My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings-what we sometimes call "mind" are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology,and nothing more.
-Carl Sagan
It's hard to define consciousness. All we know is that it's not synonymous with mind. In fact,Consciousness is a versatile dimension that encompasses mind as well as our physical existence.It is the consciousness that makes us what we were,what we are and what we ever will be. Understanding of how our thought process occurs is vital to our survival.
Thoughts are formed by virtue of our perception. We perceive through our five senses which include vision, olfaction, gustation, audition and somatosensation. These are the sensory inputs to our body that shape our reality. How much information gets into our physical body is wholly dependent on the amount of the sensory input. But this information makes up our thoughts,not necessarily our consciousness. Consciousness includes all that sensory information, processes it,some of it is stored in the form of memory in our brain,specifically Hippocampus. It can be Short-term or Long-term memory. What information to bring forth depends upon what information we need at a specific time. It's like there is tiny robot sitting in our frontal lobe of the brain who receives the message,goes to the designated drawer and take out that piece of information we need and sends it out through outflow tracts. There is a humongous number of neurons in our brain that are connected to each other via synapses. Neurons are the electrically excitable cells in our brain that receive,process and transmit tons of information every day. The information flows from one neuron to the other in the form of electric currents and that's why relay of information is lightning fast. Sensory neurons carry the information from the body to the brain and then the cerebral cortex processes that information and sends signals back to the body by virtue of motor neurons and that's how we become capable to move our arm or leg or talk etc. Brain's fuel is primarily glucose.That's why when someone is hypoglycemic,they get altered in terms of their mental status and that mimics stroke. Stroke is basically decreased blood supply to the brain that affects the functioning of the brain leading to paresis or paralysis.
As described above, the entire universe is part of our consciousness. If you look at the sky with naked eye,you will be awestruck to witness the infinite universe. Eyes are immensely sophisticated structures that makes us aware of our surroundings.Vision depends on light and that is why we can't see in the dark. This phenomenon doesn't stand true for all living creatures as some animals can actually see in the dark and that makes us confused in terms of what truly is darkness and what is not. If we close our eyes and try to stop the sensory input from external environment, we see darkness inside us,not outside,it lets us focus on our inner self,how we breathe and how we perceive information through other senses.
Perception can be fallacious. Thoughts can be a muss. If you have no thoughts,means you had no experiences in your life as thoughts are entirely based on your experiences,whether good or bad. Thoughts are a finite resource. They are basically recycling of the already present data within your brain.Life is full of experiences and that shape our reality.The more diverse your experiences are,the more vivid and intriguing your thoughts will be.
A celebrated theoretical physicist and New York times bestselling author of numerous books,Michio Kaku, defines Consciousness in his book 'The Future of the Mind' as "Consciousness is the process of creating a model of the world using multiple feedback loops in various parameters (e.g.,in temperature,space,time,and in relation to others),in order to accomplish a goal (e.g.,find mates,food,shelter). This is probably the closest we can ever be towards defining consciousness. In addition,he also divides consciousness into different levels (0-III) and these levels correspond to the rough evolutionary levels we find in nature. Also,the number of feedback loops determine the level of consciousness with Level 0 having least and Level III having the most complex feedback loops. Level 0 exists basically in stationary or limited mobility organisms,Level I exists in fairly mobile organisms who have a central nervous system, Level II consciousness let the organisms create their place not in terms of space but also in relation to each other. Presence of Limbic system is a vital part of Level II. Only humans have Level III consciousness which helps us simulate the future. Humans have a well-developed prefrontal cortex which animals lack. Animals basically have developed strong survival traits but they don't think like we humans do,they don't want to explore Mars or worry about global warming or invent electric cars and so forth, They want to hunt and live. Humans,in contrast,are more refined in terms of the awareness of their consciousness and their purpose in the cosmos.
In a nutshell,conquer your mind,declutter your thoughts and you will be on cloud nine by virtue of the clarity in your mind. Learn to live and live to learn.
Farhan Rashid MD
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