A news report today about the status of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, and her progress in recovering from the injury she sustained five months ago, and another regarding the status of her attacker, Jared Loughner, both speak to the essential roles of the brain, the mind, and the spirit, in the challenge to understand the nature … Continue reading The Brain, The Mind, and The Spirit
One of the most compelling forces behind much of my writing also happens to be one of the most important reasons why we should question the current wisdom of the modern study of human consciousness. Aside from acknowledging the central role that consciousness plays in our existence and the nearly complete lack of comprehension of … Continue reading Conscious Machines?
Ever since the hominid brain evolved sufficiently to provide modern humans with a degree of cognitive talent that still surpasses any other known species, the blossoming of conscious awareness slowly provided Homo sapiens with the ability to not only be aware that they exist, but to utilize this new ability deliberately and with purpose. It … Continue reading The Voice of Thought
My own vague recollections of my earliest memories seem to begin in my third year of life, shortly before my third birthday when our family moved to Pennsylvania from Schenectady, New York. Bits and pieces of memory from those early days still exist within me, and I remember most vividly, sitting on the large windowsill … Continue reading Memory, Language, Early Childhood
James Taylor wrote a song called, "Carolina In My Mind," asking two questions: "Can't you feel the sunshine? Can't you just see the moonshine?" The chorus ends with the words, "I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind." Have you ever been transported to another time as you became lost in a powerfully written book, or … Continue reading Experience of Imagination
Recent criticism of the Templeton Organization by science writer John Horgan in his blog on Scientific American, “Cross Check” asked the question, “Is there such a thing as a spiritual fact? This question is brought to mind by the Templeton Prize, which was given last week to the British astrophysicist Martin Rees.” Horgan states his … Continue reading Spiritual Information
One of the central issues in science today is the search for a comprehensive explanation for the subjective experience of consciousness, and what role “non-physical components” might play in coming to terms with the precise nature of consciousness. A good place to begin is with our own very human emotions. In spite of having a … Continue reading Absence of Evidence is Not Evidence of Absence
According to most specialists in cognitive studies, there is a stream of consciousness within each of us that never ceases, regardless of whether we are awake or asleep. Exactly what is responsible for our experience of consciousness and a comprehensive explanation of its functioning are still subjects of considerable speculation and study. Assuming that we … Continue reading Welcome!
“Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than material force, that thoughts rule the world.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson Although Woolf knew that experience is made out of a "shower of innumerable atoms," she believed that the elusive self bound those atoms into a whole. It took the "shivering fragments" of sensation … Continue reading Experience and The Self
John's Consciousness 