Consciousness

 

 

In another words, its energy distribution will move towards equilibrium thus it will move towards maximum disorder. A homogenous and coherent energy field has maximum disorder. On the contrary, a structure is ordered.

 

If universe is isolated, it has to be a homogenous shapeless entity. However, We see structures all around us. Where do they come from? Structures that we see are surrounded in an environment. We need to consider the the structure and its environment as one system. Then the entropy law holds for the entire system. structuring happens at the expense of increased entropy in environment so that the total entropy of the system is positive. These kind of systems are called x systems (see the diagram below).

 

One of the characteristics of living things is that they constantly get organized and evolve to more orderly structures. This leads us to the conclusion that living organisms cannot be studied as an isolated system either. Although they are a domain with negentropy (negative entropy), the whole system( the organism and its environment) follow the second law of thermodynamics. we need to study them as one system (include the environment as well).

 

The same is true for consciousness. Our awareness constantly evolves and gets more structured. This however, cannot overrule the entropy principle. We have to conclude that consciousness cannot be a closed systems. Increased informational organization in our awareness has to be at the expense of increased informational entropy in its environment. Please note that an orderly structure not only implies departure from least energy state but also requires information reduction from a coherent and invariant informational field. Then we have to conclude that there is an informational field out there for information trade. Brain cannot be a closed system. A disconnected person faces serious pathologies. A closed brain is a dead brain.

 

Many non-classical theories of consciousness like Dissipative Quantum Brain Theory are based on the assumption that consciousness and its environment coexist as a dissipative system.This assumed informational field can be the so-called universal consciousness or in this model the singularity.

 

Transpersonal Psychology

 

Currently, many interesting researches are being done to investigate the nature of consciousness. Transnspersonal psychology is one of the fascinating ones. It is an extension of the humanistic psychology dealing with a common consciousness that extends beyond one’s ego boundaries and expands to other individual’s awareness. It even considers this awareness to be shared amongst other living things.  This common consciousness is not limited by time or space. Here I will compare the similarities between the proposed singularity with the assumptions in transpersonal psychology.

William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, and Roberto Assagioli are among the psychologists who have set the stage for transpersonal studies.  However one of the prominent researchers, Stanislav Grof, has carried out decades of clinical studies pertaining to transpersonal psychology. He is a clinical psychiatrist and has held different academic senior positions in John Hopkins University, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, California Institute of Integral Studies, etc.

During his studies of more than 3000 volunteers, he has induced altered states of consciousness by administering medicines such as LSD and by the use of methods like hypnosis, relaxation, meditation, holotropic breathing etc. Many of the volunteers have been psychologists or psychology students themselves.

He describes his findings as being in line with the existence of a “Universal mind and Supercosmic and Metacosmic void” ⁶¹