Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment. It is a subject of much research in philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science. (Wikipedia)
Consciousness ; Quality or state of being aware. As applied to the lower animals, consciousness refers to the capacity for sensation and, usually, simple volition. In higher animals, this capacity may also include thinking and emotion. In human beings, consciousness is understood to include "meta-awareness," an awareness that one is aware. The term also refers broadly to the upper level of mental life of which the person is aware, as contrasted with unconscious processes. Levels of consciousness (e.g., attention vs. sleep) are correlated with patterns of electrical activity in the brain (brain waves). (Brittanica Consise Encyclopedia)
Consciousness; [from Latin conscio knowing with, knowing together] The active state of spirit or the supreme fundamental in manifested existence. Like light, consciousness can become manifest only by means of a vehicle, and it can have various degrees of manifestation according to the planes. Individual consciousness originates in the Logos of any hierarchy. Every manifested entity is conscious to some degree, and is an expression of divine consciousness or spirit. Buddhi is said to be latent spiritual consciousness which becomes manifest intellectually in manas, so far as the human constitution goes (SD 2:275). Human consciousness is also closely linked to the senses. The term consciousness is often used as alternative to spirit, as where it is said that consciousness and matter are the two aspects of parabrahman or that consciousness is the purest form of cosmic force; yet, strictly speaking, consciousness is an attribute of active spirit. It is sometimes called the universal life, the kosmic force-substance. The relative use of the word enables us to speak of states or degrees of consciousness, according to the state in which the essence is manifested on one plane or another; or to call one state unconscious by contrast with another, as when we compare waking consciousness with the consciousness of sleep or trance. (Rakefet)
The ego, intellect, mind, ether, fire, air, water, and earth are the eightfold transformation of My Prakriti. Bhagavad-Gita 7.04
This Prakriti is My lower energy. My other higher energy is the Purusha by which this entire universe is sustained, O Arjuna. (7.05)
In fact; everything is consciousness;
This entire universe is pervaded by Me, the unmanifest Brahman. All beings depend on Me . I do not depend on them. Bhagavad-Gita 9.04
The orthodox view in physics is that quantum waves act mechanically on a particle, controlling its movement in much the same way that the waves of the ocean might control a Ping-Pong ball floating on its surface. But Bohm does not feel that this view can explain, for example, the coordinated dance of electrons in a plasma any more than the wave motion of water could explain a similarly well-choreographed movement of Ping-Pong balls if such a movement were discovered on the ocean's surface. He believes the relationship between particle and quantum wave is more like a ship on automatic pilot guided by radar waves. A quantum wave does not push an electron about any more than a radar wave pushes a ship. Rather, it provides the electron with information about its environment which the electron then uses to maneuver on its own. In other words, Bohm believes that an electron is not only mindlike, but is a highly complex entity, a far cry from the standard view that an electron is a simple, structureless point. The active use of information by electrons, and indeed by all subatomic particles, indicates that the ability to respond to meaning is a characteristic not only of consciousness but of all matter. (Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, page 122)
Antonio Damasio on Consciousness;
Consciousness requires
1) a mind
= a flow of mental images.
2) a self
A conscious mind is a mind with a self in it. A self
introduces a subjective perspective in the mind. We are only fully conscious
when self comes to mind.
There are three levels of self;
proto self;
the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to
maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH.
core self;
(animal self; ego) shared with many other species coming out of the brainstem
and cortex.
autobiographical self;
(higher Self) past memories and anticipated future. shared with cetaceans and
primates, dogs and dolphins to a certain degree.
The autobiographical self has prompted;
-extended memory
-reasoning
-imagination
-creativity
-language
-the instruments of culture;
--justice
--trade
--the arts
--science
--technology
--socio-cultural regulation;
*
The Proto self and the Core self both belong to the Animal self or lower self. The Autobiographical self is a big step towards the Higher Self but is still only a smart animal's self and heavily influenced by the Proto- and Core self; the Lower self. It is the level of the human soul that is constantly being forced to make choices between good and evil, integrity and deceitfulness.
Significant, however, is that all over the world the instruments of culture, writing and language are reported to have been conveyed to humans by gods, angels or in fact by God Himself, resulting in guidelines in Holy Books on what is right and what is wrong and laws on how to behave.
Even more significant here is that the decisions we make, that have always been ascribed to our minds; our brains, are in fact being taken up to ten seconds before our brains show any sign of it.