Scientific theories on "Consciousness"

Hi Marcus,

Consciousness.....there's so much to talk about with this subject!   Including souls and genetics.    Hope I'm not wandering too much astray by mentioning those two aspects.  Recently I came across an article, maybe in Time, or Newsweek, about a woman who paid $50,000 to have her deceased 17 year old cat cloned.  The laboratory presented her with the kitten clone, which had all the identical physical characteristics of the first....including behavioral traits.  The first thing the kitten did when it spent time with the woman was to crawl onto her head...same as the clone "parent" had done as a kitten.  It also has the same fondness for playing in water, which is unusual for cats.   

I read this and immediately thought...my god....how much of us is really conscious, really souled, and how much is just genetics and biology???   !!!  ahhh!  What if all we are is a product of everyone that came together before us to contribute their genetics??? What if we're not really as individual, souled or conscious as we'd like to think????

That's of course going slightly astray from the main point which seems to be strictly about self awareness, and the brain processing and interpreting and piecing together input from outside stimulous to formulate a picture of "reality".   But I think it's related.  Once you start talking about how the brain works, and how much of our perception and consciousness is really just the brain doin' its thing, then that leads to the subject of psychology, and the way that they've got the ability to predict and analyze behavioral responses down to a science....which can lead to the next thing which is genetics, and how much of our personalities, temperments, likes, dislikes, food preferences, etc. is just genetically inherited, (call to mind all the studies done on twins.....)  which leads to environmental influences and how much of who we are is the result of parenting, friends, culture, and the time period we live in..........................it's overwhelming.  I know it makes me want to just put a pillow over my head and hide.   !    Like my god.....There is no "me", I'm  just a bunch of neurons firing with a body and personality that is completely the result of inherited genetic traits and environmental influences!!! ahhh!! 

Or are we...?   !

Or maybe we've just gotten it backwards.
http://www.soulwise.net/26e-rap.htm

Sure have!  But not until recently, within the last 4 years or so. The first incident that I remember was 2000 -  In the middle of the night I "woke up" (was still out of it and half conscious) and felt that I was hovering up by the ceiling, just......hovering up there, lalala!  while my physical body was down below in bed.  It was TRIPPY!   Then nothing happened again after that until 2002 and into 2003 when I had several experiences with being out of my body, although not "astral travel" per se.  I've always been dead set against actual astral "travel".  It's something that my Dad, my Brother, my Dad's mom, and others on his side of the family can do -- and do often.  (hmm...inherited genetic ability.....)    My dad for years tried to get me to open up to that and give it a whirl, and I was always like HELL NO.  ABSOLUTELY NOT.   You couldn't pay me enough money to do that.    ! It's not that I'm "Scared" of it....I just instinctively have always known, since I was a kid, not to do it, ever.   It's bad news, and a lot of trouble.    Like my brother once said, (confirming my bad feeling about it)....Sometimes people don't come back.   But that's another topic for another thread.    But to answer your question, I have indeed experienced the astral body, have some interesting tales, and if it weren't for those experiences, and other experiences which can only be described as "soul related", then I could easily go back to being an Atheist who believes we are just a hunk of meat with firing neurons, end of story.   One example -  I saw my Grandmother in Southern California the night that she died...3,000 miles away.  I was at work and had no idea she was dead.  I hadn't seen her in 2 years.   But there she was.  Found out several days later she had died.  So, thank god for my experiences which have shown me something else!     We're definitely not just the sum of our physical parts, and "consciousness" continues, even after death, I have seen it for myself.   

You know....the animals question is an interesting one indeed.   

For instance.....

I have a really awesome wonderful cool kitty.  She's all black, with gold green eyes, and has THE coolest personality of ANY cat I have ever dealt with.  She's smart, friendly, affectionate, talkative, agile and energetic and active -  she doesn't just pounce after balls, she's been known to LEAP and TWIRL and do 180 degree spins in mid air!!! -  and in some ways almost acts like a small dog, because she responds to her name, and has learned the vocal meanings of many English phrases.   So there I was, thinking my cat was SO unique and SO wonderful....then I found a book at Barnes and Noble back in 2001 that showed different cat breeds.  Turns out my cat is what's known as a "Bombay."   (google it....any picture of a Bombay is pretty much identical to what my kitty looks like! )   And it listed the 4 major traits of a Bombay -  Intelligent, sociable, talkative and athletic.   

That's my cat!

Then I began meeting other black cat owners and listening to their stories.

Their cats were all like mine!

My cat isn't unique at all!

AHHHH!   

This really through me into a tailspin for a bit, wondering whether my cat really DID have any sort of unique consciousness about her whatsoever, especially considering that her "Personality" is just a set of inherited genetic traits built into her breed.

  !!!!!!

Even more crazy is that I know that had she been raised by anyone else, she would have a very different personality.  I've had a hand in cultivating her "cool" personality, making sure to treat her respectfully, always talking to her, lavishing her with attention and hugs, feeding her kick ass food, not ripping out her claws or having her female insides butchered.  Etc.   As a result, she's super alert, happy, affectionate and always has to be involved in anything going on in the apartment. 

So, who is the "real" kitty then??   I have since concluded that of course she has a unique consciousness, and while her genetics and environment have shaped who she is, there's still individual consciousness there.  In fact, so much so that I've often commented that my cat is MORE conscious and alert then many PEOPLE I've known!!!!   How about THAT, eh??    

And the same can be said about people.....who is the real "us" ? 

I know that had I been raised differently, I would have turned out different in terms of personality.  But my core likes and dislikes, talents and aversions would remain the same.  (genetics?)  My reactions probably just as predictable as the next person's. (psychology?)

So where does the soul come into play in shaping our consciousness? 

I think our soul is just a blob of energy, to put it simply.  But it does have consciousness all its own....whatever lessons you learn in one incarnation carry over to the next.   Also, when outside the physical body there's still a sense of self awareness and self identity / ego.   

ANYway, this is getting long, so, I'll end it here.  Just random thoughts!

I have heard other people mention M. Talbot; so I suspect it will be worth getting hold of a copy.

Lyra, I was talking about that very same subject with a friend of mine yesterday.  We were discussing the possible outcomes of creating an exact "clone" of a human - including copying all memories and the like.  Would then the two people be identical in every way - both physical and non-physical.  Or would there possibly be something "missing" from the copy...

Interesting to speculate on...