The actual quote from Dostoevsky’s “Notes From The Underground,” goes as follows: “And yet I think man will never renounce real suffering, that is, destruction and chaos. Why, suffering is the sole origin of consciousness. Though I did lay it down at the beginning that consciousness is the greatest misfortune for man, yet I know … Continue reading Origins of Consciousness
As is often the case with the approach of the autumn season, I can strongly sense that change is coming, and it’s not just in the dazzling panoply of autumn leaves. My spirit—my soul—the very essence of my existence—is rising. I feel its approach; I sense its immanent arrival; and I welcome it. I understand … Continue reading Auguries of Autumn
The only means of strengthening one's intelligence is to make up one's mind about nothing-- to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts. - John Keats (1795 - 1821) No matter what aspect of conscious experience we wish to consider, whether it involves a clearly temporal action or event like wrestling an alligator, … Continue reading The Dynamics of Consciousness
There have been a number of indications in my daily experience recently which seem to point toward an opening to a new direction in my ongoing pursuit to begin to unravel some of the mystery presented by our struggle to understand the nature and character of our subjective experience of human consciousness, and to present … Continue reading Just A Coincidence?
There are a number of interesting developments in artificial intelligence these days, and the progress being made in making these technologies useful, especially in the medical and educational realms, gives us some cause for optimism regarding their use in the future. Even the current selection of options available in AI chat-bot applications, represent an impressive … Continue reading Developments In Artificial Intelligence
Digging through the information stored in my brain in memory is sometimes like conducting an archival search of historical records. Even though, according to modern neuroscience, reviewing our memories is not usually a precise recreation of those remembered moments, stored over the years in which they were relegated to long-term status, we actually reassemble the … Continue reading The Archives In My Brain and In My Heart
This gem of a book struck me as one of the best examples of a scientist who is unafraid of stretching the boundaries of how to view the workings of our mind. How easily she glides between science and metaphor and yet remains solidly in the science camp as a rule! Her discussion in chapter … Continue reading An Alchemy of Mind
In this month's edition of my Consciousness Video Series, I put together a review of a recent book by Dr. Alan Lightman called, "The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality In The Age of Science." In a wonderful development, my review of Dr. Lightman's book, "A Sense of the Mysterious," apparently caught his eye, and he sent me … Continue reading Consciousness Video Series: Episode 11: The Transcendent Brain Reply to Alan Lightman +plus: A Porch With A View
I am more aware than ever of my fragility and my mortality. Lately, everything I see and take in reminds me that, as time progresses, there may now be much less time to waste, and yet sometimes what to a casual observer may seem like wasting time is actually an effort to completely immerse myself … Continue reading Reminiscing and Reverie
One of the advantages of accumulating a fair number of decades of life experience, still reasonably intact in the main, is the ability to reflect upon and seriously consider what one has endured and accomplished over the course of those decades. As I now traverse the early days of my eighth decade, I suppose that … Continue reading Living Through and Through
John's Consciousness 