Consciousness : The Conscious Mind Essay

Native Americans believed that we are and should be one with Mother Nature. Many believes stem from them being so Intune with the wind, ground, tress/plants and animals. They believe that everything is connected and to be fully connected they needed to have these special ceremonies. These ceremonies included peyote and strong tobaccos to reach true enlightenment and to become one with yourself. Also in these ceremonies you typically are on a journey to find yourself or see things you need to strengthen within yourself. Since I have started mediating and looking further in depth about meditating, I have learned that many feel that you cannot reach true enlightenment in ordinary consciousness. I believe that this “ordinary consciousness” is somewhat

Consciousness is what is used to define the non-physical mind. It encompasses thoughts, feelings and emotions among other attributes. Consciousness creates a picture of the mind being vague, Vast, mysterious and something that cannot be seen by the naked eye but is present nevertheless. You can’t slice open someone’s brain and see what they are feeling, or dreaming or thinking. You can only know that by observation likes someone crying, smiling, laughing or showing some form of physical reaction or by someone simply telling you how they are feeling. Consciousness is part of the mind-body problem that we read about with Descartes where he believes that we have a thinking mind and a physical body. Both are present but two separate parts.

Numerous factors determine when and why you feel tired, full of energy, and hungry. A person's state of consciousness and awareness varies throughout the day and depends on a person's activity, environment, and time clock.

BibliographyBooks1.Burt, C. (1962). The concept of consciousness. British Journal of Psychology, 53, 229-2422.Carlson, N., & Buskist, W. (1997). Psychology: The science of behavior (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

The fascination with consciousness dates back to the time of Plato and Descartes. Since those times the term “consciousness” has spurned controversy in many scientific fields, including the fields of biology, psychology, and neuroscience. However, with the recent advancements in brain imaging technologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG), human consciousness has shifted from being a subjective, abstract idea into being a observable scientific phenomenon. As neuroimaging capabilities progress, the public interest in consciousness also grows.

Bor uses the factual evidence that “every person on the planet, on average, consumes twice his or her weight in animal-derived food each year” (Bor) to set the stage form this controversial topic that hangs on the question of consciousness. Bor once again makes the audience read the entire section on animal rights before revealing his stance on the issue; Bor claims to be a vegetarian which shows the reader that he believes animals experience consciousness to the point where they should not be consumed as a food source. He presents the question how many animals actually have the brain regions required for consciousness? Bor then answers that most mammals have developed these structures and saying that this is “suggesting strongly that they too have some significant levels of consciousness” (Bor). He then references several animals how have been observed to use tools and “demonstrate a mental life that many would classify as conscious” (Bor) such as a crow or an octopus. Bor refers to several test done to various species to determine their self-consciousness and metacognition. The self-awareness test revealed “chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, dolphins, elephants, and pigs” (Bor) to have some degree of self-awareness while the metacognition test revealed that “great apes and monkeys” (Bor) show metacognition. Bor uses these results to support his ideals that “ethically consistent for us to extend

According to Martin Schonfield in “Animal Consciousness: Paradigm Change in the Life Sciences” “In the old analytic climate, claims that animals are sentient raised methodological and ideological problems and seemed debatable at best.”(Schonfield p. 1) Claims that animals were self-aware or intelligent were regarded as unfounded. “The task of science in the past four centuries had been to demythologize the past.”(Schonfield p.1) Daniel C. Dennett in “Animal Consciousness: What Matters and Why” states “that speculating about animal consciousness makes no sense.” (Dennett p.19) He wonders why we need to know about animal consciousness at all. I disagree with Dennett and will explore the possibilities of animals actually experiencing

My own theory of consciousness is a state of awareness of self. It has been said that this awareness stems from arousal. Consciousness, to me, is entirely internal. We experience the external world, but only through our senses. Dehaene and Naccache (2001) explain that neuroscience is beginning to investigate and understand the "neural underpinnings of consciousness." Thus, consciousness is something that we experience via our own bodies. However, there is an implied separation between experience and consciousness. Animals and plants also have mechanisms for interacting with the world, but they do not appear to have the same neural underpinnings that them to interpret the world with the same awareness that humans have. We, however, not only experience the external world, but we are aware of that experience.

Consciousness refers to an individual’s self-awareness, both internally and external stimulus which include your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and environment. Your consciousness can constantly change from one conscious to another. The constant change in consciousness can also be referred to as “stream of conscious”. Awareness- its mechanism and function has

The term consciousness refers to "your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and environment” (Kendra Cherry, http://psychology.about.com). Our unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of awareness but that nevertheless have a great influence on behavior.

Brandt, K. (2004) bases her work of growing body of literature that highlights the ability that different animals can achieve inter-subjectivity and communicate through shared meaning. The topic is approached through the reformulation of Mead’s internationalist approach that is based on the idea that humans move from biological organisms to minded individuals, and animals are impulsive beings due to their lack of verbal language. Brandt shows that even within the absence of verbal language species can still create shared meaning and shape the way they live together. Through the interaction and creation of a relationship on both ends of the parties enables the ability sense another’s subjective presence. Ones subjective presence enables the

The chapter states that if animals are conscious, their conscious level probably varies from the simplest feelings to thinking about the common problems they can face, and ways to avoid it.

Human curiosity has always attempted to understand the concept of consciousness. However, humanity's only definition is described as the state of being aware of one's surroundings. In a world where the mind is an undiscovered endless amount of power and self-expression, it is hard to categorize consciousness with such a vague definition. Questions also arise in regards to the very location of an individual's mind and whether it is dually connected with one's body or a separate entity entirely. The physical presence of the mind currently rests as a mystery but many theorize that its location is a part of your body or that it has no physical relation. Each individual currently has a different view on the definition of consciousness and the location of your mind rests with the belief of each individual.

Even when it is defined it has no physical meaning involved. I am led to believe consciousness is not physical. For example is it physical when one knows right from wrong? Knowing happens in the mind, the mind is a part of one’s conscious. Therefore inferring knowing right from wrong is a conscious state of mind. When someone goes into the store and steals no matter the reason why, the action attaches itself to one’s conscious. The conscious is connected to memory so when someone remembers a bad action it takes a toll on their conscious.

Consciousness allows a person to recognize their existence, and subsequently, to form their essence. The