Speculating on Consciousness

After reading an article in Scientific American about 29 competing theories of consciousness, I was both glad attention was being given to this important aspect of human experience but also felt strongly that more radical speculation is still necessary. As J. Krishnamurti said in one of his dialogues, “An intelligent mind is a mind that is not satisfied with explanations.’ Encouraging speculative thinking might build a rounder picture of a subject by interlacing what might have been considered tangential into a more three-dimensional view, a bigger picture. Even outrageous ideas, too wild to be credible, might spur ideas in someone else that use some of the same thought or relationships. The article had an information graphic that showed at a glance which theories focused on which aspect of consciousness and to what degree. How much I understood just from the diagrams helped me zero in on the ones with particular interest. This suggests to me that approaching consciousness with more visual mapping of relationships could offer more scope to understanding. Visualization is useful in showing how it all works together, the interlacing of information with the changing weather of mood and emotion. Linear explanation is not enough for the complexity of the subject. Perhaps we are one frequency band on a cosmic spectrum that includes all frequencies. One person that experienced a Near Death Experience said it was like slipping to one side, not going somewhere but still being there on a different frequency. The final words of a guru to disciples imploring him not to die and leave them comes to mind. He said “Don’t be silly. Where would I go?” Sri Aurobindo and others have suggested that consciousness has layers, planes attuned to particular kinds of awareness. The ability to shift states of awareness not only exists within an individual but could be expanded into a whole mind awareness beyond the personal. Speculation is needed in a time when the range of ideas and opinions has narrowed to only a handful of choices regarding the big ideas of being. Anything beyond mechanistic explanations has been taboo. Maybe let research examine older ideas, where consciousness enters the mind going back to Descartes and the Pineal gland, this singular center that regulates cycles. There’s been a suggestion that there is a regular wave that runs back to front in the brain. What might that be doing? Or opening channels with the universal ideas beneath all spiritual traditions o see if some of the metaphors cast light on areas science can investigate. Allowing a looser play of thoughts that doesn’t dismiss what’s outside current dogma could create space for more ideas with insight into consciousness.