Tag Archives: Spectrum of self-awareness

CHAPTER 14. UNIFICATION OF PSYCHOLOGIES

The self (“I”) is not a thing, but a relationship between conscious experience and the immediate physical environment. In conscious experience the world appears to be divided into subject and objects. When reflected in the mirror of memory, this division gives rise to the predominant experience of the ego.

Philosophers have thought a lot about the nature of the self (or “I”). This branch of philosophy is sometimes called phenomenology. Phenomenologists study the mind through introspection, much like the meditation used by Eastern mystical philosophers and psychologists. In addition, there are numerous Western psychological models (besides behaviorism). For example, the psychoanalytic model proposed by Freud states that the self is dominated by unconscious drives.

It is interesting to see how the model of the self we have called quantum functionalism explains the variety of experiences of the self, and to compare quantum functionalism with other philosophical and psychological models. This chapter includes such a comparison, which includes some ideas from philosophy, psychology, and the new physics (concerning the nature of the self and free will).

Characteristics Associated with the Experience of Self

The characteristic forms of the experience of “I” are:

L Intentionality (purposeful focus on an object, including desire, judgment and reflection).

2. Self-awareness (sense of self).

3. Reflexivity (awareness of awareness),

4. Ego experience (the feeling of being a unique entity with a certain character, personal qualities and a corresponding personal history).

5. Attention (the experience of the self’s ability to focus on a particular object).

6. Experience of the transpersonal self (moments of revelation or insight, as in the creative experience of “eureka”),

7. Implicit experience of the self (experiences in which there is a subject-object division of the world, but there is no explicit experience of “I”).

8. Choice and free will.

9. Experiences related to the unconscious.

Of course, these forms of self-experience are not mutually exclusive. Quite the contrary, they are closely related to each other. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at each of these forms.

Intentionality, self-awareness and reflexivity

In the philosophical literature, the reference to an object that accompanies most conscious experience is called intentionality. There are many modes of intentionality, such as desire, judgment and reflection. Thus, this word does not refer to intentions alone. The experienced intentional self is, of course, aware of itself, but that is not all; his thoughts and feelings are directed and purposeful.

So, one of the most common forms of experience of “I” is the experience of oneself as a subject with intentions directed towards some object. Another common experience of “I” occurs when we reflect on ourselves, when in a reflective experience we become aware that we are aware. This is also a subject-object experience, in which the “I” plays the role of the subject, and consciousness plays the role of the object.

What causes the division of the world into subject and objects? Different philosophies give different answers to this question. How does a subject emerge from a conglomeration of material objects like neurons and white matter? One answer is epiphenomenalism—the subject is an emergent epiphenomenon of the brain. However, no one has been able to show how such an occurrence could occur. Models of artificial intelligence (connectionism) depict the brain as a computer network with parallel information processing; Within this core philosophy, bottom-up theorists attempt to argue that subject-consciousness emerges as “order out of chaos,” as a new emergent function. At their core, all of these models face the same problem: there is no provable connection between the states of a computer (or neural) network and the states of mind that we experience.

On the contrary, according to monistic idealism, everything is in consciousness and comes from it. In this philosophy, the relevant question is how consciousness, which is everything, is divided into the experiencing subject and the experienced objects? Here, the quantum theory of self-consciousness can provide sufficient evidence of how such a division could arise. According to this theory, states of the mind-brain are considered quantum states, which are probabilistically weighted (that is, having one or another probability of actualization. – multi-aspect structures of possibility. Consciousness collapses a multi-aspect structure (coherent superposition), choosing one aspect, but this happens only in presence of awareness of the brain-mind. (Remember that awareness is the field of the mind in which objects of experience arise.) What comes first – awareness or choice? It is a complex hierarchy. It is this complex hierarchical situation that gives rise to self-reference, the subject-object division of the world.

Further processes of secondary awareness lead to intentionality—the tendency to identify with an object. The self of reflective awareness also arises from these processes of secondary awareness. Both primary experience and secondary processes normally remain in what is called preconscious in the psychological literature; this shading of the complex hierarchy of the primary process is fundamental to the simple hierarchical identity with our self.

Ego Experience

Polish psychologist S. Zaborowski, based on a review of psychological literature on self-awareness, defined self-awareness as the encoding, processing and integration of information about the self. In my opinion, this kind of definition is more successful than the term “self-awareness”; moreover, it corresponds to what is usually called ego experience. Self-awareness accompanies ego experience, but does not exhaust it.

The experience of the ego as the visible agent, encoder, processor and unifier of all our programs (to use Zaborowski’s computer metaphor) is the most compelling experience of the self. The ego is the image we construct of who we appear to be experiencing our daily actions, thoughts and feelings.

The ego has played a central role in many theories of personality. Radical behaviorism and social learning theory imply that the ego is the center of socially determined behavior – the result of stimulus, response, reinforcement. However, in more recent behaviorist literature, the ego is considered to mediate external behavior through internal mental thoughts. Thus, Zaborowski’s cognitive definition of self-awareness is similar to the later behavioral definition of the ego.

However, even according to the behavioral-cognitive school, the actions of the ego can be fully described in terms of input-output statements (even though the output depends on internal mental states). If this is so, then there is no need for the ego to be associated with self-consciousness. This paradox can be avoided by using the “visible” specifier in the definition of ego.

In the quantum theory of self-awareness, the subject-object division of the world is created by the collapse of the coherent superposition of quantum states of the mind-brain. However, as a result of conditioning, certain responses become more likely when the mind-brain is presented with a learned stimulus. Consciousness is identified with the visible (apparent) processor of learned reactions, that is, the ego; however, identification is never complete. Consciousness always leaves room for unconditioned novelty. This makes possible what we call free will.

Attention and consciously directed actions

As phenomenologist Edmund Husserl noted, self-awareness and therefore the ego is related to the direction of conscious attention. There are also cases when attention moves spontaneously.

In cognitive experiments that involve perceiving and responding to a stimulus, subjects are typically able to demonstrate a behavioral response (e.g., pressing a bell button) before they have self-awareness of awareness of the stimulus and before they are able to verbally report about awareness of the stimulus. This ability suggests that there is an experience of primary and secondary awareness and that the ego is associated with the secondary experience of self-awareness, but not with the primary experience.

Husserl, describing the inherent connection between self-awareness and the ability to direct attention (which is not given to self-awareness), proposed the term pure ego to designate the unified self, the two aspects of which are self-awareness and that which directs attention. In this book, as before, we will use the simple word selfhood to denote the unified self.

The cognitive functionalist/connectivist model does not provide any explanation for self-awareness. Attention is considered a function of the central processing unit, which determines the ego.

By contrast, in the quantum theory of self-reference, the self operates in two modalities: 1) the conditioned, classical modality of the ego, relating to secondary experience, which includes self-awareness; and 2) unconditioned quantum modality associated with the experience of primary awareness, such as choosing and directing attention without self-awareness. Therefore, the quantum model is consistent with the phenomenological model.

Experience of the transpersonal self

In some experiences the identification of the self with the ego is much less than usual. An example is the creative experience, in which the experiencer often describes the creative act as an act of God. Another example is the “peak experiences” studied by psychologist Abraham Maslow. Such experiences always occur suddenly, in contrast to the more ordinary ego-continuity of the stream of consciousness. We will call them experiences of the transpersonal self because they are not dominated by identification with the specific personality of the experiencer.

Experiences of the transpersonal self often lead to a creative expansion of ego-defined self-identity. Maslow (in the work mentioned above) called this self-actualization, and this book uses the term “an act of inner creativity.” In Eastern psychology, this creative self-creation is called the awakening of the mind – in Sanskrit, Buddhi. Since the word “mind” has a different meaning in the West, we will use the Sanskrit word buddhi to refer to the expansion of self-identity beyond the ego . Although the behavioral-cognitive model does not recognize transpersonal experience, quantum theory interprets it as direct experience of the quantum modality of the self.

The main characteristic of transpersonal experience is non-locality – the transfer or spread of influence without local signals. Possible examples of such nonlocal synchronicity include simultaneous scientific discoveries. Other examples are provided by paranormal phenomena such as telepathy.

Implicit experience of self

As the existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre pointed out, much of our ordinary experience does not involve the ego self. Sartre gave the example of a man counting cigarettes. While counting, a person is absorbed in this task, and has no self-awareness or any other indication of his ego. Then a friend comes up to him and asks: “What are you doing?” The man replies: “I’m counting my cigarettes.” He regained his self-awareness. In this kind of experience there is consciousness, and the world is implicitly divided into subject and object; however, there is no or almost no secondary echo of experience.

Sartre’s example falls into the lower category of what the Eastern yoga interpreter Patanjali (circa 2nd century AD) called samadhi . Beginning with absorption in the object (the state of lower samadhi), the yogi begins the process of transcending the object into higher and higher samadhi. Eventually a state is reached in which the object is seen in its identity with the cosmic non-local consciousness.

In Eastern psychology, the subject of the experience of cosmic consciousness is called atman. In Christianity, this primary universal self is known as the Holy Spirit. In Buddhism it is sometimes called no-self (anatta) or “not-self” because it co-dependently co-occurs with awareness (without being hierarchically higher than awareness, its object). Other Buddhist philosophers (for example, in the text Lankava-tara Sutra) called the subject of pure awareness the universal cosmic consciousness. As the current Dalai Lama points out, the term “no-self” is misleading because it suggests nihilism. The modern psychologist Assagioli called this self, devoid of self, the transpersonal self. In the absence of a definitive Western term, we will use the Sanskrit word atman to refer to the self of the experience of pure awareness.

In the quantum theory of the self, the atman is interpreted as the quantum self—the unconditioned universal subject with which consciousness is identified and which interdependently arises with awareness upon the collapse of quantum coherent superposition. The experience of the individual self, or ego, arises in the mirror of memory from secondary echoes of primary experience. Substantial neurophysiological evidence indicates that there is a time delay between the experience of primary and secondary awareness.

Choice and free will

Of all the experiences of the self, perhaps the most perplexing are those that involve choice and/or free will. All conscious experience involves an opening to the future and in this sense can be considered to be associated with openness or possibility. The experience of choice and free will goes beyond such openness. We will differentiate between these two terms, although they are often used interchangeably. Choice refers to any occasion in which we choose between alternatives, with or without self-awareness. Free will refers to those cases in which we act as causal initiators of subsequent action.

Behaviorists and cognitive scientists typically claim that there is no such thing as free will or free will. If a person is a classical computer—whether with or without parallel processing—none of these concepts make sense. The proof is simply that no causal efficacy can be attributed to the ego, since its behavior is entirely determined by the state of its hardware (brain) and inputs from the environment.

Spiritual and transpersonal psychologists would agree with the behaviorist assessment that the ego does not have free will, but would insist that true free will exists. It is the free will of the atman—the consciousness that exists prior to any kind of reflective experience of the individual self. If the ego does not have free will, then how do we go beyond the ego in our ego, which is the goal of spiritual traditions? The answer that the ego is an illusion does not seem satisfactory.

With the help of quantum theory of consciousness, we can now resolve the conceptual problem associated with free will. In quantum theory, the primary self, the atman, is determined by choice. I choose, therefore (complex hierarchically), I am. However, with conditioning, choice is no longer completely free and becomes biased in favor of conditioned responses. The question is, how far does conditioning go?

Obviously, at the level of the primary process there is no conditioning, and, therefore, there is unlimited freedom of choice. At the secondary level, we have conditioned responses in the form of thoughts and feelings, but should we act on them? Our free will at the secondary level consists of the ability to say “no” to learned conditioned responses.

Notice that we have to use the two terms – choice and free will – slightly differently, and that’s a good thing. Modern neurophysiological experiments show that there is a definite advantage in not using the term “free will” in relation to, for example, situations in which a person voluntarily raises his hand. Recent experiments by Benjamin Libet clearly indicate that even before the subject experiences awareness of his action (necessary for free will), an evoked potential arises in his brain that signals to an objective observer his intention to raise his hand. In view of this, how can one say that this kind of free will is free? But Libet’s experiments also show that a person retains the ability to freely say “no” to a raised hand, even after an evoked potential signals the opposite.

This clarification of the meaning of free will can help us see the benefits of meditation – focusing attention on the field of awareness, either on a single mental object or on the entire field. Meditation gives us the opportunity to witness mental phenomena that arise in awareness – a conditioned reflex parade of thoughts and feelings. It creates a gap between the arousal of mental reactions and the urge to physically act on them and thus enhances our ability to freely say “no” to conditioned actions. It is not difficult to see the value of such reinforcement in changing habitual destructive behavior.

Experiences related to the unconscious

Some experiences relate to what remains unconscious in us – to processes for which there is consciousness, but no awareness. In quantum theory, there are situations when the quantum state does not collapse, but continues to evolve in time, in accordance with the dynamics of the situation. However, unconscious dynamics may play an important role in subsequent conscious events. This aspect gives us the opportunity to test the effects of quantum interference in experiments on unconscious perception.

According to the ideas of psychoanalysis, some experiences of the ego-self are repressed into what Freud called the “id” and Jung called the “shadow”. The resulting conscious experience defines the “persona” – the image that a person shows to other people, the image of who he considers himself to be. I will call the repressed part of the ego-self simply the personal unconscious. The influence of the personal unconscious distorts some of the experiences of our ego, and this unconscious influence leads to psychopathologies – in particular, to the neuroses with which psychoanalysis tries to work.

What can quantum theory say about how the personal unconscious arises? It arises as follows: the subject is taught to avoid certain mental states; as a result, the probability of the collapse of these states from the coherent superposition containing them becomes extremely low. However, such coherent superpositions can dynamically influence the collapse of subsequent states without any apparent external reason. Ignorance of the cause of behavior can lead to anxiety, which gives rise to neurosis. Over time, a person can imagine the causes and begin to eliminate them through, for example, neurotic behavior such as compulsive hand washing.

Similarly, Jung proposed that many of our transpersonal experiences are influenced by repressed archetypal themes of the collective unconscious—universal states that we do not ordinarily experience. These repressed themes can also lead to pathologies.

According to quantum theory, the eventual human form is subject to conditioning that prevents certain mental states from manifesting in the world. For example, the male body should tend to suppress those mental states that are distinctly female experiences. This is the source of the anima archetype described by Jung. The suppression of the anima adversely limits male behavior (in the same way, the animus archetype is suppressed in women, separating them from the male experience).

When we dream or are under hypnosis, the self becomes primarily a witness and enters a state of relative absence of secondary awareness events. In this state, normal inhibitions directed against the collapse of repressed mental states are weakened. Therefore, both dreams and hypnosis are useful for bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness.

Similarly, in a near-death experience, the close proximity of death releases much of the repressed unconscious conditioning, both collective and personal. As a result, many patients emerge from their near-death experience full of joy and peace.

To gain agency, it is important to avoid oppression both from ego/persona conditioning and from our tyrannical internal, repressed, unconscious, coherent superpositions.

Spectrum of self-awareness

By considering the characteristics of conscious experience as described by phenomenology, psychology, cognitive science, and quantum theory, we can arrive at an important summary of how the self manifests itself in us—that is, a description of the spectrum of self-awareness (see also Wilber). However, of all these theoretical models, only one—the quantum theory of consciousness—is broad enough to cover the entire spectrum; Therefore, we will start from the very beginning from an idealistic quantum view of consciousness.

In monistic idealism, consciousness is singular – one without a second, as Shankara said. The spectrum of self-consciousness consists of points with which a single consciousness is identified at different stages of human development. The whole spectrum is surrounded at the lower end by the personal unconscious, and at the upper end by the collective unconscious. However, all stages are in consciousness.

This scheme should be viewed from a developmental rather than a hierarchical perspective. The higher we develop, the more egoless we become, until at the highest level all discernible identity with the ego is lost. Therefore, levels beyond the ego are characterized by deep humility.

Ego level

At this level, the human being is identified with a psychosocially conditioned and learned set of contexts of activity. These contexts give the human personality its character. Depending on how absolute this ego-identity is, a person at this level is more or less prone to solipsism. The contexts in which such a person operates tend to take on an aura of infallibility, and he judges all other contexts in terms of the criteria of these personal contexts . A person believes that only he and his extensions and additions (his family, his culture, his country, etc.) have primary reality. Everything else is conditional.

Within the general ego level we can distinguish two bands. The first of them, pathological, is closer to the personal unconscious. It is strongly influenced by internal stimuli (non-collapsed coherent superpositions) from the unconscious. People whose self is identified with this stripe are often disturbed by the aspirations and impulses of the unconscious. Their ego is divided into a self-image and a shadow-image, the former expanding and the latter repressed.

The second band, the psychosocial, is where most of us live – with the exception of occasional excursions into lower and higher (in a developmental sense) areas of identity. For example, in higher realms we may be able to say “no” to a conditioned habitual response, thus exercising our free will; or we can immerse ourselves in creative activities, or we can love someone unselfishly. However, the usual impulses to action at this level are driven by a personal program that serves to preserve and strengthen the identity of the image-character, in the pursuit of fame, power, sex, etc.

Buddhi level

This level is characterized by a less limited ability to identify the self, exploring the full human potential. The personal motive of life at the ego level is replaced by the motive of internal creativity, self-exploration and actualization.

Within this level, several bands can be distinguished. However, these bands do not form a hierarchy and are not necessarily experienced in any chronological order. Some of them may even be missed.

The first of these, located closer to the ego level, we will call the psychic/mystical band. People whose self is identified with this band experience non-local psychic and mystical experiences that expand their vision of the world and their own role in it. These themes of the collective unconscious often come to the surface in dreams, creative experiences and the understanding of myths, which provide additional motivation for freedom and unification of the self. However, at this level of self-identity, people are still too driven by personal desires to move to a truly ongoing identity.

The second band is transpersonal (transpersonal). There is a certain ability and tendency to witness internal processes without necessarily externalizing them. The psychological contexts of human life are losing their absolute character. One discovers otherness, and some of the joys of this discovery (such as the joy of service) enhance motivation.

The third stripe is spiritual, representing an identity that few people on earth have demonstrated. Life passes mainly in samadhi, achieved easily and effortlessly (in Sanskrit – sahaja). The Self is more or less unified; themes of the collective unconscious are largely explored; and actions correspond to events. Due to the rarity these days of people whose self-identity falls into this band, there is very little scientific data available about it. Of course, many historical cases of this identity are described in the mystical and religious literature of the world.

The highest level is atman, the level of self (or non-self), achievable only in samadhi.

Note that the spiritual psychologies of India and Tibet speak of seven bands on the spectrum of self-identity (with one additional band at the ego level). The origin of this system is connected with the Indian idea of ​​three types of attraction – three gunas: tamas, or inertia; rajas or libido; and sattva, or creativity. Indian psychologists postulate the existence of three ego bands, perhaps one for each type of dominant drive, but since it is recognized that all people have some portion of each guna, such a classification seems somewhat redundant.

It may be asked: how does a change of self-identity occur? There is a Zen story that deals with this issue: “The disciple Doko came to a Zen master and asked: “I am seeking the truth; What state of self should I train myself in to find it?” The Zen master replied: “There is no self, so you cannot bring it into any state. There is no truth, so you cannot prepare for it.”

In other words, there is no method, no preparation for changing self-identity. That’s why we call this process inner creativity. It is the process of breaking the boundary defined by one set of contexts for life, which creates the possibility of an expanded set of contexts. We will look at this process in more detail in Part 4. Note that the integration of theories of personality and self achieved here in the context of quantum theory of consciousness should also lead to the integration of various branches of psychology – psychoanalytic, behavioral, humanistic/transpersonal and cognitive. Although we have shown that a model based on ideas from cognitive science and artificial intelligence is not suitable for a complete description of human personality, it can nevertheless serve as a useful simulation of most ego-related aspects of the self.

The book “The Self-Aware Universe. How consciousness creates the material world.” Amit Goswami

Contents

PREFACE
PART I. The Union of Science and Spirituality
CHAPTER 1. THE CHAPTER AND THE BRIDGE
CHAPTER 2. OLD PHYSICS AND ITS PHILOSOPHICAL HERITAGE
CHAPTER 3. QUANTUM PHYSICS AND THE DEATH OF MATERIAL REALISM
CHAPTER 4. THE PHILOSOPHY OF MONISTIC IDEALISM
PART II. IDEALISM AND THE RESOLUTION OF QUANTUM PARADOXES
CHAPTER 5. OBJECTS IN TWO PLACES AT THE SAME TIME AND EFFECTS THAT PRECEDE THEIR CAUSES
CHAPTER 6. THE NINE LIVES OF SCHRODINGER’S CAT
CHAPTER 7. I CHOOSE WITH THEREFORE, I AM
CHAPTER 8. THE EINSTEIN-PODOLSKY-ROSEN PARADOX
CHAPTER 9. RECONCILIATION OF REALISM AND IDEALISM
PART III. SELF-REFERENCE: HOW ONE BECOMES MANY
CHAPTER 10. EXPLORING THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM
CHAPTER 11. IN SEARCH OF THE QUANTUM MIND
CHAPTER 12. PARADOXES AND COMPLEX HIERARCHIES
CHAPTER 13. “I” OF CONSCIOUSNESS
CHAPTER 14. UNIFICATION OF PSYCHOLOGIES
PART IV . RETURN OF CHARM
CHAPTER 15. WAR AND PEACE
CHAPTER 16. EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CREATIVITY
CHAPTER 17. THE AWAKENING OF BUDDHA
CHAPTER 18. IDEALISMAL THEORY OF ETHICS
CHAPTER 19. SPIRITUAL JOY
GLOBAR OF TERMS