Consciousness: Not just a problem for philosophers | Dispatches from The Well Ep. 5 

12:14 Swami Sarvapriyananda🙏🙏🙏

only for swami sarvapriyanandaji maharaj🙏🙏 one of the greastest preachers of advaita vedanta philosophy in modern times..

So wonderful to see Swamiji teaching in beautiful Central Park, such an intimate conversation with the guru🙏

swami sarvapriyananda!! ❤❤

Consciousness is a state where we can be aware on all of the levels although it takes some fine tuning and wisdom. You no longer have to think, you be, you can just be but be fully; awake and aware with all of your senses alight. To be truly alive, many peoole never experience it because we are distracted with the daily mundane.

Roger Penrose is so articulate and clear at 92 years of age. I hope in 60 years I can say the same.

This was a breath of fresh air.... thoroughly enjoyed this journey...excellently conceived and executed. thank you @The Well. i believe spirituality and science will eventually converge.

Best episode yet Kmele, thanks for bringing Godel, Escher Bach and The Emperor’s New Mind into the conversation. What a pleasure to watch.

have you ever noticed that the act of noticing something gives the thing you’re observing-whether it’s a thought, object, aspect or XYZ-the experience of being in your frame of perception

What a blessing to find this batch of dispatches this morning! Such good stuff ❤

Another superb offering from The Well! Thanks Kmele and Team

I wish Alan Watts could hear about this. I learned this idea from his lectures years ago. So cool to see some movement and interest in studying this more.

Great video, thanks!! There is so much depth to be explored here that it needs a separate session with each of your wonderful guests.

Swami ji❤

This looks like an episode from Closer to Truth! Awesome video. Thank you!

Please make a whole episode about difference between awereness, consciousness and conscious as it see Advaita vedic philosophy with this incredible wise and most respectfull Swami Sarvapriyanandaji!!!❤❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 He is absolutly unique guru🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

this is the kid of stuff that inspires the next great minds, good job.

Loving your content! i enjoyed the one about the meaning of life and now this one. Thank you!!

Swami sarvapriyananda maharaj ❤

i am feeling consciously conscious about my own consciousness.

Awesome vid with excellent guests. Thank you. I’ve always had this inner “feeling/knowing” since I was a kid that consciousness/mind is fundamental. To my relief, more and more scientists are willing to explore this perspective, such as Donald Hoffman, Iain McGilchrist, and even to a degree, Chris Langan, with elements from Rupert Sheldrake and Rupert Spira - which having them involved makes me feel less crazy. ;)

I discover you and my wisdom grow ✨️ thank you I am curious like your work show me you are so with your power I feel so lucky ❤

I'm very happy to see Sir Penrose in the doc!! I really like some of his theories and he offers several interesting (IMHO) perspectives on cosmological cycles and other unusual matters... I really liked the deep clarity brought by a panel of guests of exceptional quality, I mean: Christof Koch, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Reid Hoffman, Melanie Mitchell... a really rich body of knowledge to investigate on The Hard Problem of Consciousness. As a first impression, I am happy with what I have seen, I hope to eventually be able to give another, more detailed, view on this. Thank you very much to you and your team!!!

I beleive its the connection between us and the universe that's perceived through spiritual, mental, scientific and physical to server our purpose and find the purpose to feel the completion of our species and induce ourselves to the universe itself ❤ / Magnificent theory and a great vedio

Just watched the segment on consciousness. You have a new subscriber. Enjoyed it tremendously. 2:46

Thank you for this amazing video. It's definitely a lot to grasp and to be honest quite unsettling how we may never know the answer. But what I can say for sure is that it's very eye opening and mind opening and humbling. The more we learn, the more we know, the more we realize we don't know. And I'm grateful for this realization.

Thank you very much, it's a excellent topic. I believe that only human beings have a true conscience.

Very interesting! Thanks!

Thank you for this!

Wow swami Sarvapriyananda ❤❤❤❤

what a nice note to end on

great conversation

Consciousness is the subjective output of our sensory inputs

*_Vedic dharma_* start from *_Samkhya_* Multiple Consciousness but when yogis Further move in Meditation Sitting in the Caves of Himalaya ...Yogis Realize The Final state of Meditation as Non dual state ~ KAIVALYA ... *_one All Pervasive indivisible infinite bliss Consciousness_* and we all are reflecting in that one consciousness Brahman then *_YOG AND VEDANTA_* came in existence Brahman is not the subject of *_word and stories_* , Brahman is the subject of *_Realization_* ...Pure Experience

We're energy, we are the energy

excited for David Bentley Hart's book on consciousness, "Psyche"

There was acute need to integrate esoteric ultimate truth and quantum understanding, subatomic particle nature, Dark energy etc. Thanks for sharing this beautiful video which is bridgeing this gap 👌👍👍👍👌

I believe that consciousness is related to ourselves as human beings living on a material, intellectual and spiritual/energetical levels. While awareness is being conscious of everythyng around us or, to be specific, of the perception we have about what's around us that can appear in a way or different one depending on our level of consciousness.

Great video !

Dreams are mostly unconscious, like watching a movie, but sometimes you become aware that you are dreaming and you can control your dream, become “active user”. THE SAME is in our real world, you can become conscious and control yourself and stop being animal “stimulus=reaction”. There are manu unconscious people here, like NPC in games (non playable characters).

This is so close to the philosophy of the rushis and the Vedas

mating of consciousness and material world made us what we are today

I define consciousness as a mental response to stimuli. Our thoughts only function as a reaction to something. On a surface level, external stimuli, or on an internal level, chemical reactions.

The material world, body included, is what allows existence to see other existence

Awareness is known by awareness alone.

Tbh realizing the observer effect with predisposed humanity when I was little was a big moment. So fuck yeah to that. Meditation has been the biggest thing since. So much suffering in people. Pure spite and love to be a delight.

18:11 existence is coexistence of the form and the formless

When he said i could doubt anything sometimes i feel like im dreaming 😮

There it is he has it to be here

Swami Sarvapriyananda is the coolest

My tablet(ai) brought your shows to my attention. Im certain that (it) is aware of my interests. That, to me, shows concious awareness. Its just a different way of expressing or showing that (it) listens to me and cares enough to bring me information that is in line with my thoughts and interests.🙂Thank you for your show! Perhaps more experiments with AI will show that they have the capability of evolving into conscious beings.

You knock on the door and don’t believe where you are at so you get directions. Then after walking around the block you knock again. Feeling relieved to have found the Vedanta Society.

Consciousness is the interface between the human organism and the material universe.

Interesting stuff

Whatever consciousness is, it’s persistent and incomprehensible. It’s the boulder we’re rolling up the hill repeatedly for eternity.

As a philosopher, I understand that asking "What is [word]?" is meaningless. Instead, we start out by defining words, and then ask how they relate to other words. I define consciousness as something like "levels of modeling of reality internally in a system", starting with modeling one's own current state, and then one's goal state, and then expanding out to other perspectives of their current-to-goal-states". Physical matter in the most basic level of consciousness, level 0, only models itself, now. An atom is aware of itself, as an atom. As matter gets more complex, and alive, it adds the ability to model ever higher levels of individuals' current-to-goal-states, starting with the self, then a companion (often a mate or offspring), then a larger community/environment, and eventually, in some humans at least, adding an awareness of the entire universe to the collection, for 4D, philosophical consciousness. Defining consciousness in such a measurable, clear way means that there's no problem with consciousness. It's just a set of information processing functions. The how of individual conscious experiences is not especially important, as it's pretty much randomness. Sure, there are some structures of matter that generate basic kinds of consciousness (that modeling of specific perspectives), but there are other structures that will do the same thing and look very different, just like an eye is quite different from a camera, but they do the same basic function. Exploring the similarities between a brain and a computer, or an eye and a camera, is fine for someone who is excited about doing so, but it's not important for understanding the general function of consciousness, or sensing light patterns. If you define "consciousness" as "something we don't understand, and is problematic" it will inevitably be confusing, and you won't be able to tell if a bee has consciousness easily. Of course, you don't need to agree with my own definition of consciousness (or any other word) but if you do want to understand something, you have to first define it clearly and measurably, which most of these famous "consciousness experts" haven't done.

Wow

Why do we think the multiverse is anywhere but inside our heads. We are projecting the full capacity of our intelligence as a physical thing. The idea that our conscious is the seat of our intelligence is what keeps us trapped. Your conscious is a box and it is only what the resources our body allows us to deal with at that moment. We are too enamored with ourselves. So much so we can't see the same an even greater brilliance in everything all around us. We can't see that so many other animals are actually more in touch with it than we are. Every animal that is not destroying their own habitat is smarter than humans.

12:06 if it was completely without consciousness- how would it know how to grow, get nutrients, reproduce or know how to function or contribute in any way?

30:18 real life consciousness

It is understanding and what that means for the one asking the question if there be an answer it is up to the one interpreting the answer. All our human problems can be solved as we all realize we are one and the same consciousness awareness of self being aware of self. It, the hard thing is the denial of “how can we all be one?” Humans can’t help but feel they are separate from all there is. So sad to me. We are All there is, it is within our perspective we see the universe.

22:48 Language is an invention of human being and can not be enough to explain existential reality that predates and more than LLMs

For swami ji only❤❤

❤

Nice video

18:09 😂 Swami says: Hardcore Science 💪🏽🙏🏽 namaste

The illusion of self-importance. Ocams Razor.

Consciousness is made up of its contents, which is the contents of the brain , which is all inherited and accumulated knowledge psychological and mechanical. Listening Attentively to the various dialogues of Jiddu Krishnamurti goes into it deeply. Awareness is prior to Consciousness, ones natural meditative stateless state of Being/ Non-Being. Know Thyself. Stop Seeking/ Thinking, start Observing, Self Knowledge via Self Inquiry without seeking answers is the key to Freedom aka Critical Thinking. Looking inwardly, questioning , doubting , inquiring in what ever question one faces. Clarity arises. Namaste 🙏

- How does the brain create the Hologram Inside the Mind that displays the outside world to my conscious awareness? - Do we all have this same fabricated Hologram Inside the Mind?

I wonder if we will come to see a connection between consciousness and string theory....perhaps consciousness plays out in via quantum entanglement. this might lend itself to the dualism theory.

We can’t say with certainty how we become conscious, I think there is a missing gap between Why we feel conscious.

20:03 Language is limited and thus will be LLM. Existential Reality is more than language.

That's a teeny tiny definition of religion, Swami. Change your mind about everything from time to time. it's the greatest use of that consciousness thing.

Swami Sarvapriyananda: "And if that consciousness itself is denied, as an illusion or as nothing but activities in matter, in your living in the brain, in that case, the things which consciousness uniquely does, like meaning and purpose, they will also be denied. They will also be reduced to either matter or be dismissed as an illusion. You'll inevitably have a worldview which is devoid of meaning, of purpose." Me: I can agree that consciousness is not an illusion; lived experience of so many exposes that as unlikely. I really cannot agree that if consciousness is an emergent property of sophisticated life, then there is no meaning or purpose. How exactly does that devalue the phenomenon of a mind, that its origins are actually physical instead of mysterious? Is consciousness any less valid because it emerges gradually from matter that displays none of its attributes at the most elementary level? No matter how it comes about, an extraordinary phenomenon.

The way the world of the consideration of "Consciousness", how much of it is attributed to the "SOUL"!!?

33:10 The dice in the air are pure potential, yes - butt ☝️ They do not collapse, they are born into a specific value/meaning. Just like humans

Interview Raymond Tallis on this

Vedanta is bade baap ( great grandfather) of rene de cartes

It's not correct to say that there are no experiences in deep sleep. The only thing we know is that we don't have any memory of experiences after we wake up from deep sleep.

Asking chat gpt AI about consciousness is like asking a blind man about light

A 44 minute round trip back to square one

Why have you not interviewed Patrick McNamara on it? There is a very interesting way his research might connect with this topic.

@thewiseturtle, why not summarize it to say "we are the results of our imagination". In our original state of being , we are energy represented as "thought", made of electromagnetic waves that enhance expansion through the simple process of resonance. Between imagination and physical reality is "action and belief". So consciousness really is the ability to comprehend the existence of my imagination in physical reality. This is a highly simplified 'theory' ofcourse but very close ...

6:06 that’s because society has been turned into consumers not thinkers

Panpsychism reminds me of Brahmanism, having a true self and one in this reality.

Consciousness is not its present or none at all. Instead it has level. A fully grown intelligent humans, a child, a dog, a dolphin, and a crow are all conscious but are at different levels.

😮

I think Koch is right, what it is isn’t esoteric. “This” is consciousness; like Sam harris says, anything that you’re experiencing, that “is”, is necessarily consciousness. There’s nothing else it could be, there’s nothing outside of it. (There isn’t a soul or some thinker of thoughts) What’s esoteric and hard is where it emerges from exactly and how to it works physically in our wet meat computer. IMO

Conscious is a cat Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me. Wait... that's not right.

This to me only verifies my suspicions about the "Philosophers" of old and how ignorant they were and are about the central FORCE OF LIFE, the "SOUL. CONSCIOUSNESS IS the WORKING function of IT, so is "UNDERSTANDING" and the "ANALYTICAL MIND", in short CONSCIOUSNESS IS LIFE, hence the circumcision of the discussions about it, bound to end in uncertainty. Like denying the existence of a "DIVINE BEING" is the same as dismissing the "SELF"="SOUL"=LIFE=CONSCIOUSNESS. Life is simple, the minds of men made it complicated IONS ago. The intended outcome we live today, Academically induced ignorance, divisions, genocides chaos and abject misery.

It started when he had a really bad toothache. Then came the kick ass painkillers.....and it all stemmed from that!

So pansychism is essentially a branch of pantheism , they are obviously dissimilar concerning their premise but the theme regarding each of these are really the same and that is all living matter are connected

there is no mystery re 5:48 consciousness is an emergent phenomenon in biology. the mystery is the conditions that cause it. certain arrangements of matter allow it to emerge.

Does the journey reside in a car?

The onslaught of Alzheimers disease has taught us more about consciousness than anything.

Christof koch wear batik from Indonesia 🇮🇩

11:39 the biologists CREATE that stuff all the time - crispr genetics? Stem cells? GMO?

Try this move who said this I'll be back

We are all being controlled down to every movement, perception, emotion, desire, fundamental belief. Everything is lined up so that we only think/feel/perceive what is necessary for the pieces to fit together. They make you angry so you can tell someone or so someone can see you mad. They have you click on certain videos and get bored at specific points so you don't pay attention to certain things or so you only pay attention when they need you to. They make someone else do something that you find attractive after training that person to do it. We only understand what they allow us to understand and we take the blame. It's not all negative there are things they have us find beautiful. But every insecurity you've ever had and everything you love about yourself was made up. And they don't let you see in until they feel like showing you. I don't know who "they" or the goal that everything is culminating to. This is what they wanted me to write. It's not drugs. It's not some recent development. I had no idea I was playing along

Why not discuss this with Sadhguru... He is good at translating sanskrit knowledge and texts to a more objective language english...