CONSCIOUSNESS

1. Philosophy 59
(VT), or logical table containing all incoming stimuli (external and internal) and emotional
flags in real time develops to service all brain modules that require sensory information. In
addition, the organism continually writes the coordinates of itself on the VT, or more generally,
is the real-time origin of the VT coordinate system. Without these coordinates of ‘self’
on the ‘visual tableau’, the animal could not act in a way to promote its survival. Does it
remain motionless, go towards, flee, fight, etc.? Thus we suggest that the neural correlates of
‘self-consciousness’ are various modules in the brain that are continually looping over the VT,
and hence recognizing one’s self correctly located in the brain’s representation of the outside
world. The self, the I, is continually returned to and reinforced with each loop. Perceptions,
P, the ‘feeling’ of a certain emotion and/or visual sensations (the “hard problem”) in terms
of Identity Theory (Smart, Armstrong) are brain states, and thus given in our terms by P=FB
where the operator F is non-singular for any given individual organism. We also suggest
the neural correlates of perception are nothing more than the offsets in the feedback loops
between the quantities being targeted and their set-points. For example the emotion ‘fear’
goes away when the danger is passed. Someone standing on the edge of a cliff feels fear. The
action taken, to step back, is initiated by that fear, which then goes away when the danger (of
falling) has passed. P7
1.6 Mental causation and the function of consciousness
40 The Physics and Neuroscience of the Role of Consciousness in Creativity
and Psychological/Spiritual Development Bill Baird
(Neurotechnology Research and Consulting, Oakland, CA)
The aim of this theoretical account is to understand the phenomena of awareness, creativity,
and personal growth from the perspective of a pan-psychic worldview in order to evolve
new practices and technologies for accelerated psychological and spiritual development.
While accepting the experimental findings and theories of science, this approach alters the ontological
interpretation of the “unified field” from which all reality is created. We assume it is
a field of universal consciousness instead of a “physical” field. What we call physical “matter”
is self organizing vibration patterns in the evolving field of consciousness localized and concentrated
into wave and vortex structures that appear as particles and atoms and molecules. In
this view the universe is a conscious, intelligent and creative organism evolving toward ever
greater self awareness. The ground field of universal consciousness is self aware in a rudimentary
way but cannot see itself well because it is aware of everything at once - a “white noise”
experience. It can’t focus on anything and uses manifestation to develop its ability to see itself
from local perspectives. The scope or range of the reflective capacity of the ground field develops
steadily in cosmic evolution from particles to atoms to molecules to cells to organisms
to animals and humans as part of its thrust toward greater self reflection. Personal consciousness
is seen as the result of a coherent quantum state in the brain that brings the ground field
of universal consciousness up into direct interaction with the dense spirit/matter of molecules
and neurons that make up the brain. In this view our awareness brings creative inspiration,
intelligence, and insight to the limited conditioned ego/computer aspect of the operation of the
brain. Every conscious personal experience is a local act of reflection for the unified ground
field that occurs at every collapse interaction of the quantum field state with the dense brain
structure. The stream of content in ordinary reflective awareness at the focus of attention is
generated by action/sensation cycles of neural activity alternating between sensory and motor
areas which are communicating by gamma frequency synchronization and pass through the
primary cortical areas supporting the quantum field of consciousness. Cognitive and affective
neuroscience describes further how these mechanisms of attention can open brain operation
to the transformative influence of consciousness and eventually expand its range of reflection
to encompass all of reality in “self realization”. We can see how this neurological opening
occurs particularly in the states of “presence” found in artistic inspiration and cultivated in
healing and spiritual practices. Intelligent insight from universal consciousness in these creative
openings successively frees the cognitive/somatic ego system from layers upon layers
of repressed traumatic distortions, rigid cognitive beliefs, and survival conditioning. Then we