at the brain activity associated with a controlled experience. By doing so, scientists think that it will lead them to the causes and workings of consciousness. Suck work has gone on for decades and we are still no closer to explaining why and how neurons give rise to conscious experience.
"Importantly, it is not clear how any physical process, such as neural activity, can give rise to a subjective phenomenon such as conscious awareness of something, and even the possibility of such a causal relationship is controversial. It must be kept in mind that empirical research on the neural correlates of consciousness should be neutral to the question of causality. Instead, this research can identify and characterize patterns of neural activity that specifically correlate with conscious as opposed to unconscious perception." [1]
An alternative approach which I have tested myself is to use meditation to understand consciousness. The problem with Western science is that it does not involve the study of consciousness in its pure form and so its no wonder they get led away in different directions. Instead of studying consciousness, instead they are studying thoughts, feelings, and not the awareness itself. In the meditative state, I am able to reach a state of awareness without mental and bodily input. This is consciousness in its true and pure form.
The skeptics will say that mediation is not a scientific tool. Perhaps to these skeptics, science can only be done in a lab. Real science can also be done where the experimenter becomes the subject. That is called field research. There is no good reason for why meditation has worked for thousands of years as explained by many Eastern thinkers and religions but then it somehow becomes worthless in the West. Using meditation as a scientific tool would be nothing more than using field research. We must get over our egos and cultural biases.
1. P. Sterzer, G. Rees, in Encyclopedia of Consciousness, 2009; https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/neural-correlates-of-consciousness

To date, scientists study consciousness by looking at the brain activity associated with a controlled experience. By doing so, scientists think that it will lead them to the causes and workings of consciousness. Suck work has gone on for decades and we are still no closer to explaining why and how neurons give rise to conscious experience.
"Importantly, it is not clear how any physical process, such as neural activity, can give rise to a subjective phenomenon such as conscious awareness of something, and even the possibility of such a causal relationship is controversial. It must be kept in mind that empirical research on the neural correlates of consciousness should be neutral to the question of causality. Instead, this research can identify and characterize patterns of neural activity that specifically correlate with conscious as opposed to unconscious perception." [1]
An alternative approach which I have tested myself is to use meditation to understand consciousness. The problem with Western science is that it does not involve the study of consciousness in its pure form and so its no wonder they get led away in different directions. Instead of studying consciousness, instead they are studying thoughts, feelings, and not the awareness itself. In the meditative state, I am able to reach a state of awareness without mental and bodily input. This is consciousness in its true and pure form.
The skeptics will say that mediation is not a scientific tool. Perhaps to these skeptics, science can only be done in a lab. Real science can also be done where the experimenter becomes the subject. That is called field research. There is no good reason for why meditation has worked for thousands of years as explained by many Eastern thinkers and religions but then it somehow becomes worthless in the West. Using meditation as a scientific tool would be nothing more than using field research. We must get over our egos and cultural biases.
1. P. Sterzer, G. Rees, in Encyclopedia of Consciousness, 2009; https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/neural-correlates-of-consciousness