Considering now beingness as a phenomenon
of living, of existing, we shall be able to find elements similar
to our model, or justifying it, in a number of works from psychology
(a number of references are mentioned by
Bassin39).
S. Rubinstein40
observes that conscious living (l'experience vecue consciente)
is based on transforming the external reality in an "object"
inside the brain, i.e. in something separated from the subject
that is observing it, something that does not coincide with it.
This is also a way of arriving to the symbol state "to be"
that we observe in such an
experiment41.
L. Vygotski42
point out the transition of conscious living into language as
a quality of generalization those things that have reached the
level of true concepts.
Physiology admits the existence of unconscious
forms of psychism43.
The infant has a period of transition from the unconscious to
the conscious psychic activity (Binet, Piaget, Wallon a.o. described
in details this aspect). Bassin remarks: "Since the psychic
phenomena become conscious only in the presence of same well determined
psychological and physiological conditions (and not only because
they take place, nor in the virtue of some processes) this means
that we should take into consideration the fact that psychic phenomena
may not be conscious
..."44.
The human automaton can therefore extend itself
not only in the neuro-cybernetic plane but also in the psychological
plane. But can beingness be also viewed as unconscious
psychic phenomenon ? If yes, then it will be an automaton characteristic.
But awareness experiment showed us that beingness is a psychological
contact phenomenon. On one hand it is unconscious as a physical
phenomenon in itself, on the other hand it becomes conscious by
the simultaneous triggering of some psychological and surely neurophysiological
phenomena. Awareness envelops beingness and psychological aspects
as a whole, it envelops the human automaton and psychological
beingness in an unique process. And beingness perhaps represents
an opening towards the area in which laws are constituted. Similar
to Newton, who studied the mathematical laws of gravity as given
laws of existence without questioning their essence or their genesis,
F. Rosenblatt45
remarks that we can only record the awareness, but the problem
of whether it really exist should be left to metaphysicians.
Arthur J. Deikman46
comes close to understanding beingness as an experience, but his
interpretations are somehow contradictory. Deikman interprets
awareness as a form of living. He states:
"Awarenessis the ground of our conscious life, the background or
field inwhich these elements exist. It is not the same thing as thoughts,
sensations, or images. To experience this, try an experiment now.
Look straight ahead and be aware of your conscious experience
- then close your eyes. Awareness remains. 'Behind' your thought
and images is awareness. The distinction between awareness andthe contents of
awareness is crucial
..."47.
Such points of view strengthen the awareness experiment. As regarding
the interpretation of beingness as an experience Deikman finds
it in organization:
"awareness, as distinct from the
contents of awareness, is not a special form of sensation, with
a particular receptor organ or some other neurological system
responsible, nor is it any kind of neural response at all. Rather
than being the product of a particular neural circuit, awareness
is the organization of the biosystem; that is, awareness
is the 'complementary' aspect of that organization, its psychological
equivalent"48.
Thus beingness seems to be the result of complexity of organization
in the psychological plane: "On the biological side, the
organization of these elements is life; on the psychological side,the organization
is awareness"49.
This statement leaves an open gate to finding materialistic interpretation
of the beingness phenomenon, but Deikman (denying his previous
materialistic stands regarding the esoteric phenomena of mystical
experiments) admits them as mystical and comes to the conclusion
that awareness is universal and not
localized50
in a certain being. He states that"we confuse our local
mind-functions with the general awarenessand believe we are separate
selves"51.
By considering that the organization goes beyond the individual
being and envelops all beings leads to statements such as "the
puzzling concepts of mystics become more
clear"52
or "Mystics have stated that through mankind, God is able
to know himself"53.
The problem of awareness can be also tackledby studying the natural languages
(see N. Chomsky54).
From the language point of view Bogdan-Daniel Arapu, following
Chomsky theories, asks himself weather our vision about consciousness
depends on the language we use, and if so, what could be the formsthis
relationship takes ?55
According to Chomsky, to every word-symbol one will find in the
mind a deeper structure connected with meaning. The study of languages
takes today an active role trying to find how speech develops
from its deep motivation to its concrete expression. Analyzing
the word "awareness" from the language point of viewwe find the
following meanings56:
- A certain type of psychism, appropriate
to humans, and characterized among other things by the use of
language; in this respect man is always conscious.
- The activity of psychism itself, existing
in animal too, but in a completely different measure. This form
of consciousness has a biological significance, being connected
to the action of some external stimuli and to the normal response
of the organism.
- The languages that use the word consciousness
with the meanings 1 and 2 can melt the two notions into one. The
third definition of consciousness is that of the most complex
way of knowing imaginable in man: the knowing of the knowledgeable
ego.
In this subtle analysis based on Chomsky's
theory one finds only a part of our analysis. But this analysis,
directed towards symbol-states and languages, lays as an extension
to our analysis. It is interesting to
note57
that the Japanese language has the semantic field of consciousness
divided as follows: the property of consciousness - ishiki; the
act of consciousness - shoki; the consciousness in itself -
jikaku.This reflects the distinction that are made between
various momentsin the process of consciousness. These distinctions are due to
sustained introspective observation, much deeper than in the western
culture.
The facts presented so far show that the problem
of consciousness has not been analyzed with sufficient clarity
and rigorousness by philosophy and science, since many links that
appear between beingness, consciousness and awareness have not
been properly considered. To start from a neuronic machine towards
the awareness phenomenon is not possible without a previous model
of the latter. The opposite way, from psychological behavior to
awareness, via language analysis, could be used to meet the first
approach half-way. But neither can be separated from understanding
the integrating activity of the brain.
III. The Integrative Activity ofthe Brain
The integrative activity of the brain must
be understood in relation with its functioning as a neurological
machine. Until recently the brain was viewed from the point of
view of an automaton as a neuronic machine, and the neuron was
considered a very complex element similar to those used in electronic
computers. Lately an increasing attention has been given to therole of synapses
(the links between nerve cells) as well to whatis called the second nervous
system58
(an alternative way of brain waves propagation inside the brain).
In a neuron network the machine-like information (as different
from the integrative information of the brain) is transmitted
from neuron dendrites, towards the axon and onwards, through the
synapses, towards the dendrites of other neurons. The action potential
is a peak of potential that propagates itself in the neuronic
network. A number of recent works (Gordon Shepherd of Yale University,
USA) have shown that besides the "long" distance transmission
via potential impulses, there are also "local" transmission,
without impulses, via a slow diffusion of the electric current
from a dendrite to another without implicating the body nor the
axon of the neuron.
Biology and Psychology in Relation with Awareness
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