"Wind" by Andrew Wyeth For many people, the idea of being "near death," is one they would rather not contemplate, but as anyone who has survived an accidental or unintentional brush with death can tell you, suddenly finding yourself at the edge of such a possibility tends to narrow your focus sharply on whatever action … Continue reading Neuroscience and Near Death Experiences
These past few weeks have brought me face-to-face with some of the most challenging moments of my life. Facing life squarely is always a challenge one way or another, but confronting the consequences of my brother's illness took me to levels of challenge I never imagined. Forced to consider and respond to circumstances beyond anything … Continue reading Finding My Way
I have felt such a broad range of emotions of late, and have switched between experiences of different key elements so frequently, that I have been unable to focus very clearly on any one matter for very long. The crux of the matter seems to be that the disparate elements vying for my attention all … Continue reading Consciousness in the World: Finding Our Way
Recently, I posted about the development of consciousness in our distant human ancestors, and the parallels between that development and how our modern children develop. I wasn't expecting to be considering how there might be a parallel to be drawn from the gradual loss of access to consciousness as a consequence of the debilitating effects … Continue reading Consciousness in the World: Between Life and Death
All things being equal, our common sense notions of the world in which we exist can be said to represent a version of reality that is reasonably reliable as a general standard for determining our individual status within it. In spite of the fact that our perceptions of the world are a product of a … Continue reading Appearance and Reality
"Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death.... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and … Continue reading Consciousness in the World: Connections
As an attentive consumer of various scientific publications available in the world today, particularly those concerning the science of mind and brain, while the information is often intriguing and illuminating in regards to how the physiology of the brain results in the extraordinary variety of symptoms, characteristics, and behavior of modern humans, what is often … Continue reading A World of Consciousness and Consciousness in the World
shaper of dreams.by ~Sea-of-Ice http://sea-of-ice.deviantart.com/gallery/ In response to one of my recent posts, my good friend and fellow blogger from The Heartbreak of Invention, (http://patricemj.wordpress.com/) posed several important questions regarding some of the issues surrounding the nature of human consciousness. While these issues are the subject of intense study over a number of neuroscientific disciplines, … Continue reading The Nature of Consciousness
The Beginning Life, for me, began rather precariously and very nearly ended as soon as it began. As I entered the world, all of the normal techniques for encouraging a baby to breathe were not succeeding. I was, in the terminology of the day, a “blue baby.” According to my parents, in a last desperate … Continue reading Life: Mysterious or Mystical?
"We can only love what we know, and we can never know completely what we do not love. Love is a mode of knowledge..." Aldous Huxley The Secret Bench of Knowledge - A sculpture by Czech-born Canadian sculptor Lea Vivot - image from Vlastula's photo-stream on Flickr The image above caught my eye and my … Continue reading “Love is a Mode of Knowledge”
John's Consciousness 