If one were to take a walk around the philosophy department, it would not be long until one would hear a conversation on consciousness resonating through the bleak, narrow, linoleum halls.
Most people tend not to dwell on this concept, as it seems rather intuitive. We exist, we experience and it’s all pretty straightforward, right? Well, maybe not. It’s easy to get caught up trying to explain the things that we experience, but now let’s shift focus to the very mechanism that is experience.
There is something perplexing about experience — a seemingly immaterial and intangible thing — being derived from matter, the same matter that the rest of the world is made up of. We share the subatomic makeup of the rest of the universe, but somehow we have an added component of awareness.
We can manipulate it quite clearly, with drugs and illusions and brain trauma. There is a direct correlation between the physical integrity of the brain and the phenomenon that is consciousness.
Consciousness is the most formidable mystery the human race has ever known. The very act of questioning it involves a bizarre recursiveness, where the very thing in question is the exact same mechanism by which we are questioning. It’s strange, and this strangeness has led to rather bad conclusions.
Through the mystery that is consciousness, along with generally higher brainpower, humanity has felt exalted, profound, unique and complex in the universe. This has led to the creation of gods that endow us with a universal throne and an overall sense that we are separate from nature. Our intellect seems to have surpassed our physiology, and we have become fascinated by ourselves in a bizarre meta-cognitive way. Can you think of another animal that sits in perplexity while pondering why it does what it does?
Humans have evolved into confused paradoxes.
Consciousness, especially to the degree seen among humans, is understood by many evolutionary scientists as the result of group interactions over millions of years. It’s a feedback mechanism that allows for effective maneuvering in a hostile and resource-tight environment, as well as communication with other group members.
As mentioned by neuroscientist David Eagleman, consciousness not only plays a very small role in one’s decision-making process (as there are much more powerful natural drives and instinctual wheelworks present), but develops more among animals with an evolutionary history of residing in large groups.
Humans, as a species, are very unstable — look at the terrible things we have been doing to ourselves and each other for our entire existence. We are erratic and neurotic creatures. Even on a micro level, mental health is one of the most prevalent plagues to mankind.
According to the National Institution of Mental Health, almost 50 percent of American adults will experience symptoms that warrant a mental health disorder diagnosis. That’s huge. Our heightened awareness does not always help us; it can frequently do the opposite. It provides debilitating anguish and strife and the potential for painfully complex suffering on a scale unknown to most other life forms.
Consider some of the great creative minds of the past century: Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf and many more, not exclusive to writers and artists — all very conscious individuals, cognizant of their surrounding world. And they all committed suicide.
Consciousness is an enigma.
Just because it is so mysterious, however, should not imply an explanation beyond the physical universe. Consciousness debates tend to push and try to break the limits of materialism, the idea that everything that exists is matter or energy or some interaction of the two. Sure, we still don’t understand everything about consciousness, but how will we know when we do? Do we even know the right questions to ask?
As eloquently stated by astronomer Carl Sagan, “We are the universe experiencing itself.”
There will likely never be a complete explanation for consciousness or an exact mechanism understood for how it works, just like there will likely never be an uncontested explanation of the origin of the universe and the reason for existence altogether.
But consciousness does exist, and despite our inability to fully comprehend it, the process continues to operate seamlessly and uninterrupted.