A Very Short Piece on Consciousness and Love

I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'

Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades

For ever and forever when I move.

                                                      --- From Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The other day I read a fascinating article arguing that what we call consciousness may be remarkable, but it is likely explainable. I am not yet convinced.

    Love also has its mysterious aspects.

    We all ponder what it means to be conscious and if or what species other than humans have this attribute. Philosophers and scientists have long studied the topic and debated it as well. Definitions generally include awareness, subjective sensations, feelings, and thoughts about ourselves, others, and the world around us. How does this all arise from our brains? Or does it? If some or all of “it” comes from the brain, is there a certain area, a geography? Do certain types of neural activity equal consciousness or is there more to consciousness? I am partial to the latter.

Aristotle thought only humans have rational souls (oops, does the concept of a spirit or soul now enter the question) and that all other animals survive by instincts alone. Anyone that has ever had a dog knows they dream, have feelings and emotions, and much more. The same applies to octopuses as they are increasingly being found to be intelligent. They have good memories, can recognize each other and other creatures including people, along with other qualities that comprise an aware living creature. They, like us, and all the other animals likely are “conscious” to some degree.

    All good, but we still don’t know what consciousness is or where it comes from or where it “sits” in living beings, or whether all living beings have a consciousness. As for love, we think our feelings of love arise from emotion, certain physical aspects, and more; but love, too, has its mysterious aspects and cannot be fully explained. At least, it seems that way to me.

All this leads to my thinking about the glorious and romantic fact that we and most everything else come from stardust. What we call love must, as well, as it likely wouldn’t exist without life. Nearly all the elements in our bodies were made in stars. The more complex elements may have been formed by coming through several explosions termed supernovas. Each explosion is thought to have seeded more stars and helped to create more elements, as reflected in the periodic table we learn in school.

    I am enchanted by knowing this and love to look out at night at stars as I ponder the hows and whys of our existence. Contemplation, of course, is made possible by what we think of as consciousness. Consciousness aside, doesn’t our physicality as coming from star dust make us part of everything and each other? Can we not love one another?

Unlike explanations for love, there are many theories of consciousness. The one I favor, and the least agreed on, is called panpsychism.  This is the idea that consciousness is a fundamental property of all matter. Matter is composed of molecules which are composed of atoms which are composed of subatomic particles which may be composed of yet undiscovered phenomena. When particles get this small, physicists propose that they can exist in multiple states at once, can interact across vast distances, and that one may influence the action of another far away. (It is mind boggling to me that human beings can describe things like quantum phenomena based on mathematics or even concepts such as infinity that we can’t really fathom. At least, I can’t.)

    Thus, all this implies to me that we are all connected with everything that exists and all in the universe may have effects we don’t know about including communication. Getting to this point in writing all this, my brain is feeling topsy turvy and needs a rest.

Can’t we all love one another? And, be kind.

From the Hubble Space Telescope

*scitechdaily.com/groundbreaking-study-affirms-quantum-basis-for-consciousness-a-paradigm-shift-in-understanding-human-nature/