Consciousness, Science & Religion

Abstract

Neuroscience is correct to some extent when it says that consciousness arises in the brain. What the phrase, ‘arises in the brain’, infers is that some hitherto undiscovered process within the brain gives rise to consciousness in the brain, when in fact it is more the case that what we have called consciousness is the mind’s momentary awareness of an experience or memory which has activated one or more part of the neural network. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras tell us that the whole of information in the non-local space is not absolutely confined to any one individual, but that it can be accessed by someone in a high Samadhi state. This has been borne out to some extent by the experiences available to a seer in the state of Samapatti. Bohm is correct in saying that all matter contains all information. What Bohm didn’t explain was the way in which that information, or indeed which specific information, could be accessed. The practice of Samadhi gives access to past knowledge. Looking at what the numerous monotheistic religions attribute to their one God, such as being omnipresent, I can easily relate that with non-locality. I would also relate the all-knowing of God as the detached observer.