People
can be considered as conscious when they can perceive their thoughts
and feelings,as well as their environment and can describe these
perceptions to others.Thus
consciousness enables people to deal in a way based on thoughts,
memory,and flexibility with their environment,rather than coping
in an automatic and rigid way.
Psychologist
William James described consciousness as a stream which flows
continuously, not as a succession of separate ideas or sensations.
Moral
feelings expressions, qualities, values, standard of conduct and
in concrete and practical terms, the way of life - all these aspects
are common to human beings and form a vital part of our consciousness.
A
complete system governing all aspects of human existance both
individual and collective. Human beings have their own reality,
not as a machine reacts mechanically as 'programmed' by their
emotions and environment, but a true and unique creature possessing
an obvious outwards aspect - the physical body - and a hidden,
inner aspect - the mind emotion and soul.
Generally,
there is nobody who is always in a normal state of consciousness
all the time. The individual's state of consciousness is altered.
Sensory deprivation sleeping, meditation, hypnosis and drug induced
experiences are all examples of these altered states of consciousness.
They all affect perception as well as other human functions such
as respiration, cognition, motor coordination and memory.
When
we go to sleep we lose awareness and fail to respond to a stimulus
that would produce a response in the waking state. In a trance
state people seen to be blind or deaf or immune to pain. Persons
under hypnosis can for example recite forgotten memories. When
awakened, they probably are unable to recall anything that happened
while they were hypnotized. Childeren regularly practicing techniques
that produce changes in mental states, such as whirling themselves.
Darvishes in some cultures also whirl in circles, Buddhists concentrate
on their breathing and Yogis contemplate specific objects. All
these kinds of meditation are also altered state of consciousness.
Consciousness
enables us to receive, retrieve and rearrange information needed
for problem solving and long-range planning. This process gives
us a great capacity of coping and dealing with our environment.
It also enables us to cope with conditions that require us to
choose among stimuli.
We
notice emphasize and decide, we ignore or suppress the stimuli
which we do not like to deal with at that time. The mechanism
of attention is so great and effective, that when one kind of
information has been selected, the other receivers are shut off.
Every-body
pays more or less attention to some events than to others. Consciousness
allows us to focus on the most important parts of our environment.
We do not have to respond to every stimulus around us only to
those that require a response.
The
human being is constantly receiving information which is in fact
more than what can be noticed, absorbed and understood. Therefore,
an effective way of choosing what's important is essential.
Primarily,
any thing that happens in the environment engages the senses and
will catch the attention. The mind begins to take an interest
in it. Seeing gives rise to thinking, then one thought becomes
the cause of another.
If
ink is dropped on to paper, then that paper is folded to produce
a symmetrical design, many familiar objects in the ink blot will
be recognized and different persons will recognize different ones.
The ink-blot test of personality by Herman Rorschach shows that
people unintentionally project themselves into their perception
of the environment.
There are degrees or states of consciousness,and we may pass through
some of them during the normal course of a day. Sometimes during
the day we are aware of our environment while some other times
we are not. For example, when we wake up in the morning we may
still be a little bit drowsy. We may become more aware of our
thoughts and feelings usually after having morning tea. Periods
of drowsiness through which we become less aware, may also be
repeated during the day specially when we approach sleep.
Consciousness is the mental function through which people experience
things. This kind of functioning has some significant characteristics.
Some states of consciousness, such as sleeping and dreaming occur
naturally in the individual's daily experience. Others, such as
meditation, channelling and hypnosis, occur in a particular situation
and some others can be produced by certain drugs such as alcohol
or marijuana.
Therefore
there are many different ways where consciousness can be present
Peoples conscious experience and feelings about themselves can
vary under different conditions. They can enter some different
states of consciousness each of which provides its own distinctive
experience. This experience also differs depending on whether
the person is asleep or awake, intoxicated or hypnotized, meditating
or possessed.
Our
normal way of perceiving helps us to cope with our environment
and survive. The sensory systems and brain pick from the stimuli
that surround us that which is mainly important to us or related
to our needs. Thus our consciousness is not only selective, it
is also active but can be interrupted too by outside interference.
Furthermore,we
can perceive immediately what is important and interesting to
us and accordingly act quickly. We also have to realize that our
unawareness of most of the processes which are going on in our
brains are limited.
In
fact human beings are not aware of most of the things to be aware
of. Many episodes and events are available to consciousness, but
only a few of them can be focused on at one time. Our concerns
may also be many and varied, so that the mind does not concentrate
on a single subject but keeps moving from one direction to another.
Plenty of distractions are usually interfering.
In
meditation, the individual exercises the skill of stressless and
relaxed concentration and develops a barrier against inner and
outer distractions as well. The meditator will not experience
the 'bad trip' but mostly have a 'good trip'.
During meditation, physiological responses indicating relaxation
are shown in the meditator's body. During sleep, psychological
responses reflecting the unconscious wishes, coflicts and needs
are shown in the individual's dream. When the mind is occupied
with daydreams or fantasies, the individual is also experiencing
an altered state of consciousness.
People
use meditation, alcohol, drugs etc. as tools to deliberately alter
their ordinary waking consciousness. Diverse techniques in meditation
are used to help people gain a sense of clarity and make them
more responsive to the environment and sensitive to their daily
experiences. Various types of drugs are used to produce alterations
in sensory perceptions of time and space, in imagery and in mental
processes.
Loss
of self-control, a distorted sense of time, changes in emotional
displays, perceptual distortions such as hallucinations are all
characteristics by which any one altered state of consciousness
can be demonstrated.
Altered
state of consciousness can be easily understood by making ourselves
receptive to psychic experience. The truth can be learnt not only
by objective scientific method or logic,but also by subjective
experience, searching for the hidden human knowledge in the depth
of our unconscious.
