Then I Am Myself the World: What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It

It is, however, a matter of historical record that people have been impacted by their extraordinary experiences, discovering the biblical "peace of God that passeth all understanding," altering their way of life. Thus a more nuanced approach is to accept these reports as authentic and honest descriptions. They teach us that our central ne

Consciousness is not a clever algorithm. Its beating heart is intrinsic causal power, not computation. Causal power is not something intangible, ethereal, but something physical—the extent to which the system's recent past specifies its present state (cause power) and the extent to which this current state specifies its immediate future (effect pow

Psychiatrist Judson Brewer, at the time at the Yale University School of Medicine, discovered that these "open" or "closed" states of consciousness map onto activities of the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus complex, part of the neocortical regions engaged when ruminating, introspecting, and daydreaming. Anger and anxiet

Experiences that fundamentally change the way we see the world provide clues about consciousness. I learned that the experience of self is optional. Even the feeling of having a body is not necessary for subjectivity. Transformative experiences are deeply personal and can profoundly impact lives. They are living proof that nervous tissue, under spe

It comes down to your metaphysical assumptions. If you are a computational functionalist, if you assume that computations, carried out on digital computers, are sufficient for consciousness, then sooner or later, computers will imitate all human functions, including consciousness. If not today, then soon. If, on the other hand, you assume that cons

Everything that exists in a fundamental sense has causal power, the power to take and to make a difference. All of physics can be expressed in this operational manner, using conditional probabilities. That is what is meant by being physical: having causal powers on others.

Dreams feel as real as life—the primary distinction between dreaming and waking consciousness is an absence of a sense of self, insight, self-reflection. You aren't surprised that you can fly, walk through walls, or meet long-dead animal companions, lovers, parents, or siblings. You are along for the ride, watching a movie that someone else is dire

Between intrinsic and extrinsic existence passes the most fundamental of all divides: the Great Divide of Being. This is the unbridgeable chasm between what exists in an absolute sense, in and of itself—namely conscious, intrinsic entities—and what exists only in a lesser sense, for others.

Once this Great Divide of Being, between existence for itse

All quality is a structure, not a function, a process, or a computation. One implication is that consciousness is nonalgorithmic; it is not (Turing) computable.

The fourth axiom is exclusion. It states that every experience is definite. It has the content it has, neither less nor more. It could not be otherwise. Consider that you don't see outside the border of visual space. It is not part of your visual experience. It is neither grey nor black. Rather, it simply does not exist. Or consider experiencing &q