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Is consciousness physical or nonphysical?

Is consciousness physical or nonphysical?

  • physical

  • nonphysical

  • neither

  • both

  • other

  • it all depends

  • I don't know


Results are only viewable after voting.

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
If consciousness is an emergent property, it is still a physical property. I would say there is no such thing as non-physical. Even our thoughts are physical in some way. To me physical = existing. Non-physical = non-existing.
Exactly. Just try separating consciousness from the physical.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
The Sanskrit "turiya" is the term employed to describe the state of pure consciousness which is the background for the three common states of consciousness (waking consciousness, dreaming, dreamless sleep).
'Turiya' is when one ascends the seven chakras. :) Well, I am no yogi or tantrika.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
That's what I'm asking you. Is it possible to be conscious of reality. And if it is, then what exactly is this reality?
Yes, IMHO, it is possible to be conscious of reality. And the reality (as per what we know today) is a huge ocean of ever-pulsating energy (for want of a better word - I am pointing to virtual particles); what we see it as, is only our perception, and not the truth.
Okay, then "think."
I have already completed my thinking and am satisfied with my conclusions. I will visit your topic 'Ishwara Pranidhana' (contemplation of God/Supreme Being/True Self, since I am an atheist). :)
 
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Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
While the base of "I" is a brain and complexed neurochemical reaction, "I" am an abstract awareness that is biologically unnecessary for biological functioning. "I" am also very curious as to how I "really" even got here in the first place. Curious thing, how did I become "me" and not someone else? Or why wasn't "I" born in the past? In the future?
 

Eliab ben Benjamin

Active Member
Premium Member
And in the meantime, you haven't demonstrated that consciousness can be experienced without a brain. What's stopping you?

Perhaps i can from personal experience in my life/death ... for 3 days after my car accident i was tested every few hours and had a GCS of Zero ... pronounced Brain dead (not surprising as i had lost 40% brain) ... the coma lasted a further 10 days whilst on life support machines so my body (uninjured) may
be available for transplant to others ...

Conciousness during that time : Brief moments of awareness of relatives and friends visiting,
irritation they were speaking to me as if i were a small child, and not hearing my mindful pleas
to get me out of the deep dark hole i found myself in .... Also at some time before this the typical
near Death Experience, where i travelled the dark tunnel to the place of light and met Gatekeeper,
had life review, and met Grandfather ( this memory is somehow more real and vibrant than what
i did yesterday) my contention that having no measurable brain activity, there should be no way
the memories could be recorded, unless that awareness (conciousness) can be separate from brain/
body .... Evidence= my Death Certificate sits on my study wall ...

Shalom .. Eliab
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
And the reality (as per what we know today) is a huge ocean of ever-pulsating energy (for want of a better word - I am pointing to virtual particles); what we see it as, is only our perception, and not the truth.
Factually unsubstantiated.
If we believe in Big Bang, then there was nothing other than 'physical energy' to begin with. And the relationship of mass and energy has been established. Of course, this views as I said is based on what we know today and can be modified if newer scientific evidence disputes it. Do you see anything other than 'physical energy' in the universe?
 

LegionOnomaMoi

Veteran Member
Premium Member
The phrase "physical energy" looks problematic to me. How about just "energy"?
Actually you make a point that I think is worthy of more exploration. Certainly, physical energy is a bit problematic (unless context implies a clearly different kind of energy we are contrasting "physical pain" with, such as in the colloquial term "positive energy"). Energy is a term used in physics, so "physical energy" is a bit redundant to say the least.

On the other hand, physics doesn't have one notion, term, phenomenon, or property that "energy" in physics refers to. Rather, we have potential energy, kinetic energy, ionization energy, binding energy, high vs. low energy, etc. So on the one hand it is redundant in most ways to say "physical energy", but on the other hand if I just refer to energy might it not be that I am being to vague?
 

LegionOnomaMoi

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Electrical energy measured by EEG .
Neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) can at best refer to a correlation (surprise, surprise) and correlation isn't causation. There are deeper problems with the idea that they can show anything (not just from a methodological perspective) that are raised in the philosophy of mind literature, but it suffices to say that NCCs can at best show that whatever causes these correlates is either the brain or something else (a soul, the force, magic, etc.)
 

NulliuSINverba

Active Member
Perhaps i can from personal experience in my life/death ... for 3 days after my car accident i was tested every few hours and had a GCS of Zero ... pronounced Brain dead (not surprising as i had lost 40% brain) ... the coma lasted a further 10 days whilst on life support machines so my body (uninjured) may be available for transplant to others ...

Obviously, if you're still with us ... you were only (as you've already indicated) pronounced brain dead. The operative word here is "pronounced."

Conciousness during that time : Brief moments of awareness of relatives and friends visiting, irritation they were speaking to me as if i were a small child

So if we assume (for the sake of argument) that your brain was literally dead and that you were somehow conscious without any physical connection to your body, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you believe that your disembodied mind was able to hear your relative's condescending tone(s) without ears, correct?

You're making some rather extraordinary claims regarding the nature of sound waves, yes? Aren't you saying that sound waves possess some sort of transcendent quality that allows them to be heard without auditory receptors? Or are you claiming that disembodied spirits somehow (pardon the choice of words) possess auditory receptors that exist in the material world?

Also at some time before this the typical near Death Experience

Near Death is a far cry from Beyond Death. Where are all the post-death experiences? Why is it only ever a near death experience? Aren't we all near death?

Some of us are just nearer than others.

my contention that having no measurable brain activity, there should be no way the memories could be recorded, unless that awareness (conciousness) can be separate from brain/body .... Evidence= my Death Certificate sits on my study wall ...

So are you claiming that those memories you're talking about haven't been recorded in your brain? If not, then where are they recorded? Are they recorded on some sort of celestial cloud memory, perhaps?

...

It is my contention that you were not brain dead (and could not have been) ... because you're here now to talk about it. If this explanation turns out to be somewhere near the truth, then the ensuing experiences and memories don't need supernatural explanations.

...

Aleichem shalom.
 
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