What is Consciousness .....???

Question

is it just a chemical reaction of the brain... or something beyond??

Answer 1

'chit' or 'consciousness'
Whatever world may be perceived, or thought about or felt conceived, in anyone's experience, this world is shown by seeming acts of partial body, sense and mind. Each act creates a seeming show that's known by light of consciousness. That light is knowing in itself. Its very being is to know. It knows itself without an act, by merely being what it is. There, consciousness knows just itself, as its own true identity. What's called a 'knower' thus turns out to be identical with what may also be described as 'known' These are two different ways in which we speak of an identity where nothing alien intervenes between what knows and what is known. That is true knowledge: known direct, by coming back to what one is, to knowing in identity. That consciousness which knows itself is shown by all appearances that are perceived or thought or felt in anyone's experience. Thus, each perception, thought or feeling shows what we call 'consciousness' and what we call 'reality'. Both of these words refer to what is always shown in common by all differing appearances which are perceived and thought and felt by different persons in the world. But that which is thus shown in common cannot be two different things. For if it were, it would be shown in common by this seeming two; and that would make it one alone. That one alone is spoken of as 'consciousness' when thought turns back to look for it as that which knows. And that same one is said to be 'reality', when looking out beneath the show of differences that are perceived and thought and felt by different persons in the world. Two words thus point to what is one. It is at once the self that knows and all the world's reality.

Answer 2

Consciousness is that which makes the chemical reactions in the brain possible. It is life yet does not end in death. It is what makes the brain and all matter and animates the living. It is the breath of God. Consciousness is who we are. Awareness is the (temporary)compressing or focusing of consciousness into a limited field of being.

Answer 3

There is a link between consciousness and chemical levels. That is why anethesiologists can put someone temporarily under by chemicals. That is why entheogens can put a subject into a trance.

But are chemicals causing consciousness itself, or are they creating a home for consciousness to dwell? In personal experience, we are apparently able to exit the body and travel along a nonordinary dimension. This suggest that either chemicals create a home for consciousness or that such experiences are erroneous.

Answer 4

Well I always thought of it as the Awareness of existence of one self that contemplates purpose, however a recent study on livescience.com says that consciousness acts like a wi-fi network and the different parts of the brains are like computers. The consciousness allows the different parts of the brains to communicate with one another thus allowing an output of choice based off the conclusion of that communication. So it is almost like Consciousness is the free will aspect of us that takes into account all options the brain presents.

Answer 5

Consciousness is regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment. It is a subject of much research in philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science.

An understanding of necessary preconditions for consciousness in the human brain may allow us to address important ethical questions. For instance, how is the presence of consciousness to be assessed in severely ill or disabled individuals? To what extent are non-human animals conscious? At what point in fetal development does consciousness begin? Can machines achieve conscious states? Are today's autonomous and intelligent machines already conscious? These issues are of great interest to those concerned with the ethical treatment of other beings, be they animals, fetuses, or machines.

In common parlance, consciousness denotes being awake and responsive to one's environment; this contrasts with being asleep or being in a coma.

Answer 6

Consciousness is not a chemical reaction in the brain. Body of a brain-dead (no chemical reactions in the brain) person works too!

Consciousness is beyond and illuminates I-am-ness (Asmita), I-am (Ego or false existence), intellect, mind and senses/body. It is eternal existence, pure and bliss. Existence, pure and bliss is not It's qualities as space-ness is not the quality of space – space-ness is space itself. Existence, pure and bliss is one as fire-n-heat of fire.

Consciousness is immortal, formless, without limbs, action-less, all-pervading (thus immovable), unchanging, second-less, indivisible, infinite, eternal and without attributes (Nirguna). Consciousness has manifested Itself in It’s Energy (matter), and from this perspective, Consciousness is with attributes (Saguna) also. It’s like same electricity is getting manifested in various electrical equipments such as bulb, fan etc.

Answer 7

I believe it is the level of self awareness any organism might have. And as everything in the universe is fundamentally connected there are many dynamics of the word. My body is made of a bunch of different cells, individually they have their own "process" if you will to carry out. If you bring them together there is this relative awareness of what they are and what they should do.

I believe everything has a certain dynamic of consciousness weather you zoom in to a single cell in the liver or if you examine a human feeling like he is the center of the universe.

It is phenomenon brought on by collection of matter relative to the other matter around it.

Answer 8

Consciousness is pure subjectivity. Evidence suggests it is a basic constituent of nature (perhaps the only constituent, but this claim would require more evidence than we currently have), and that our physiology receives consciousness and shapes it into each personality, much like a television receives a broadcast.

Answer 9

Consciousness is not a chemical reaction.

It is "that" which cannot be seen without which you cannot perceive anything.

The many name for consciosness is Brahmam,Almighty & in scientific term it is space ,Gravity.

The normal Consciousness what we say is a small portion of the super Consciousness.

Answer 10

I answered this earlier.....here's my excerpt once more for your consideration.....

Nothing has prompted more speculation among scientists and philosophers throughout history than the purpose and measurable properties of consciousness. Perhaps consciousness could be defined as an organism's ability to select and impose beneficial properties to their surrounding environment. By this line of thought, intelligence would be closely tied to the level of consciousness of a particular organism. This is particularly noticeable among higher order complex organisms, particularly mammals. As you go up the scale of intelligence from cats, dogs, dolphins, whales, to primates, the level of ability to manipulate the environment increases to reflect intelligence level. From the standpoint of evolution this could make sense as perhaps the most complex example of a survival mechanism. This particular speculation makes sense from a 'human' standpoint as well, after all, humans are essentially the most advanced and intelligent organisms on the planet, and we've survived quite well as a race. However, this is also dampened by humans' distressing lack of regard for long term consequences to the manipulation of the environment. While humans are quite adaptable to changing environments, much of the adaptability is the direct result of technological advances. Whether the technology destroys the human race remains to be seen, if so, eventually human-level intelligence would evolve among some other line of organism as the intelligence and consciousness is indeed a valuable survival trait. The ability to select the methods of environment manipulation that offers the biggest 'rewards' versus the initial investment may very well be nature's most complex survival trait.