EP 96 The Science of Consciousness

This episode explores the progress that science has made to measure or understand consciousness and is based on a book called Being You by Anil Seth. Frankly, I was a little disappointed by the content of the book, which I have yet to finish. However, I think what I discovered by reading this book is important for us spiritual speakers because it shows the limits of how much objectivity we hold.

This in turn is important to keep us grounded in our own perception of what is happening to us as we navigate the spirit world.

One of the most important ideas of the first part of the book is that consciousness is not measured or ranked by how awakened we are or whether we can speak and demonstrate that ability. It is very dangerous to assume that a human being has a superior consciousness to a turtle, for example. Because the reality of consciousness is an INNER experience that in a vast majority of cases cannot be captured by the existing methods of measurement.

However the author argues that temperature used to be a mystery and science has since demystified temperature to the point where now most people grasp the concept instantly. And that is because scientists have invented an instrument that can measure it. This has not yet been possible for consciousness, but we can be confident that one day they will.

The other interesting that surfaced from the book is that we should not confuse wakefulness with consciousness as the dream experiences that we have whilst we sleep are actually part of our consciousness.

Why do I think it's important to explore the point of view of scientists with regards to consciousness? Because we need to understand what is real and what is not as spiritual seekers. In the episode, I refer back to the episode about mental health and spirituality which you can listen to here.