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Consciousness and state of consciousness |
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Evolutive character of the consciousness state
Man's baby has to wait about twenty months to recognize himself in a mirror.
More exactly, approximately one and a half year is necessary so that the I (ego, subject, spirit) of the man's baby can recognize his body among virtual images which are in his abstraction domain,
images constructed in a innate way.
Experiment became classic :
as soon as he is conscious of himself, a very young child with a make-up on his face, that is placed in front of a mirror, tries to remove make-up, not by wiping mirror's glass, but his face.
Emergence of the consciousness state therefore presupposes,
besides a cerebral potential similar to that of the man,
specific synaptic links established by means of the first lived experiences.
Reactions of certain superior animals in front of a mirror also confirm existence of a proto-state of consciousness.
The first experiments, on chimpanzees, were made by Gordon Gallup in the 1970s (chimpanzees do not stop enjoying themselves with their gestures).
Other anthropoid monkeys : the orangutans and gorillas also express a singular sensibility for their image.
It's true that with gorillas, mirror's experiment is more difficult ; indeed, these do not like looking their face.
It's only when their image is taken laterally by a movie camera and projected on a screen, that they recognize their image,
more precisely, that they recognize their image amid numerous virtualities which are in their domain of the abstraction.
However, why the capuchins and macaques, apparently "evolved" as chimpanzees, don’t have this proto-state of consciousness ?,
macaques females see a rival in mirror, and attack her, whereas capuchins tend to look behind glass to look for something.
A first answer seems credible :
these monkeys don't have sufficient genetic and cerebral potentialities.
There have been numerous experiments notably with the research workers Joshua Plotnik and Diana Reiss ; we know thus, that the dolphins and elephants react too, to recognition tests in a mirror.
As example, let us quote behaviors of Happy, Maxine and Patty, three asian elephants of a New York zoo.
According to the experimenters, having recognized his image, Happy has touched repeatedly, with his trunk, a white cross drawn behind his eye, the two other elephants having remained totally indifferent to this visible mark.
Maxine opened mouth and examined his palate with a great curiosity.
Nevertheless, even if the elephants, dolphins and some anthropoid monkeys behave differently in front of a mirror, all reveal that they have a proto-state of consciousness and that this singular understanding state can be developped by means of education.
These facts give evidence, naturally, of the evolutive character of the consciousness state, the most refined and most subtle being the one of the man (to tell truth, any understanding of the world presupposes a consciousness state of the other).
Besides, man's consciousness state is more than body's consciousness, it is transcendent state which enables to creative entity who animates him, from recognizing herself in the me (I, ego, subject, spirit).
We here are very far from the theories which try to persuade us that environment's impact is main cause of the evolution !
Fractal (modular) character of virtualities which emerge from consciousness state
In abstraction's domain, transcendent linkst links enable coherence of the abstract images, concepts, …, ideas and their adequacy with reality.
Therefore we cannot ignore the creative entity who is responsible of these links and of chronologies which their are associated.
Talking of this, the experiments of Francisco Varela (1946 - 2001) are rich in information.
This one studying perception of successive intermittent signals of lamps placed side by side, has noticed,
that when extinction duration of these lamps is long, then their intermittent signals are perceived independently,
and if the extinction duration is short enough, illumination is continuous.
Between these extreme cases, when extinction time is adapted, there is a sensation of movement (principle utilized in advertisement).
More precisely, having linked this intermittent signals to alpha rhythm quantified by electroencephalography (a nearby rhythm of 100 ms), Varela showed that statistically, subject recognises no discontinuity if ignition coincides with ascending period of two successive waves ; on the other hand, signals seem independent for ignitions activated during descending period.
So, virtualities that "enamel" abstraction’s domain, are ceaselessly reconstructed ; thus they are discrete and modular.
Consequently,
who can "erase" these myriads of fractures and is responsible of the links between these virtualities ?
who can guarantee coherence of our understanding and body's life ?,
if it is not an operator implicated at every structural level of the body, ipso facto, implicated at every structural level of the world,
an operator of different order from the one, physical, characteristic of the energies, because he is able to transcend matter's states from recognizing them, ..., from judging them.
We here is far from the vital impulse "lauded "by numerous philosophers (Bergson ...) and theologians !
Thus, in research of primordial causes, let's remain watchful particularly with regard to the interpretation of the scientific discoveries.
Watchfulness
Watchfulness for example, towards the ambiguous analyses diffused by specialized publications; so when it is said to us that the faculties depend on specific cells, in particular on neurones.
Let us be precise, actually faculties depend on specific cells because these cells enable the potentialities actualization (their materialization for becoming realities), genetic or others.
But then, how to understand and to define innate activities which often express itself by desire, because, evidently, Instinct and Nature are not "masters of the sense" ?
Let us be precise.
Desire don't make action ; desire is correlative of incitements, of transcendent order, more or less necessary for individuals's life and even, necessary for life's phenomenon.
Let's insist more.
Certainly as Claude Bernard wrote it :
"Stability of the internal environment is condition of an independent life … All vital mechanisms, although different, have a unique purpose : to maintain life's conditions in internal environment." (Cf. Lessons on the physiological properties and pathological changes of the body's liquids),
however any need must be beforehand "detected" (rate of sodium in blood, osmotic pressure, …) and "managed" by an unique creative entity who acts according to universal value references (abstract references).
On the other hand, that the brain by means of its structures, is implicated in feelings, nobody denies it,
nevertheless this does not mean that it recognizes, chooses, regulates, ... and that it is master of the sense.
Let us repeat, brain enables physical, biophysical and transcendent activities which are necessary to beings's dynamics having this organ,
particularly, activities which lead to consciousness state.
As a consequence, what is creative entity who utilizes brain ?
Therefore, primordial or subtle, feelings are not at the consciousness's origin as it is so often said, but correlative of physical, biophysical and transcendent activities.
Thus, feelings are subjective constituents of the life's phenomenon, as the qualia (singular : quale ) which represent subjective experiences of the individuals.
Poetically expressed, feelings are auras which enlighten spirit's ways.
Other main facts, the feelings are interdependent, of relative character and necessitate of taking into consideration numerous value references ( useful - harmful, …, just - unjust, …, good - evil).
Mysteriously, some feelings can be controlled by means of a singular faculty : the will.
This faculty that emerge from consciousness state, is it a specificity of the human race ?, or as we believe,
expression of a primordial intention, notably revealed by coherence of the universal dynamics ?
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