The Nature of Awareness and Consciousness

Nature abhors unAwareness.

Introduction: The Nature of Awareness and Consciousness

From a basic consciousness entity awarenesses are spawned in the existing N entities that make up the Universe. This page's contents posit a unique assumption that every entity in this universe has awareness of a quality depending on the hardware pattern of that entity; a pattern and the associated awareness that accompany it are ontologically simultaneous. Nature's entities, as exemplified by the elementary particles themselves, have awareness with freewill, the latter being seen as the laws the entity obeys.

Usage of terms:

Body: Contains the usual meaning of the brain and the rest of body.
Mind: The non-tangible and abstract set whose sub sets are
- thoughts,
- active memory,
- sub conscious processes and functions of the intellect...Inputs to the mind are from sensory organs and within thoughts themselves; the mind can self stimulate with freewill or in a passive mode.
Awareness: exists in Toto (sum of all levels of awarenesses residing in the entire body albeit with varying degrees of intensity/quality).
Consciousness: An entity all pervading within the Universe, whose spawned "processes" are instances of pattern awarenesses.
This entity as a "potential for awareness" upon the emergence of ANY pattern of energy. It is massless/energyless.
Patterns:
The magnitude of the number of patterns in the Universe; awesomely large in number and continually varying. Awarenesses are a transformation of Consciousness due to the particular energy pattern existing. Thus, humans, for one species, have multitudes of awarenesses, each differing from the others and after body events even to itself, which cause changes in the connectivity of the body parts (at cellular levels to gross parts...etc) which are being called patterns here.
simultaneously. Given N individual entities, there are 2^N-1 possible awarenesses, or pattern/awareness instances (the "-1" removing the null entry from the power set (the set of N entities), since it has no correspondence with the notion of awareness).
If these patterns are dynamically changing then so are the associated awarenesses.
Example: The brain neuro-hormonal (neurotransmitters ensemble) status at any moment (event) determines the pattern and has an associated awareness. Thus what we experience as awareness ("I"'ness) is *Sigma of all combinations of patterns existing then. Freewill is associated with each of these awarenesses/patterns. Upbringing results in awareness to be seen as something singular and mostly unvarying. Further constant focus of parenting (environment) in addressing a child by looking at the eyes results in "eye awareness" and later "brain or head" as the seat of awareness; it could be programmed psychologically to "belong" to any part or parts of the body. The survival advantage of eyes as the center of awareness is obvious.

The usage of the word "pattern" is not unlike our normal lay notion about it and in a way this is sufficient. This link about Brain Pattern formation at early age and during adulthood, with it changing along with changing culture, makes informative reading.
In the body which follows, I refer to awareness coming into being when brain patterns are formed. So, patterns here mean:

Roughly, brain physical connectedness, or brain structures including the environments of neurons and other relevant cells.

Quotations from Wikipedia on Patterns
"A pattern has an integrity independent of the medium by virtue of which you have received the information that it exists. Each of the chemical elements is a pattern integrity. Each individual is a pattern integrity. The pattern integrity of the human individual is evolutionary and not static."
R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), U.S.American philosopher and inventor. Critical Path, 1981.

"Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern."
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), English philosopher and mathematician. Dialogues, June 10, 1943.

Why am I "I"? If I wonder how come (or why) I was "assigned" this body and you with yours, a dilemma situation arises which is not resolvable until I give up the notion that "I" am local and consider the option that "I" am assigned to every entity in this Universe.

That is to say that if all were to pose the above question openly a dilemma exists (as to why and who assigns consciousnesses to particular bodies) only if we all assume we are separate in the consciousness sense. The question is invalidated by an assumption that there is only One consciousness entity capable of simultaneously being manifest in N bodies.
Note: The traditional notion of a soul in (human only!...they say) body resolves the above dilemma completely but is not an attractive one to me since it invariable also involves the notion of reward and punishment. However, the Karma theory, which requires the notion of a soul, is very consistent, it must be admitted.

Assumptions and descriptions about the theme:

1) The container of this universe is one consciousness. However many instances of this basic entity exist; the latter acting as a template for the individual awarenesses that simultaneously exist.
The nature of consciousness remains unaffected. It is continually conscious of all existing patterns and any new emerging pattern. It being conscious of a pattern and the pattern getting the property of awareness are synonymous notions.

A comprehensive Internet site: On Music appreciation psychology: As an additional view on patterns used for experiences.

Meditation:

Meditation is stated as a method towards expanding one's awareness, the goal being, to achieve consciousness, as against awareness, towards the one consciousness. My readings of Swami Vivekananda little book titled, "Raja Yoga" make me to feel that the term "expanding" (if taken literally) should be read as "contracting". Meditation obviously would not attract any followers if my interpretated word was used. Unfortunately, people want to first be given a feeling that something more than themselves is occuring. It would be futile, mostly, to ask them to meditate so as to contract their awareness...

As per my understanding the term "expanding" is semantically opposite to what might be a real method towards "enlightenment". Stages in meditation involve evolution from the single awareness (we normally have) to awareness of multiple patterns (simultaneous). Note! This does not imply multitasking. Briefly, what until the awareness of the entire Universe patterns emerges. It would seem correct to think that success implies at least attachments to external patterns or objects are eliminated in a methodical manner. One cannot predict the psychological distress (or euphorias and the grays in between) that may occur as a result of such pursuits not conducted in a matured manner. It might be like taking a large dose of LSD without proper education and setting.

Meditation is the subtle art of awareness shedding. The goal is to be in Consciousness and NOT in awareness. Since awareness and material attachment (pattern) are synonymous it stands to reason that the goal is to methodically detach from this underlying hardware of patterns to become more and more conscious and less aware. Since consciousness cannot (is not by our definition here) be attachment to anything it is truly and it alone is freedom of sorts. This can be extended to mean that a state of Consciousness automatically involves ALL consciousness simultaneously but without any attachment. it can be alternately be described as awareness without attachment. Honestly I cannot pretend to get a glimpse of this state and the words being used are out of sheer requirement. Somehow, selfishness which arose due to pointed attachments (ignorance) is diluted until it is all encompassing and thus the notion of connectedness.

Note: Given N entities the total number of patterns that exist are = 2^N, the power set of N entities, from basic set theory.

2) Consciousness as an energy less entity.
It can be said that all entities have attributes of energy and awareness, with consciousness existing matterless without energy; as an observer capable of "spawning" awarenesses.

3) Consciousness always exists it may alternately be called "potential awareness property" in the universe. All patterns in material nature have levels of such awareness, however unimaginable it maybe to humans.

4) The nature of awareness is a function of the complexity of the embodying energy form; it differs from species to species and within a species due to different body constitution. We are all unique due to our bodies. This complexity need not be commensurate with mathematical notions of computational complexity; a computer sub-system may already be aware but who is to know this ?

Freewill: An attribute of awareness as a transformation of that belonging to the One consciousness. Human freewill is known as in the experience we all have.

This maybe an illusion. For now, we assume it is not. Again the scope of freewill in the manner of it's manifestation is pattern specific. An electron's freewill consists of obeying essential inherent behavior; of obeying mass related gravitational/inertial type behavior, electric charge repulsion/attraction...etc. Thus, an elementary particle with awareness exercises freewill which we call laws. Freewill is the general term for choice at any level even if the choice is a constant. With varying complexities of interconnectedness of patterns this choice culminates in the human being.

The quantum mechanical choice of wave function collapse one way and not the other is another facet of a particle "choosing" to manifest one way and not the other as it is always being observed (due to Universal connectedness). This "God's" continual choice is not false but unnecessary a description. Also a bit hasty as the word God already has connotations not unnecessarily acceptable in the present model. Some do attach to God such freewill:

"People are accustomed to assume that only "persons" can decide what to do. (In this sense, some "personality" may be ascribed to animals.) Therefore, If I get the impression that nature itself makes the decisive choice what possibility to realize, where quantum theory says that more than one outcome is possible, then I am ascribing personality to nature, that is, to something that is always everywhere. Omnipresent eternal personality which is omnipotent in taking the decisions undetermined by physical law is exactly what in the language of religion is called God. We thus see how quantum theory requires the existence of God. Of course, it does not ascribe to God defined in this way any of the specific additional qualities that the various existing religious doctrines ascribe to God. Acceptance of such doctrines is a matter of belief or faith." Belinfante, F. J. Measurements and Time Reversal in Objective Quantum Theory, p98-99 Ref: Belinfante F. J.

Expansion:
So, while I maybe "you" in essence, it may be expected that the nuances of the subjective experience is in general different in me and in you. The particular nature of my awareness is a function of the body. The same me is in you experiencing a different affect or awareness. And both our awareness are dependent on the state of the particular bodies. Eg., my taking a drug affects my body alone (and yours minimally) hence my awareness "color" or level of intensity can alter while it's clear that yours need not. (However, it is possible that on recognizing this model you can spread your awareness so as to become sensitive to my body states and literally choose to both, affect your awareness state and affect mine if I allow: Freewill, like consciousness, is also of different qualities in different bodies).

Sleep: From experience I know that onset of sleep is a controlled shutting down or minimizing certain brain function requirements. After I sleep where does my awareness go? It literally vanishes. Since the awareness came to be due to the connectedness of certain components, it can no more be as these components change states. On awakening since the connectedness is restored the similar awareness exists. During sleep (REM) certain patterns (connectedness) is triggered causing a level of awareness to manifest which is appropriate to this present pattern. Since all awarenesses use the same resources, memory of one is accessible to another, roughly.

Time:
THe feedback (-ve and/or +ve) circuits of brains involve transients having frequencies different from other structures within the same brain. This could give certain awarenesses a "notion of time" when all that exists are events, biological, chemical, and sensory wherein external physical time may not exist.

Conclusion:
It seems more plausible to assume we are all one (the parent of our awareness is a single (Consciousness) with different feelings of separateness which we maintain due to ego constructs (good for survival) but once we have secured ourselves the mundane awareness can be expanded (or made lesser actually) to embody greater than one entities in its paradigm of awareness. This process when taken to its culmination could be called enlightenment, oneness, samadhi, nirvana, God...whatever term one may wish to use.