Satya Nilayam International Conference on ‘Discovering Self’

Comprehension – Consciousness – Communication

Francis P Xavier SJ*, Loyola Campus, Chennai

Science is about observation, measurement, and interpretation about how the reality functions. In science, subjective observations are interpreted based on objective measurements for all to understand. Further, science continues to provide more and more intuitions that often lead to religious enlightenment. Science believes that the ‘self’ does exist. The experience of having a self is expressed through the feelings of pain and of pleasure, of control, of intentionality and agency, of self-governance, of acting according to one’s beliefs and desires, the sense of engaging with the physical world and the social world – all this offers scientific evidence of the existence of the self.[1] The ‘scientific self’ implies skills, competencies, qualities, or disposition one acquires in one’s life.[2] And the scientific perspective of ‘self’ develops through two streams: i. Physical or biological sciences leading to human development; and ii. Social sciences with the focus on interactions, relationships, and communication.[3]

Science perceives and understands the ‘Self’ as an integrated growth process of awareness tending to fulness. It is an understanding as potential becoming actual reality through critical thinking leading to social consciousness. Nonphysical consciousness might understand the ‘self’ as creator-designed to be the essence of human beings (and perhaps of other beings as well) using the nonphysical substance of ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’. We can understand that science, in general, perceives the ‘self’ as the potential to comprehend the reality and the impulse to communicate for integral unification and fulness of the universe.

‘Self’ as Comprehension:

The Self can be viewed mainly under three phases, namely physical, mental, and spiritual. There would be many intermediary phases as well, if one wants to go in detail.

  1. Physical Life: It is the science of evolution. The theory of evolution has several variants. Darwin’s is the most scientifically established one. Darwin’s theory that all species of life have descended from common ancestors is now widely accepted and considered as a fundamental concept in science. Evolution is considered as development of complexity of nervous system. This might imply that we might possess something in common, along with something specifically acquired down the process of evolution-chain.
  2. Mental life is the outcome of physical evolution. And this stage consists of Id – Ego – Superego according to S. Freud. The id, ego, and super-ego are a set of three concepts in psychoanalytic theory describing distinct but interacting agents in the psychic apparatus. The three agents are theoretical constructs that describe the activities and interactions of the mental life of a person.
  3. Spiritual life, according to Teilhard, is the culmination of the process of evolution. Physical evolution becomes intellectual evolution. This was termed as noosphere (dominated by consciousness, the mind, and interpersonal relationships). Teilhard considered that technological and scientific advancements as byproducts of this phase. Then, comes in the spiritual evolution where the entire process converges or merges into the Omega Point.

Finally, the process of material elements evolving into physical entity, moving up the ladder of evolution as intellectual and finally spiritual plane is actually completing the ascending spiral of consciousness. When the material elements evolved as physical entity there was sensation; when physical moved into mental state there was thinking and emotions; and when finally spiritual state dawned, there came in consciousness. The ‘self’ or specificity was dormant in elements; it became sentient feeling on the physical niveau as individual entity and then the society; and finally, it grew into conscious of the universe. It might be difficult to demarcate the borderline or transition from material to immaterial, the non-living to the living beings.

The comprehension with ascending intensity has the phase of intra-, inter-, and trans-comprehension. Comprehension of the self begins as monad whether according to the philosophy of Leibniz as an indivisible and hence ultimately simple entity, such as an atom or a person, or a single-celled organism, especially a flagellate protozoan. Here the intra-comprehension is perceived as dormant. Then, as nervous-system becomes more and more complex in the evolution process, inter-comprehension comes in extending from one-self to other similar or different entities or species. This state ushers in trans-comprehension in realizing the material becoming intellectual, spiritual or a power beyond – in that order.

In the Einsteinian equation E = mc2,[4] matter is presented as equivalent to energy. D. Bohm, an American-British scientists,  argues that reality is tripartite, namely matter (mass), energy, and consciousness. He would state, “… consciousness is a coherent whole, which is never static or complete, but which is an unending process of movement and unfoldment.”[5] Energy could be understood as physical, mental, spiritual, extending to divine (that is, divine energy as grace). The final comprehension is converging in or merging with the divine as the end-station of reality, known as the Omega Point, where the evolution of material ascends into physical, intellectual, spiritual, and divine reality. S. Hawking and L. Mlodinow propose, in their book The Grand Design (2011) that there is an intelligent or grand design that keeps the universe going but there is no discussion about who the Grand Designer might be.[6]

‘Self’ as Consciousness:

The initial evolution-process, namely thinking and feeling, brings in the onset of intelligence (as reflexive knowledge) manifesting as comprehension. We might have noticed that it takes longer for the heart to accept what the head already knows – From knowing flows feeling. Comprehension ascends into consciousness that grows out of and transcends perceptions, thoughts, feelings maturing as awareness. Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience or awareness of internal and external existence. For D. Bohm consciousness ‘involves awareness, attention, perception, acts of understanding, and perhaps yet more’.[7]

S. Freud proposed three levels of awareness, namely the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. These three levels correspond to or overlap with his ideas of id, ego, and superego. The conscious level comprises all we are aware of – about ourselves and our surroundings. The preconscious are memories which could be retrieved from the past experience. And the unconscious is an area outside of conscious awareness which are stored out of our awareness but could, nevertheless, influence our behavior.[8]

The Conscious level is considered to have seven states starting with first individual focused, then universal oriented, and finally dissolving into the ultimate Consciousness. These states are:[9]

  1. Waking consciousness;
  2. Deep Sleep;
  3. Dreaming;
  4. Transcendental consciousness;
  5. Cosmic consciousness;
  6. God consciousness; and
  7. Unity consciousness.

The first three are individual related whether physically active or not – It is associated with functional nervous system; the next two transcend the individual and take on social and cosmic dimensions; and finally it converges or merges/dissolves in THE Consciousness. The mind-body could be trained to reach the universal or unity consciousness. As D. Bohm would put it, “deep down the consciousness of mankind is one.”[10]

This evolutionary process from nervous system, becoming consciousness, concretizes in communication. The ultimate consciousness is that there is energy which pervades and unites everything. And this interconnectedness is realized as communication.

‘Self’ as Communication:

Knowing/comprehending oneself matures as becoming conscious of others or of other entities, culminating in communication with them. The development of senses starting from single cell, to plants, animals, and humans are classified as touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and awareness. Communication in the brain is due to neurons[11] as chemical energy[12] via neurotransmitters. Some call the sixth sense (or the seventh one) as proprioception, which makes our brain understand where our body is in space. Proprioception, for example, enables a person to touch his/her finger to the tip of their nose, even with one’s eyes closed to climb steps without looking at each one. It is related to the development/evolution of genes.[13] This evolutionary development not only results in growth of perception but also communication – Intra, inter, and trans communication.

Y.N. Harari in his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)[14] narrates how human beings began to communicate first through sound, then with signs followed by drawings, before the primitive form of language emerged. This communication has gone through so much of advancement that people think that we could now even communicate with the aliens from other planets. The movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)[15] by S. Spielberg brings out, at least in imagination, the possibility of understanding aliens and the ability of aliens demonstrating their potential to learn our language. M. D. Russel narrates in her book The Sparrow (1996)[16] how a Jesuit, after capturing a few notes from the outer space, could go to the space, contact the people who were musically talented and build up communication with them. (Recently astronomers stumbled upon unknown space object beaming out radio signals every 18 minutes).[17] And the physicist F. Capra in his Tao of Physics (1975)[18] draws the parallel between the modern physics and the eastern mysticism.

According to Tao of Physics, i. Everything is interconnected; ii. Every entity, from planets to subatomic particles, is ever-moving and ever-changing; and iii. This constant change and motion lead from temporality to permanent unity.[19] Science of intellectual knowledge discovers self as an integral part of heart/emotion, eventually leading to self-realization or self-actualization through consciousness and communication.

Discovering:

From comprehension, consciousness, and communication the ‘self’ begins to discover  much more than ‘self’ as a monad to a particle in the ocean of the cosmos.

  1. The discovery of ‘self’ starts from knowing oneself as originating from atoms, molecules, cells, etc. As the physical self grows up, psychological and social aspects bring in medical comprehension, eventually leading to the limited comprehension to incomparable admiration of something beyond known as transcendence or divinity in religious understanding.
  2. The intellectual knowledge has led to the realization that humankind was entrusted with the task ‘to work and to take care of’ (Gen 2:15) the earth where ‘we live, move and have our being’ as the ‘offspring’ of the Power that created us (Act 17:28) in ‘His image and likeness’, imago Dei (Gen 1:27). In fact, the understanding became the consciousness of our power as we gained more and more knowledge, insight, and expertise in science and technology. Humankind has begun to exploit our Common Home and  our digital society has brought in faceless world. The more communication facilities we have, the less we keep up with personal communication with each other.
  3. This comprehension of ‘self’ and its consciousness have brought in self-destruction. A. Firstenberg in his soul-searching book The Invisible Rainbow (2020) explains how electricity has shaped the modern world but at the same time how cell towers, WiFi, 5G etc have affected our health and environment causing major diseases of industrialized civilization such as heart diseases, diabetes, cancer etc caused by electrical pollution as radiation.[20]
  4. But there is also the possibility of self-actualization. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis speaks about ‘care for our common home’: He laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take ‘swift and unified global action’ to save this world and our lives as well.[21]
  5. In the process of discovering self we see on the one hand the scientific understanding of life cycle from Big-Bang to Big-Crunch, which seems to be a parallel to Thomas Aquinas’ exitus et reditus concept.[22] In a natural sense this cycle could be understood like the cycle of seasons in a year: Tender shoots in the Spring become beautiful leaves in the Summer. But when the Autumn begins there is the foliage and fall of leaves giving way in the Winter to denuded trees bringing in melancholic scene – to begin all over again in the next Spring. This cyclic process indicates that unless leaves fall down and disappear, no new blade could appear. This temporal reality makes one understand that we are invited to recognize and grow in universal fraternity and eventually we would merge with higher energy. The ‘self’ that was dominant in elements, emerges alive at birth, grows in understanding and consciousness, attains fullness in communication, and finally merges with a higher energy or power, the Ultimate Consciousness.

Revelation:

Discovering of self, from scientific perspective, begins from knowledge about oneself, becomes comprehension, grows as consciousness of the universe, and expands in communication with all therein. This process transforms one from material to spiritual realm: For G.M. Hopkins ‘The world is charged with the grandeur of God’.[23]; Francis of Assisi realizes the inter-related universe where he is conscious of ‘Brother Sun, Sister Moon’.[24] Ignatius of Loyola understands how he discovers ‘self’ from elements to divinity, when he writes:

“I will consider how God dwells in creatures; in the elements, giving them existence; in the plants, giving them life; in the animals, giving them sensation; in human beings, giving them intelligence; and finally, how in this way he dwells also in myself, giving me existence, life, sensation and intelligence; and even further, making me his temple, since I am created as a likeness and image of the Divine Majesty” (SpEx 235).

Thus the human being is the fullness of ‘self’, which has been evolving from the elements, plants, animals, and human beings. This evolution of discovery of ‘self’ goes even beyond as universal consciousness and its ultimate convergence in the Urenergie (Primordial Energy) or the ultimate Consciousness. And this divine omnipresence, for Ignatius, is the hub of contact and communication with all entities in the universe as He ‘labours and works for me in all the creatures on the face of the earth’ (SpEx 236)[25] weaving a web of communication.

F. Capra also sees a parallel between particle physics and the power beyond. He draws a parallel between Shiva’s cosmic dance and the dance of subatomic particles (which are in constant motion). According to Capra,

“Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but is also the very essence of inorganic matter,” and that “for the modern physicists, then, Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter.”[26]

The human history has been an evolution of discovery: When fire was discovered, the self of energy appeared; when electricity was discovered, the self of modernity made inroad; when digitization was discovered, the self of new age dawned but all these discoveries have helped us discover ‘self’ better stage by stage ever ascending in understanding, especially its potential both positive and negative. In our days the ‘discovery of self’ is taking us more towards ‘destruction of self’. We are yet to discover ‘self’ of meaning in life – individual and collective. Finding meaning in life would bring in a sense of reponsibleness for the very essence of human existence towards the rest in the reality.[27] As the Cree Indian Prophecy says: ‘When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.’ It is already late, but before it is too late, we need to rediscover ‘self’ for goodness, fullness and happiness in life. The ‘self’ is also capable of finding creativity in a crisis. Human beings have weathered many a crisis in the past and have managed to bounce back every time.[28] ‘Self’ has that potential energy from being to becoming. As science explores the ‘how’ of the reality, the ‘self’ understands the ‘why’ of it and strives to find fullness of meaning and integrated unity.

* Email: francisx@gmail.com

[1] Tekin, S. (2018). Retrieved from https://aeon.co/essays/the-self-does-exist-and-is-amenable-to-scientific-investigation.

[2] Paul, H. (2017). The Scientific Self: Reclaiming Its Place in the History of Research Ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 24, 1379-1392. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-017-9945-8.

[3] Scientific Perspective of the Self. Retrieved from https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/technological-institute-of-the-philippines/understanding-the-self/uts-unit-i-lesson-3-scientific-perspective-of-self/19660186.

[4] In E=mc2, E – Energy, m – mass of matter, and c – velocity of light. This is also known as Mass-Energy Equivalence Equation.

[5] Bohm, D. (2005). Wholeness and the Implicate Order. London: Routledge, p.10. Retrieved from

[6] Hawking, S. and Mlodinow, L. (2011). The Grand Design. London: Bantom Books.

[7] Bohm’s Gnosis: The Implicate Order. Retrieved from http://www.bizint.com/stoa_del_sol/plenum/plenum_3.html

[8] Introduction to Consciousness. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/introduction-to-consciousness/#:~:text=of%20psychoanalytic%20theory.-,Freud%20divided%20human%20consciousness%20into%20three%20levels%20of%20awareness,conscious%2C%20preconscious%2C%20and%20unconscious.

[9] Freeman, J. 7 Levels of Consciousness: The Path of Enlightenment. Retrieved from https://tmhome.com/books-videos/7-states-of-consciousness-video-interview/

[10] Nicol, N. (2003). The Essential David Bohm. UK: Psychology Press, p.149

[11] The neuron is the basic working unit of the brain, a specialized cell designed to transmit information to other nerve cells, muscle, or gland cells. Neurons are cells within the nervous system that transmit information to other nerve cells, muscle, or gland cells.

[12] The transfer of information from neuron to neuron takes place through the release of chemical substances are called neurotransmitters, and the process is called neurotransmission.

[13] Miller, S.G. (2016, Sep 23). A Sixth Sense? It’s in your Genes. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/56223-sixth-sense-genes.html

[14] Harai, Y.N. (2011). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. New York: Random House.

[15] Spielberg, S (Producer), & Spielberg, S (Director). (1982). E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. USA: Universal Pictures.

[16] Russel, M.D. (1996). The Sparrow. USA: Black Swan.

[17] While mapping radio waves across the universe, astronomers happened upon a celestial object releasing giant bursts of energy. The spinning space object, spotted in March 2018, beamed out radiation three times per hour. In those moments, it became the brightest source of radio waves viewable from Earth, acting like a celestial lighthouse. Astronomers think it might be a remnant of a collapsed star, either a dense neutron star or a dead white dwarf star, with a strong magnetic field — or it could be something else entirely.

Strickland, A. (Jan2022). Unknown space object beaming out radio signals every 18 minutes remains a mystery. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/26/world/unusual-space-object-transient-scn/index.html

[18] Capra, F. (1975). Tao of Physics. USA: Shambhala Pub.

[19] Lobina, C. (2019, May 16). The Tao of Physics Summary. Retrieved from https://fourminutebooks.com/the-tao-of-physics-summary/

[20] Firstenberg, A. (2020). The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life. USA: Chelsea Green Pub. Co.

[21] Pope Francis. (2015). Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home. USA: Our Sunday Visitor Inc.

[22] Arcadi, J.M. (2020). Homo adorans: exitus et reditus in theological Anthropology. Scottish Journal of Theology. 73(1), 1-12. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/scottish-journal-of-theology/article/homo-adorans-exitus-et-reditus-in-theological-anthropology/551A36C810F1567BD10B70AE0592D0F4.

[23] Hopkins, G.M. (1985). Poems and Prose (God’s Grandeur). USA: Penguin Classics.

[24] Lovell, D, and Perugia, L.Zeffirelli (Producers), F (Director). (1972). Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Italy:  Paramount Pictures.

[25] Ganss, G.E. (1995). The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius (Translation and Commentary). India: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash (No.235 and 236).

[26] Capra, F. (1972). The Dance of Shiva: The Hindu View of Matter in the Light of Modern Physics. Main Currents in Modern Thought. Retrieved from https://www.fritjofcapra.net/shivas-cosmic-dance-at-cern/

[27] Frankl, V.E. (2004). Man’s search for Meaning. London: Rider, 8 and 134.

[28] Hari, T.N. and Swamy, S. (2021) Sailing through a Storm: Making a Crisis work for You. New Delhi: Bloomsbury. P.3.