A Philosophy of Consciousness

Abstract

This essay completes my earlier essays on consciousness, and ranges from what I found in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali¹ by Swami Veda Bharati, and The Sankhya Karika² by G Srinivasan, through to my conclusions. In the past I found modern philosophy requires any definition of consciousness to provide an explanation of its subjective aspects, and the author of the Yoga Sutras mentioned above provides a basis for my explanation which I believe can be understood by a layperson in general terms of philosophy and neuroscience. Leaving aside convention and limits I hope to present an understanding of consciousness, mind and memory based on practical experience in the state of Samapatti. I am very aware that the knowledge within the two books I cite originated at a time when people had a different way of understanding reality and verified their knowledge through direct perception. My learning process will seem tedious but the fact is that I find answers piece by piece and I write in much the same way. In citing these two authors I do not claim or infer any agreement or support from either of them for the conclusions I reached in this essay.