THROUGH THE WINDOW OF

CONSCIOUSNESS

Presented By: Sourav Bhoumik

MS batch-7,NCSM

What is CONSCIOUSNESS?

• Consciousness has been defined by psychologists as our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

• The awareness varies depending on our attention to the task at hand. Ex: driving.

Level of CONSCIOUSNESS

• Consciousness: An organism’s or individual’s awareness of, or possibility of knowing what is happening inside or outside itself.

• Subconscious or Preconscious - Consists of accessible information. You can become aware of this information once your direct your attention to it. It just below the level of awareness. It contains thoughts and ideas just out of our awareness.

• Unconsciousness- A deeper level of awareness is the unconsciousness. It contains thoughts and desires about which we have no true or direct knowledge.

Level of CONSCIOUSNESS

Sigmund Freud's levels of consciousness

This figure illustrates the respective levels of the id, ego, and superego. The part above water

is known as the conscious level; the top level of waves just below the surface and above

the white line is the preconscious level; and the bottom level is the unconscious.

From the History…..

First appearing in the historical records of the ancient Mayan and Incan civilizations, various theories of multiple levels of consciousness have pervaded spiritual, psychological, medical, and moral speculations in both Eastern and Western cultures.

The Ancient Mayans were among the first to propose an organized sense of each level of consciousness, its purpose, and its temporal connection to humankind.

Eastern concept of CONSCIOUSNESS

• Yogic texts and Vedanta explain of four planes of consciousness.

•  in the state of being 'Awake' (Jagritawasta or Vaisvanara) that we remain consciously aware of our surroundings

• In Dream state (Swapna awasta or Taijasa) except for the movement everything that a person who awake experiences can be experienced.

•  in deep sleep (Sushuptiawasta or Pragna) the individual who is experiencing it simply is not aware of the other two states of 'being awake' or "being in dream".

• Upanishads proclaim that there is a fourth state of existence called 'Thuriya' where in the 'individual self' is capable of experiencing all other three states simultaneously and that state of existence is when the 'individual self' is merged with the 'universal consciousness' or attained the liberated state of 'Purusha' or 'Brahman' Purusha is a state of self existence which is static, undifferentiated and universal.

Patanjali’s concept of ‘CHITTA’

• Patanjali uses the term 'Chitta' as an entity which encompasses much more than what the depth psychologists consider as 'unconscious' or 'subconscious' 'conscious ego' and also acts as a bridge between the all these and the 'superconscious core the Purusha'.

• Purusha is the master of Chitta and is never changing.

Patanjali further describes various states of 'Chitta' which are called Chitta bhumis which can be eqated with various mental states. Five states or Chitta bhumis are (a) Mudha (b) Kshipta (c) Viskhipta (d) Ekagra and (e) Niruddha.

Modern Theories of CONSCIOUSNESS

• While Freud's theory remains one of the best known, various schools within the field of psychology have developed their own perspectives. For example, developmental psychologists view consciousness not as a single entity, but as a developmental process with potential higher stages of cognitive, moral, and spiritual quality.

• Social psychologists view consciousness as a product of cultural influence having little to do with the individual.

• Neuropsychologists view consciousness as ingrained in neural systems and organic brain structures, and cognitive psychologists base their understanding of consciousness on computer science.

Other Ways to Impact Consciousness

Hypnosis •Hypnosis is a natural state of selective, focused attention, and, even though it is 100% natural and normal, it remains one of the most fascinating phenomena of the human mind.

• It can be used for many things, including pain management, addiction management, and weight loss.

Other Ways to Impact Consciousness

Meditation• Meditation has a variety of health benefits, including lowered stress levels,

boosts in immune system function, and decreased muscle tension.• Meditation can be personalized to fit a person's needs and daily schedule, as it

can be done anywhere and at any time of day or night.• Devotional meditation involves focusing on a particular object or concept.

Why CONSCIOUSNESS??

• According to Rene Descartes, consciousness is axiomatic because you cannot logically deny your minds existence at the same time as using your mind to do the denying.

• To be a consciousness, it must be conscious of something external to itself. Only after it is conscious of something external can it identify itself.

“I think, therefore I am.”

Like a car motor that generates electricity for it's own use, it needs to be kick-started by something outside of it. It needs existence.

The Idea of Exhibits ….CONSCIOUSNESS

Reveal Your Decisions 7 Seconds Before You “Decide”• Here, visitors could freely decide if they wanted to press a button with their right

or left hand.• The only condition was that they had to remember when they made the decision

to either use their right hand or left hand.

Using fMRI, we can scan the brains of the participants while all of this was going on in order to find out if they could in fact predict which hand the participants would use BEFORE they were consciously aware of the decision.

The Idea of Exhibits ….CONSCIOUSNESS

Click icon to add picture

The Idea of Exhibits ….CONSCIOUSNESS

The Idea of Exhibits ….CONSCIOUSNESS

By the help of the projection and lighting we can design a brain

hologram.

Thank you