The Continuity of Consciousness by Deborah N
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Torch Magazine • Spring 2019 The Continuity of Consciousness By Deborah N. Bauserman In the dark recesses of a fascination with consciousness, limestone cave on the Indonesian involving the brightest minds in island of Sulawesi are found the arts and sciences, we have no red and white stencils of human very complete understanding of hands. They are the oldest known its vast potential. When we buy a art depicting humans in the digital watch, we may receive an world, a picture postcard made instruction manual of 20 pages; nearly 40,000 years ago. While however, at birth, when we are archeologists are uncertain of their endowed with the most incredible Deborah Bauserman is a native of function—to convey important tool of all, consciousness, we get East Grand Rapids, Michigan, and rituals, to invoke protection, or to no instructions at all. Commonly completed degrees at Michigan State cast spells—our ancient ancestor understood to be housed in the University (B.A, M.A), the University of Northern Colorado (Ed.D), and the has sent us a simple, undeniable brain, it gives a lifetime of service University of Virginia (post-doctoral message: “I am human. I exist.” It managing sensory information, studies). is the first recorded spark of self- remembering, dreaming, creating, She retired in 2016 after more than awareness. providing a sense of self and 40 years as a Licensed Clinical connection to others, all with Psychologist in a private practice As humans evolved, the spark unobtrusive efficiency. Yet, after located in Winchester, Virginia. of consciousness blazed into a over 40,000 years of collective She was for many years an active fierce light shining on the minds experience with consciousness, volunteer in organizations supporting of philosophers, poets, mystics, we are still without an operator’s the arts, environment, and historic preservation. Her hobbies include and artists, who inquired deeply manual. practicing taichichuan, yoga, riding into the question of consciousness. and driving horses, and art. She th In the 6 century BC, Lao Tzu Although we only incompletely continues to enjoy farm work involving running a tractor, chain saw, mowing, left this record: “Without going understand the parameters of our and anything other than going to the outside, you may know the whole incredible gift, and although those gym. world. Without looking through the who study it produce conflicting She is married to Steve Bauserman, window, you may see the ways of the explanations, we will briefly and they have two sons and two heavens” (50). Today, the insights consider highlights of scientific grandchildren. Since 1998 she has of these early explorers are being study of consciousness, followed been a member of Winchester Torch Club, where she presented this paper investigated with sophisticated by a few noteworthy examples. in June, 2016. technology and methodology by scientists representing a whole Let’s begin with Charles Tart, She may be reached at [email protected]. array of disciplines: physics, an acknowledged world authority chemistry, biology, physiology, and in consciousness studies. He psychology. points out how much more than pure awareness is involved: “Our Yet, for all the continuous ordinary state of consciousness is 36 Torch Magazine • Spring 2019 not something natural or given, then we can understand that this causal, and “masculine.” In contrast, but a highly complex construction, consciousness is only one possible the right hemisphere is described a specialized tool for coping with consciousness. The psychologist as timeless, holistic, non-lineal, our environment and the people in William James compared this simultaneous, spatial, intuitive, it” (3). That is, in ordinary personal process to that of a sculptor synchronous, and “feminine.” As consciousness we find a mixture carving a statue out of stone. The different as night and day, they are of thoughts, fantasies, ideas, and process largely involves many often seen as demarcating ordinary sensory information from the levels of selection and consequent and non-ordinary consciousness. external world geared to survival, limitation, so each individual all significantly selected and sculptor’s statue is unique, just like While current research limited by cultural conditioning. each person’s consciousness. upholds aspects of hemispheric In addition, we experience things specialization, neuroscientists are that are not physically present such discovering greater integration as hallucinations, daydreams, and between the hemispheres than fruits of imagination. At night we Personal previously thought. The formerly dream and experience events and held position that the brain is a objects that we totally produce by consciousness physiologically static organ has ourselves. been replaced by the concept of cannot fully neuroplasticity, according to which To this incredible array neural pathways and synapses are added elements of life that represent the may change due to changes in lie outside detectable ranges behavior, environment, neural of perception: energy in the external or processes, thinking and emotion, electromagnetic band, microscopic as well as changes from bodily phenomena, very high- and low- internal world, injury. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard- level sound waves, and infrared trained neuroanatomist, provides radiation. We also generate our but must consist a riveting account of her own left own internal stimuli—buzzing hemisphere stroke, the gradual thoughts, familiar, peculiar of an extremely shut-down of her brain functioning, or unnoticed internal organ and her eventual recovery in her sensations, volitional muscular small fraction best-selling memoir, My Stroke of activity, aches and pains, variable Insight. emotions, and much more. These of our entire processes are always occurring For an even broader model, we simultaneously throughout life, “reality.” can look to the work of Ken Wilber, yet we from moment to moment one of today’s most influential we are unaware of most of this philosopher/psychologists. His overwhelming input, thanks to the Robert Ornstein, University of conceptual latticework, almost filtering process of consciousness. California, San Francisco, stands fractal in beauty, proposes multiple out as a pioneer in consciousness elements of consciousness: Thus, personal consciousness studies. His foundational work functions, structures, states, cannot fully represent the external centered on the observation that modes, developmental stages, and or internal world, but must consist right and left hemispheres of the relational interactions, a project so of an extremely small fraction of brain control different aspects of complex that it really requires its our entire “reality.” If we realize consciousness. For instance, the own paper. our ordinary consciousness is left hemisphere of the brain is something we must construct understood to be in time, analytic, Clearly, theoreticians and in order to survive in the world, linear, sequential, focal, verbal, scientists have no end of research 37 Torch Magazine • Spring 2019 topics in sight. make each separate part, accurate viewing—the ability to experience to within a thousandth of an inch, and describe objects at distant places * * * and the completed machine would that are blocked from ordinary fit together perfectly. perception. In a typical protocol, In academia, major divisions given a specific longitudinal and have predictably split the research latitudinal coordinate, the remote community, almost in parallel viewer is asked to describe his or to the right-left split of the brain In academia, her perception of what is there. itself. On one side are conservative members who stand by their belief major divisions Recent interest in remote that consciousness is strictly a viewing began in the l960s when function of one’s own brain activity have predictably Russell Targ, then a graduate and ends at death. In contrast are student in physics (and future equally convinced researchers who split the pioneer in laser development and follow ancient Buddhist belief as senior staff scientist for Lockheed well as contemporary quantum research Missile and Space), began to physics research in maintaining notice his gift for precognition. that separation is an illusion. community, Curiosity piqued, he assembled For them, consciousness is more an informal group of experienced than the physical brain and can almost in researchers who were willing to be empirically shown to function share their own introspections as a transmitter for nonlocal parallel to the about non-ordinary consciousness consciousness—broadly speaking, in experimental situations. Their the entire consciousness of mankind right-left split of work eventually led to creation and creation, untethered by time of the Stanford Research Institute and space. For this community, the the brain itself. International (SRI) remote viewing individual brain might be compared program. Surprising evidence of to a radio playing music—no the existence of the nonlocal mind orchestra inside! Careful empirical observations eventually came to the attention and even mathematical proofs, of the U.S. government, the CIA The math on what constitutes historically, have not always and a host of other governmental ordinary versus non-ordinary states swayed strongly held beliefs, so the agencies, where it was utilized as of consciousness is somewhat fuzzy, same may be true for our modest an intelligence gathering technique given the enormous variability in primer of the origins