Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 2
Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 2-On the Plane of Self Consciousness
And in the first place it would be well to get a firm hold of the meaning of the words "Self consciousness," upon the definition of which an excellent writer and most competent thinker [200-255] has these remarks: "Self consciousness is often referred to as a distinguishing characteristic of man. Many, however, fail to gain a clear conception of what this faculty is. Dr. Carpenter confounds it with the 'power of reflecting on their own mental states,' while Mr. Darwin associates it with abstraction and other of the derivative faculties. It is certainly something much simpler than introspection, and has an earlier origin than the highly derivative speculative faculties.
If it could only be seized and clearly understood, self consciousness would doubtless prove to be the primary and fundamental human attribute. Our language seems to lack the proper word to express it in its simplest form.'Think' approaches this most nearly, and man is sometimes described as a 'thinking being.' The German language has a better word, viz., besinnen, and the substantive Besonnenheit seems to touch the kernel of the problem. Schopenhauer says: 'The animal lives without any Besonnenheit.
It has consciousness i.e., it knows itself and its weal and woe; also the objects which produce these; but its knowledge remains constantly subjective, never becomes objective; everything that it embraces appears to exist in and of itself, and can therefore never become an object of representation nor a problem for meditation. Its consciousness is thus wholly immanent. The consciousness of the savage man is similarly constitutes in that his perceptions of things and of the world remain preponderantly subjective and immanent. He perceives things in the world, but not the world;his own actions and passion, but not himself.'"
Perhaps the simplest definition (and there are a score of them) would be: self consciousness is the faculty by which we realize. or again: without self consciousness a sentient creature can know, but its possession is necessary in order that he may know that he knows. The best treatise so far written on this subject is Romanes' book, already several times referred to [134].
The roots of the tree of life being deep sunk in the organic world, its trunk is made up as follows: Beginning at the earth level we have first of all the lowest forms of life unconscious and insenate. These in their turn give birth to forms endowed with sensation and later to forms endowed with Simple Consciousness. From the last, when the right time comes, springs self consciousness and (as already said) in direct ascent from that Cosmic Consciousness.
It is only necessary in this place, as clearing the ground for the work to be done, to point out that the doctrine of the unfolding of the human being, regarded from the side of psychology, is strictly in accord with the theory of evolution in general as received and taught to-day by the foremost thinkers. This tree which we call life and its upper part human life and human mind, has simply grown as grows any other tree, and besides its main stem, as above indicated, it has, as in the case of other trees, thrown off many branches. It will be well to consider some of these. It will be seen that some of them are given off from the lower part of the trunk, as, for instance, contractility, from which great limb, and as a part of it, springs all muscular action from the simple movement of the worm to the marvellously co-ordinated motions made, in the exercise of their art, by a Liszt or a Paderewski.
Another of these large lower limbs is the instinct of Self-preservation and (twin with it) the instinct of the continuance of the species-the preservation of the race. Higher up the special senses shoot out from the main trunk and as they grow and divide and again divide they become large and vitally important branches of the great tree. From all these main-of shoots spring smaller arms and from these more delicate twigs.Thus from the human intellect whose central fact is Self Consciousness, a section of the main trunk of our tree, spring, judgement, reason, comparison, imiganation, abstraction, reflection, generalization. From the moral or emotional nature, one of the largest and most important of the main limbs, spring love (itself a great branch dividing into many smaller brances), reverence,faith, fear, awe, hope, hate, humor and many more.
The great branch called the sense of sight, which in its beginning was a perception of the difference between light and darkness, sent out twigs which we call sense of form, of distance, and later the color sense. The limb named sense of hearing has for branches and twigs the apprehension of loudness, of pitch, of distance, of direction and as a delicate twig just coming into being, the musical sense.
Reference: Cosmic Consciousness: A study in the Evolution of the Human Mind: Richard Maurice Bucke.
Articles - Latest
- Shocking Report: King Charles III allegedly profiting from deceased citizens
- Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were not only a global power couple but also best friends and life mates
- The remarkable South London woman who claimed to be the reincarnation of Ancient Egyptian priestess whose 'past life memories' left historians stunned
- The Human Condition - Contemplation and the Divine Therapy-6
- DARCELLE XV DEAD: WORLD'S OLDEST WORKING DRAG QUEEN DIES AS COMMUNITY LEFT HEARTBROKEN
- ASTEROID EXPLODES OVER ENGLISH CHANNEL AFTER HURTLING TOWARDS EARTH
- 'REST IN POWER': VIGILS HELD ACROSS UK TO REMEMBER TRANS TEEN FATALLY STABBED IN PARK
- LEGALLY BLONDE STAR RAQUEL WELCH DIES AGED 82
- LEIJI MATSUMOTO, LEGENDARY MANGA CREATOR, DIES AGED 85
- MUSIC DOCUMENTARY PIONEER CHRISTOPHER NUPEN DIES AT 88 FOLLOWING LONG ILLNESS
- STAR WARS & HARRY POTTER STAR PAUL GRANT DIES AGED 56 - ACTOR FOUND COLLAPSED OUTSIDE KING’S CROSS STATION
- BUILDINGS COLLAPSE’ AS ANOTHER 6.4 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES SOUTHERN TURKEY WITH IMPACT FELT IN ISRAEL
- GREEK ROYAL FAMILY MARKS 40 DAYS SINCE DEATH OF KING CONSTANTINE II
- RICHARD BELZER, EXTRAORDINARILY SMART-ASS AS A COMIC AND A TV COP, DIES AT 78
- WHY THE VENETIANS HAVE A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CITY'S 1,000-YEAR-OLD CARNIVAL
- ACTOR LANCE REDDICK, POLICE CHIEF ON 'THE WIRE,' DEAD AT AGE 60
- MASSIVE 6.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HITS NEW ZEALAND AS NATION STILL REELING FROM CYCLONE
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNRAVEL THE TRUTH OF APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE, ON VALENTINE'S DAY
- HUGH HUDSON DEAD: OSCAR-WINNING CHARIOTS OF FIRE DIRECTOR DIES AGED 86 AFTER SHORT ILLNESS
- THE TRUTH BEHIND THE 300-YEAR-OLD 'MERMAID MUMMY' 'CAUGHT IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN'
- THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN CO-PRODUCER JAMES FLYNN HAS DIED
- SOCCER - GHANA MOURNS PLAYER ATSU KILLED IN TURKEY EARTHQUAKE
- TURKEY-SYRIA DEATH TOLL TOPS 45,000; THREE FOUND ALIVE 13 DAYS AFTER QUAKES Reference: Story by FRANCE 24 •
Articles - Most Read
- Main
- Contact Us
- The science behind Ouija boards
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness-2
- Cosmic Consciousness-Introduction
- Cosmic Consciousness - Introduction-2
- MASSIVE 6.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HITS NEW ZEALAND AS NATION STILL REELING FROM CYCLONE
- The Human Condition-Thomas Keating
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - 1V - 2
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - V -
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNRAVEL THE TRUTH OF APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE, ON VALENTINE'S DAY
- Cosmic Consciousness V - 2
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness?
- Cosmic consciousness - First Words - IV
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 2
- Cosmic Consciousness-On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- The Human Condition - Thomas keating-3
- The Human Condition - 4
- The Human Condition-2-Thomas Keating
- Drinking From The Mountain Stream - Milarepa
- Cosmic Consciousness - 3 - On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 1
- The Human Condition - 6
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness - 2
- Milarepa's World
- Shakyamuni Buddha or India the 1st “Black Revolutionary Hero.”
- The Human Condition - 5
- Milarepa's World-2
- The Buddhist System of Liberation
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV
- JERRY RAWLINGS, GHANAIAN STRONG MAN WHO CAME TO POWER IN A COUP BUT INTRODUCED DEMOCRACY – OBITUARY
- Contemplation and the Divine Therapy - 2
- The Buddhist System of Liberation - 2
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV - 2