Most scientific studies of consciousness are weak
because scientists and logisticians like to measure things accurately – consciousness is hard to measure. Some researchers measure electrochemical impulses in our brains and nervous systems, believing that consciousness is a function of brain activity. In this article I will use a different, more accessible approach to explore the most fascinating topic in the world: your consciousness.
Biologists tell us that our bodies are composed of about 70% water. The other 30% is mostly hydrocarbons, calcium and other minerals. Every day we drink and excrete water-based liquids. Our body is a bit like a river, with water constantly flowing through it. It’s not like a bottle of beer, where the water just sits in it until someone snaps the cap. Our body is a flowing, changing thing, like a river. Look in the mirror. What you are looking at will be 70% different material a month from now. All the water that makes up 70% of that face in the mirror, will be flushed down some toilet(s) into some sewage treatment facility and will soon be flowing toward the ocean. This is the reality of our body: 70% of it is water in constant flowing change. It’s not the fixed entity it appears to be when we look in the mirror.
And what about the 30% of our body that is not water? – the proteins and the minerals? It’s the same story, but the flow is slower. Most of the cells of our body have limited life spans. When they die, they are replaced with new cells. (This is not true for nerve cells or brain cells, which, they say, do not die. But, of course those neurons are living things which receive nutrients and metabolize. The individual cells don’t die, but the material they are made of is constantly being recycled.) My point is that the body’s “not-water” components are in constant change or flow, just like the water component, but slower. But, when we look in the mirror, this is not how our body appears.
When we look in the mirror, our body appears to be a fixed object made up of many fixed body parts all functioning in accord to create our life. This appearance is not true: in reality, our body is more like a stream or river in a constant state of change – and that creates our life.
When we look at a photo of ourselves 10 years ago, we should understand that our current body is not the same body in the photo. All of the atoms and molecules have been replaced. But, we think we are still the same person, even though we’re not made of the same material. This assumed “sameness” is an illusion. The material that makes up our current body is not the same material that made up our body 10 years ago. The body we will have 10 years from now will not be made of the same atoms and molecules as today’s body. Our body is like a river: literally, like constantly flowing river, constantly changing.
The material that makes up this constant flow that we call “my body,” all comes from the earth. Every atom and molecule we eat, drink and breathe, comes from the earth. Our bodies are literally made of the earth. Every atom and molecule, every cell of our body is derived from the earth. The funeral phrase “We, therefore, commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust…” is literally true. If they added “water to water,” the phrase would be even more scientifically accurate, though less poetic. But that’s not how we perceive our body.
It is our perception that lacks wisdom and scientific accuracy. We perceive that our mind and consciousness emerge from this constantly flowing stream of atoms. We can remember what happened 10 years ago, even though all the atoms and molecules of our body have been changed. The material that made up our body 10 years ago is long gone – “earth to earth” has already happened. But our “self” still identifies with today’s body as if it were the same body. This is illusion.
This is where conventional thinkers get nervous. Conventional thinkers use terms like neural pathways, holographic brain structure and brain plasticity. Some have done good work in exploring the connection between behaviour and body parts (mostly, the brain). (Remember – body parts change over time. Today’s body parts are made of different atoms and molecules than yesterday’s body parts.) In our attempt to study consciousness, let’s NOT be conventional thinkers for a while. Let’s allow our curious minds to wander within the confines of basic logic and to notice what new concepts emerge. We’ll try to see past our innate delusions.
If consciousness arises from our brain, as most current researchers suggest, we wonder, from what does our brain arise? Obviously, our brain arises from the planet earth, as do all the other parts of our body. And all our body parts are like a river, with water and a variety of solid materials flowing through them. Does that mean our consciousness is derived from the earth in the same way that our body and brain are derived from the earth? Are our bodies parts of the earth? Is the earth conscious? Is our consciousness merely tapping into her (the earth’s) consciousness? Are our lives are merely a small part of her life? Is our consciousness merely a small part of her larger “collective” consciousness?
I once had a teacher who said: “We are the brain cells of Mother Earth.” (John Ardagh, Institute for Contemporary Shamanic Studies, Toronto, Ontario.) I am beginning to understand what he meant. In honour of John Thunder Wolf, I will capitalize ‘Mother Earth’ from here on.
Unconventional thought #1
Water is interesting stuff. In school we learned that it comes in three forms: solid, liquid and vapour. That’s the conventional view. But let’s think more deeply about that grade school concept.
In its liquid form, water manifests as oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, rain, ground water, swamps, wetlands, floods, waves, currents, mist, fog, rainbows, clouds, dew… As a solid, it takes the form of ice cubes, glaciers, snow flakes, slush, drifts, permafrost… As vapour, it is mostly part of Earth’s atmosphere – a summer breeze, a hurricane, a winter storm, a high pressure zone, a cold front… Water manifests in many forms.
If water gets mixed in with other substances, it can take the form of blood, urine, saliva, bile…mammals, fish, birds, insects, plants… If we multiply it, we get forests, herds, flocks, schools, swarms, crowds… If we allow your mind to imagine the unconventional, water can take the form of our mother, political leaders, citizens, immigrants, physicists, economists… all made primarily of water.
Have we stretched our imaginations too far? We may have stretched our imaginations, but we have not stretched our science. All the forms of water I have listed are made primarily of water. And the actual substance “water” constantly flows between all these forms.
A given molecule of water can be atmospheric humidity today and a raindrop tomorrow. Ground water the next day. Sap in some tree the next day. Part of a leaf. Eaten by a caterpillar. Turned into a butterfly. All the water on the planet earth is constantly changing just like this.
We humans don’t make observations like this because we were taught in physics class that water is liquid, vapour or solid. It never occurs to us that our own body is actually 70% water that constantly flows into and out of us. We think and believe what we are taught to think and believe. Then we live our lives with these grade school limitations. We live our lives within these delusions.
So far, all we’ve done is looked at our planet from a different point of view than we were taught in school. We observe that water constantly flows everywhere on the surface of The Earth. Sometimes it is part of a ‘life form’ (some plant or animal… whatever) and sometimes part of a non-living form (some river or cloud… whatever) But it always seems to be moving.
Why do we make observations in this way? Why do we consider plants and animals life forms and rivers and clouds not life forms? Because that’s what they taught us in science class. Why do we think life forms have consciousness and non-life forms do not? Because that’s what we were taught to think.
An ecosystem is a mixture of “life forms” and “non-life forms” that appears to grow and change and adapt to its environment much like life forms. So, too is a country. And the internet. These everyday things are made up of both life forms and non-life forms. Are the definitions we learned in school too limiting?
So far, we haven’t really used our imagination. All we’ve done is looked at our planet from a different point of view than we were taught. NOW, let’s use our imaginations.
Maybe a river IS a living thing. (And maybe a video game addict is not!) Maybe this constant flow of water on the surface of The Earth is similar to human consciousness. Our consciousness constantly moves and changes in our mind. Our attention shifts from one thing to the next. Our memories are vivid, then fade. We sleep and are awake. Is all this mental movement in our minds comparable to the movement of water in the atmosphere and on surface of The Earth? Is this movement of water how The Earth thinks?
The Earth thinks?
This is an impossible concept for some modern minds. To them, it seems ludicrous – ridiculous! They have categorized The Earth as an inanimate object and syllogized that inanimate things have no consciousness. It’s what they were taught to think, and it’s what they think!
There are those who think that the very notion of Earth consciousness flawed. But, if you check back over the logic of this discussion, you will see it does have one important flaw.
On the other hand, if you throw up your hands and blurt: “The whole thing is flawed from start to finish!” then the flaw is your mind. Your mind is closed. It can’t think about anything beyond the thought patterns it has been taught. So, if your reaction to this Consciousness of Water exercise is negative and emotional, you have found the flaw. The flaw is your closed mind. But if your reaction is negative and intellectual, re-read the article and find the one flaw in the logic. Do that now. Re-read this article. Review the logic and its validity. Then, see if you can find the one flaw.
The one flaw is this: garbage in, garbage out. The very first assumption in this logic sequence is that consciousness is derived from the brain; from atoms and molecules. If that assumption is true, then the atoms and molecules that make up The Earth definitely create consciousness. The Earth thinks.
But, if you are willing to let go of the ridiculous idea that matter is the source of consciousness, you open the possibility of obtaining wisdom.
But, whatever you do, please honestly follow modern science and logic to your conclusion. Science and logic are powerful intellectual tools. Used skilfully, science and logic can guide us to wisdom.
KennyDN www.kennydn.com
Marji Alison – the photographer.
March 2021
