from where does conciousness arise? is it an inbuilt quality present in us at the time we open our eyes?

Question

in this world or is it developed at some later stage of life.
if its the second option, how does it develop?

in this world or is it developed at some later stage of life.if its the second option, how does it develop?
Please give the answer indetail with references.

Answer 1

Not many things involving human beings are innate, however our capacity for such things are. Very basically, you have to understand that a human being intersects three fundamental realities: the physical, the biological, and the cultural. In other words, we are composed of matter, we are alive, and we create culture. It's easy enough to understand the first two. But by culture I mean human beings construct a specifically human world, one of a symbolic and immaterial nature. All things we do, say, think, and feel, are a part of culture, which is to say, that which makes us specifically human (as opposed to inanimate or animal). As an example, language is the largest and most common form of symbolic reality that humans partake in.

To understand consciousness, we have to understand first that culture is an emergent property of life. For instance, life is an emergent property of matter; meaning, matter put together in a certain way, under the right conditions will give rise to the property of life. Now, life cannot be found innately within inanimate matter, and neither can a description of life be reduced to mere physical laws. The same emergent process happens again with living, biological beings. With enough brain development, and particularly a larynx for speaking purposes, human beings (and some primates) have given rise to culture, which cannot be explained in either biological or physical terms, for it's nature is that of symbolism.

In order for beings to arrive at the ability to create and partake in culture, something akin to what people call consciouness or mind must be in place. Human beings are indeed born with higher brain and vocal functions, so to answer your question it's more accurate to think of consciousness as a capacity, which is then continually utilized and developed. To be fair though, consciousness in all of this can be defined as a being's ability to partake in the creation and maintenance of culture, and more specifically, it is what we call culture's interaction with the brain, i.e. the symbolic reality interacting with the physical/biological.

In short, consciousness is endowed upon humans (and some higher primates) by virtue of our higher brain capacity, vocal capabilites, and other biological features. Yet it is continutally being developed (and re-developed) all the time, though participation in the cultural process.

Answer 2

The age old question came to mind:
Whether we are philosophical zombies or not?

Current view is that we are not, but as a computer scientists, I think we may as well be. Of course that does not sit well with the soul and spirit theories.

Until we are able to decode the DNA down to its last strain and shows the over all mathematical equivalence as a firmware -- or wetware -- program for the body, we will still be debating this question.

If it would turn out that some unseen thing is required to kick start life then we would still hold that we are not philosophical zombies and further research is required.

If it would turn out that no unseen element is required to initiate life, then life is assembled into existence and emergence theory of consciousness would be confirmed. That would shake the world up quiet a bit.

However, here is a link that explains the complication of analogizing prokaryotic genetic content:
http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/21/3/293

Answer 3

Consciousness is the energy of the spirit soul which is our real, eternal identity. Wherever there is life there is consciousness also. No part of our bodies, including the brain, generate consciousness and this is easily understood by the fact that when we are asleep or under anesthesia, consciousness is not exhibited, but the brain and other body parts are still healthy. However, for our senses to perceive that consciousness is there in someone, the body must be alive and relatively healthy. A crude example: The TV networks are always broadcasting TV signals, but a working TV set is required to get the signal and see it. But if your TV doesn't work, that doesn't mean that no TV signals are being broadcast. It just means that you cannot see them yourself. In a similar way, if someone's body has died, that doesn't mean that the consciousness of that individual soul no longer exists. That soul continues to exist and has consciousness in another situation, but we can longer perceive it since the body is no longer working.

Since all life is ultimately spiritual and therefore conscious, all life forms have consciousness. But for us to see lower forms of life as conscious entities may not be easy because many lower species have bodies which do not allow their consciousness to be exhibited. A lot like having a TV set that gets a very weak signal or maybe just has the power button light up and nothing else.

I recommend you read the second chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, available at the link below, for more information on consciousness and the spirit soul.

Answer 4

yes u can say that. when the child is born it becomes aware of the first sense that is touch. then it can feel the hunger.as it grows its consciousness also increases.in stages. like it can see, hear, control its body to a certain extent , smile at its will etc. these qualities are inbuilt & the outer atmosphere also adds to its development.like if u don't talk to the baby , it will not learn how to respond to .your voice. consciousness is an inbuilt quality which develops further with the help of the environment.

Answer 5

i replaced into thinking approximately this no longer some time past, I closed my precise eye, then my left eye, and watched because of the fact the international shifted left and precise. So which place replaced into the international actual? 2 positions at as quickly as, in accordance to my senses? there are in all probability a tonne greater senses which we merely do no longer could ability to experience, the way that a blind mole can no longer see. That mole does not know how plenty it rather is lacking out on, in step with risk it is the comparable with us. an entire distinctive universe packed with secrets and strategies which we merely do no longer know approximately. superb question

Answer 6

Conciousness or awareness is an innate capability of living beings. At the time of birth this capability is weak and not fully developed. As we grow awareness grows with us along with the rest of our physical, psychological and spiritual faculties.

As you can see from the other answers there are two schools of thought which have attempted to answer this in greater detail: scientific materialism and spiritual mysticism. Both attempt to provide an all inclusive model excluding the other. This I believe is in error. Your question and others in this class like "What is life?" cannot be fully explained by either school. It is like the three blind men who touch different parts of the elephant and call it different things: The man touching the body calls it a wall, the one touching the trunk calls it a tree and the one touchng the tail calls it a rope. I believe that both schools are describing the same thing but from different perspectives. Like when you climb a mountain from different routes the scenery will be different and hence your description of it will vary.

Scientific materialism describes the origin of conciousness and the mechanism of its operation and in that sense it answers your question: conciousness emerges (arises) from life. Though if you ask the question "where did the property of emergence come from?" you will recieve blank stares :-)

Spiritual mysticism is not concerned with matters of origin as much as it is concerned with the nature of conciousness itself. It attempts to answer the question: what is conciousness? The major difficulty in a "what is" question is that you end up with a string of definitions that attempt to describe the properties and mechanical operation of the thing. E.g. Scientific materialists presents conciousness as a series of mechanical operations while the mystics present it metaphorically. This I believe is actually a limitation of the mechanics of language (not just english, any language) and hence the difficulty with precise answers.

However in answer to your questions:
Where does conciousness arise from? Life
Is it an inbuilt quality? Yes
How does it develop? Much like the rest of your body. The nutrient supply for its growth (aka development) being both external stimuli as well as internal cogitation. This is a weak answer. It does not explain how the mahatmas attained higher levels of conciousness. There are various theories to answer that but at the end it is observed that higher levels of conciousness are not attained by intellectual enquiry but by "spiritual" seeking.

Answer 7

There is not one thing or mechanism that makes the conscious arise. It comes from different sources. Though it mainly provides for the conscious to grow in its awareness, partially by inbuilt presets that leap out (or into) their potential by certain dynamics (or stimuli) and otherwise by integrating better with the body it is in. If you take the analogy with the body than it becomes quite obvious that one cannot live on water and bread alone, not that it is totally impossible, but with other food sources available it would be like cutting yourself short. The consciousness has a similar varied feeding pattern, by which it so to speak, ingests impressions, evaluates them (digesting) and sees them as valuable (growth/sustenance) or worthless (excrement).

When you look a little deeper, it is also obvious that some of the consciousness or pathways of the consciousness are hard coded in our genes. The usefulness of that is purely aimed at the survival of the body and indirectly for the consciousness to gather its food for thought as long as possible. For instance if you compare babies of 30 years ago with those of today, it is striking that the little ones of now are sooner able to keep their heads up. The only plausible reason for such a conscious move is hard coded genes, the why could be found in visual stimuli that became more abundant with the invention and usage of television, coupled of course with our inbuilt curiosity. Babies before that time lived in radio-days! Without flickering lights of a television (and nowadays computer) that would have it raise its little head, the stimuli (sounds) made it to their ears no matter how they kept their heads.

Later in life the social consciousness of people surfaces. This is also aimed to a better chance of survival. It is after such that the collective unconsciousness (Jung) has to become a state of awareness/consciousness. When you look at for instant hive animals it has to be obvious that even though the individuals have a rather limited consciousness and self awareness, their collective consciousness it much better developed than that of humans. Then again even if you look at the way that pack animals hunt, or the well coordinated flight of flocking birds, you can find much explanation in a well developed collective consciousness, better than what we on our self-proclaimed summit of consciousness and awareness have achieved.

I think that the consciousness together with the circumstances (nature) do write and rewrite our genetic coding. Which on behalf of our awareness is an unconscious act, nonetheless very likely to take place. It would somehow indicate that the totalities of our different cognitive systems determine who we are and who we will become (personally or generational). This is a valid exchange, because it improves both body and creates better possibility for the consciousness to gather its impressions – a win-win situation! Compare it to the way we started to manufacture cars, look at the how it was partially preconceived and partially developed by experiences driving them. The consciousness in that sense is inventor, engineer, mechanic and driver, working hard to improve the design and keep it running.

In short, consciousness comes from every conceivable place and it is up to the receiving awareness to make these notions useful. The potential of consciousness could well be unlimited from the start in which case our awareness limits this to what is apt for our situation. Comparable to when you go on vacation you don't put everything you have in your suitcase (most sane people at least!).


It’s long, but you asked for detailed thank God you didn’t ask for meticulous!

Answer 8

Through the parents during the childhood, from school, from the people around. All these contribute to the development of conciousness.

Answer 9

Consciousness is and has been always there. Some times we are more aware of that than other. You need to be very alert to find out what the "essence" is in things and living beings. Daily meditation is the best pathway I know. Good luck.

Answer 10

The consiousness is purely depends with the brain and the sense of feeling that makes you alert in all the events...

If you are getting lack of consious means its due to the lack of co-ordination between your brain and senses....
It doesnt mean only eyes gives u consious....

so i think the answer pleases ur question...