How Science Thinks about Consciousness

We should think of wakefulness as the operation that allows us to “inspect” images, a sort of turning on the lights on the set. But the wakefulness process is not involved in putting together the procession of images in our minds, nor is it concerned with telling us that the images we are inspecting are ours.

The relationship between you and the universe becomes increasingly obvious as you discover yourself, as you become more honest with yourself, as you stop acting out. States of consciousness can roughly be differentiated into the following three states: slumber, self-awareness, and cosmic consciousness.

Consciousness is a distinctive state of mind, but the words “consciousness” and “mind” are often used as if they were synonymous and corresponded to the same process

It’s absurd! Scientists have yet to explain the nature of consciousness. They have no means of objectively detecting it. They have not identified its necessary and sufficient causes. And yet, they ask us to wager everything on their belief that consciousness is solely a product of the brain.4 —B. Allan Wallace, Buddhist philosopher