How can a dualistic state of being observe a nondualistic state of being? To further complicate the matter, even this description of the problem is unsatisfactory to those who would argue that consciousness is nothing more than ego consciousness. Carl Jung, who is considered rather mystical in his scientific orientation, nicely illustrates the subject-object problem of consciousness. He writes that, “consciousness is inconceivable without an ego; Nonetheless, the it is equated with the relation of contents to an ego. question of what If there is no ego there is nobody to be conscious of anything. . . . The Eastern mind, however, has no difficulty in conceiving of a consciousness without an ego. Consciousness is deemed capable of transcending its ego condition; indeed, in its ‘higher’ forms, the ego disappears altogether. . . . I do not doubt the existence of mental states transcending consciousness, but they comes first, the brain lose their consciousness to exactly the same degree that they transcend consciousness.” (“The Difference between Eastern and Western Thinking,” in The Portable Jung, ed. Joseph Campbell, 1976, p. 491.) or consciousness, can Jung’s proposition that consciousness has limitations comes from a man whose robust definition of the psyche includes the ego
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(differentiated consciousness), the personal unconscious (undifferentiated consciousness), and the only be answered one collective unconscious (transpersonal consciousness). Clearly a time-space continuum is not a limiting factor in consciousness (ego awareness), but then way for logical positivists. Next Page 7 TMI JOURNAL 2012 what are the mental states transcending consciousness, or is this merely a case of linguistics, and we would all be better served by good comparative analysis of terminology? For those literal adherents of the scientific method, consciousness is framed by the physical boundaries of the earth-life system. Of course the definition of our physical boundaries is constantly under revision, but the approach is one of “empirical verification.” In essence, only what is observed through our physical senses is the proper study of science (laboratory instruments are extensions of our senses). Philosophically, this orientation is known as logical positivism and shows up in universities under the umbrella of cognitive studies. For these individuals, the study of consciousness is the study of the brain and its functioning and the effects on human behavior that result with
changes to brain functioning. A worthy endeavor, in which most everyone will agree that brain chemistry does have an impact on ego development and altered states of awareness. Nonetheless, the question of what comes first, the brain or consciousness, can only be answered one way for logical positivists. Then there are those who want to start looking for a definition of consciousness somewhere between a religious (mystical) and a scientific (empirical) orientation. For these individuals (whom I call Human Potential advocates), evidence of extraordinary human functioning (out-of-body experiences, remote viewing, death-defying feats of endurance, etc.) illustrates aspects of consciousness that extend beyond the laws of a physical universe. They start with events or experiences and create models or theories based on inductive reasoning or inference. These are not “scientific” theories in the traditional use of the term (independently verified by other scientists), but rather are theories verified by repeated individual experiences or collective patterns of experience. For those in this middle orientation, consciousness exists across a spectrum extending beyond space and time in which “an individual observer” is present (pure awareness), though the question remains as to who or what that observer is and how it relates to the unique ego-based personality bound by space and time.