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Human consciousness and mind are among our turbulent age’s greatest, if not the most significant, enigmas.
It’s all the more incredible because they are the basis of each human being.
In other words. We human beings, endowed with human consciousness, have no clue as to who or what we are! That’s got to be the paradox to beat all paradoxes. We try to explain quantum physics and the universe; we can’t even explain ourselves and why we can explain everything else!
(Transform Your Mind, Upgrade Your Life, Chapter 9)
I want the God-Intended meaning of Scripture
We start Section 2 of Transform Your Mind Upgrade Your Life, and it’s entitled, How God equipped humans to become Kings, Queens, and Priests, and discover the infinitely small and the astronomical gigantic?
Biblically, we can pose the same question otherwise. In Chapter 1, we saw God is creating humans in His own image. So, how is God creating each and every human who has and will walk the surface of Earth in His image?
You can NOT upgrade your life correctly without a proper understanding of the answer to those questions. It involves two components of each human: past, present, and future: human consciousness and mind, about which science, philosophy, and religion are in total darkness.
Human Consciousness and Human Darkness
Here are a few among hundreds of references to the absolute confusion reigning among scholars of human consciousness. This week, the renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett died. John Horgan, a science journalist and author whom I respect and have widely read, is known for his critical examinations of scientific theories and thinkers. He wrote in this article about the Dennett Paradox.
When Dennett argues that we overrate consciousness, he demonstrates, paradoxically, how conscious he is, and he makes his audience more conscious. This “Dennett Paradox” is a rip-off,
Of all the odd notions to emerge from debates over consciousness, the oddest is that it doesn’t exist, at least not in the way we think it does. It is an illusion, like “Santa Claus” or “American democracy.”
Descartes said consciousness is the one undeniable fact of our existence, and I find it hard to disagree. I’m conscious right now, as I type this sentence, and you are presumably conscious as you read it…
The idea that consciousness isn’t real has always struck me as crazy, but smart people espouse it. One of the smartest is philosopher Daniel Dennett, who has been questioning consciousness for decades.
Note that Descartes’s consciousness is the one undeniable fact of our existence. The Explanation agrees wholeheartedly and will prove it Biblically. Human consciousness and mind are inseparable, as I’ll show you. Transforming Your Mind and Upgrading Your Life correctly is impossible without a proper understanding of this elementary component of all humans.
If you’re interested in pursuing in-depth knowledge about the confusion that reigns in the understanding of consciousness and mind, I highly suggest Robert Khun, whom I know personally, and his interviews of world-renowned scientists, philosophers, and religionists on his website Closer to Truth. One debated subject is: Does Human Consciousness have a Special Purpose? I will answer that below, but you will quickly realize that his scholarly guests wax eloquent but come up empty-handed when it comes to specifics about human consciousness.
Ignorance of Human Consciousness
To top off this section, here are a few quotes among many that reveal our incomprehension about this subject until now.
- Daniel Dennett: “There is no such thing as consciousness and no such thing as free will. (…) Free will is a myth, and so is consciousness, pure introspectable conscious experience.”
- Patricia Churchland: “There is no magical moment when consciousness suddenly appears in a brain. That would be to adopt a dualistic view that sees consciousness as separate from the brain.”
- Paul Churchland: “The thought of there being such a thing as ‘consciousness’… over and above the physical goings-on in the body is a notion fraught with conceptual peril.”
- David Chalmers: (though he’s known for his work on the hard problem of consciousness, he’s been interpreted as expressing doubt): “Despite widespread agreement that consciousness arises from a physical basis, there is little consensus on the nature of that basis.”
- Susan Blackmore: “Consciousness is not some mysterious ‘other stuff’ that needs its own special science because it does not exist.”
It’s important to note that the idea that consciousness does not exist is not a mainstream position among scientists, but there are some philosophers and scientists who have proposed skeptical views on consciousness, and some may advocate for different interpretations of consciousness rather than outright denial of its existence.
The point is philosophy, religion, and science are at odds regarding this fundamental subject. The result of this confusion is mental illness because we don’t know how to prevent it or how to cure it. How can you fix anything when you don’t know what it is, nor why it exists?
Why We Need Human Consciousness
If you need a printing press to render four colors, you must equip it with the necessary components, such as tubes to feed the different colors, rollers to transfer them, etc. A satisfactory result is impossible if we don’t furnish all the parts.
Why did God create humankind, and what is the result God wants for each human? That’s Section 1: ultimately, to be Kings, Queens, and Priests. To reach that goal, each human must realize they have a reprobate mind and make a free will decision to transform their mind to socialization and rulership ethics that lead to peace with their Creator and their fellow humans. If humans were made out of wood or steel, could they do this? No.
If the human body were equipped with Artificial Intelligence, could it accomplish the task of recognizing that it needs a behavioral change? No. At its core, AI operates within the framework of binary code, with complex algorithms and neural networks being represented and manipulated through sequences of binary digits (0’s and 1’s). This relationship underscores the computational nature of AI, as it relies on the precise manipulation of binary data to perform tasks.
Scholars recognize that consciousness is not solely a product of computational processes; it lacks the subjective experience and self-awareness characteristic of consciousness. The nature of consciousness remains poorly understood, with scientists grappling to define its fundamental properties and mechanisms. Without a clear understanding of what consciousness entails, it is impossible for inorganic material to be endowed with human consciousness. this is the heart of the hard problem referred to by David Chalmers above.
Consciousness and mind, coupled together, are the only components that allow humans to accomplish God’s plan: be aware of and acknowledge their sinfulness, recognize their misbehavior, which leads to mental illness and anxiety, come out of Babylon, and make a concerted decision to step onto the path that leads to spiritual Jerusalem and peace of mind.
Neshama, the Cornerstone of Being Human
That’s why Genesis 2:7 is fundamentally the most important verse for understanding what it is to be human.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Breath in, “breath of life,” reveals the key to grasping what a human is and the components God breathed into him and endowed him with to accomplish the tasks God set before each one of us.
Breath is neshama in Biblical Hebrew; only a deep understanding of what it is and how it functions yields the God-given way to Transform Your Mind and Upgrade Your Life. Section 2 reveals how God equipped each human with the exact and perfect spiritual mechanism to resolve anxiety, face adversity, support hardship, and come out victorious. It also explains how God is and will accomplish His goals through reticent, even rebellious humans and how He has endowed us with excellent qualities to move forward when we walk in step with Him.
This post is Chapter 9 from the book Transform Your Mind, Upgrade Your Life
Grasp ‘mind’ in mental health, buy the book
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