Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

November 8, 2015 By Admin

Meditation – Getting to Some Clarity about Consciousness

Mediation:  Conscious or Not?

A true, in depth understanding about what human consciousness is and how it works has eluded mind and brain scientists for many years.  A few very iHameroff_Stuart_mindfulhappinessnteresting ideas have been presented by Stuart Hameroff, professor emeritus and director of the University of Arizona’s Center for Consciousness Studies. Consciousness rests in the center of many brain-mind discussions.  In it’s most basic form, consciousness is simply awareness – think meditation experience. Something changes in the dynamics of energy, and we become aware of it. The brain’s one-hundred billion neurons have much to do with this process of becoming aware.  In their complex electrical-chemical processes, patterns, and interactions our brain’s neurons produce something experienced as aware consciousness.  We are always conscious about something going on inside and/or outside of us.  Thus, consciousness can be a double-edged sword – keeping us fully attuned to what the universe (small and large) is doing, but also maintaining a steady-state of mind-noise – endless flow of thoughts that may be either comforting or terrifying. Consciousness, itself, may be one reason why the human brain has so much difficulty relaxing itself. Let’s begin to review a few of Hameroff’s ideas.

1) Quantum processes in the human brain connect our brains to the quantum processes of the universe.  We may be connected to others and everything in more ways than we could ever imagine.

2) Human consciousness may be as complicated as quantum superposition – that in the field of physics allows something to be in two states or places at the same time.  This may refers to the particle-wave phenomenon in physics, when an atom/particle and it energetic location (wave of energy) cannot both be measured while being observed.  The very act of simultaneous observation by a human brain (or machine made by human brains) becomes impossible.  We cannot observe/measure both at once, even though they appear to be existing at the same physical dimension of time and place.  So, this is to say that human consciousness is a highly complex phenomenon.  Human consciousness may be the single most complex process we experience.

3) Today we know that photosynthesis – the sun-powered process that gives rise to plants and thus everything we eat – uses quantum coherence.  What is even more interesting is that a laser also uses quantum coherence.  So the very hard sciences dealing with quantum laser technology is also at work making the food we survive on. The raw requirements of consciousness exist everywhere in the universe, and effects almost all the things we know about (are aware of).

4) The mind-body system processes human consciousness within a two-second window of awareness.  That is very, very fast.  Some neuroscience research conducted by the Antonio Demasio suggested that there may be a process of backward time, in which subjects respond to a signal that has not yet been produced in their time-space experience.  How can that happen?  Perhaps our connectivity to all the energetics of the universe might explain this.

5) Research by Chrisof Koch at UCLA suggested that brain neuron firing in response to pictures of human faces actually occurred about a half-second prior to the actual perception (awareness) of the face being shown.  More backward time perspectives. Or perhaps just a more powerful human brain than we ever imagined.

6) As Deepak Chopra has noted, consciousness is the fabric of all human experience in the universe.  This coming together of science/physical and spiritual/classical understandings presents consciousness as something very important to human functions – and possibly our survival in the long term.  What Vedic mystics called “locus locations” may also explain the fact that time-space realities may exist on different planes – thus different state of consciousness.  The fact that human can perceive only 5-10% of the universe’s energies clarifies just how weak our human perceptual powers are regarding complete or higher consciousness.

7) Back to your meditation practice.  Do you think that your meditation practice helps you handle energies better?  Does meditation slow down or speed up energetic qualities of your awareness? After years of regular meditation practice, you may finally experience being nowhere and being nothing at the same time.  Does this have anything to do with physical selflessnesss and the ultimate reality of Buddhist emptiness.  In the final analysis, it is all empty of inherent origination and meaning.  Or, is the meditation doing something very special to the brain’s consciousness processes?  In such a state, bliss in the great void of existence may be possible.  Keep meditating!

CONSCIOUSNESS – A conversation with Deepak Chopra and Stuart Hameroff

For more information refer to Noetic Now #13, August, 2011.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

CLICK HERE  or any image below to Order 

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

MindfulHappiness_Amazon           mindful-happiness_barnes_and_noble

Filed Under: Consciousness, Featured, Meditation, Mindful Awareness, Neuroscience, Stuart Hameroff Tagged With: CONSCIOUSNESS, MEDITATION, STUART HAMEROFF

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Forms of Happiness from Buddhist Psychology Given the season “to be jolly” I plan to write several posts on the topic of happiness. The following information notes five stages or levels of happiness.  Read them over and see what stage/level may be appropriate for you at this time in your practice. Note that some meditation […]

Money and Electronic “Friends” Are They Real ? The Sutta Nipata  (4.15, Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) noted “Seeing people floundering like fish in small puddles, competing with one another…fear came into me. The world was entirely without substance….Wanting a haven for myself, I saw nothing that wasn’t laid claim to.  Seeing nothing in the end but […]

Meditation on the Feeling of Letting Go – Pacification! Pacifying the mind is a desired outcome of regular, stable meditation practice.  Pacification may be done via meditating on the breath, general mindfulness awareness, vipassana, and various other forms of  meditation.  However, the wise mind skill of “letting go” of unhelpful, negative, and harmful thoughts and […]

Interpersonal Mindfulness Various forms of mindfulness-based compassion training help us to care more about the needs, happiness, and health of other people. However, direct applications of interpersonal mindfulness activates these influences into direct action on behalf of others.  Thus, if lucky, we learn to care more about others and less about ourselves.  The self-centered ego […]

Strategies to Cool Your Hot Emotions: Using Mind and Body First, let me note that one of the best sets of mind-body approaches to cooling down hot emotional reactions can be found in the various emotion regulation skills and practices in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (created by Marsha M. Lineman, a practicing Buddhist).  These skills may […]

Tibetan Tantric Meditation on Selflessness Mahamudra meditations tend to unify emptiness and bliss, and represent many core principles of Tibetan Buddhism. Nagarjuna’s text on The Middle Way played an important and influential role in these practices. Selflessness of persons and selflessness of phenomena are highly represented in noted meditation practices. Therefore,, this can be considered […]

Deepak Chopra Ideas on “The Future of God” – Part 1 Deepak Chopra’s new book, The Future of God… (2014) presents some very challenging perspective on spirituality, atheism, and formal religion.  Here I will simply present some paraphrased details and my own ideas on these topics. Basic Foundations Human beings have special talents for searching […]

Self-Reality Checks Are Needed in Your Mindful Clinical Practice It is highly important for helpers working in the co-occurring conditions field to become keenly aware of their own realities in practice and life that impact clinical effectiveness.  Below I have listed four areas that show up in clinical surveys and added four more that I […]

Practice:  Mindful Actions to Improve YOUR Self-Esteem Improving Your Awareness with Practice Remain mindfully aware of the content and meta-cognition regarding the “speaking” of your inner, self-conscious critic.  Note what trends appear in the conversation. Remain mindfully aware of the reactions your mind and body experience regarding the activity of your inner self-critic in dealing […]

Practice: Yogi Deep Meditation on Inner Listening Carl Jung noted: Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside, awakens. The Katha Upanishads (800-400 BCE) noted: One path leads outward and the other inward. [The] way inward leads to grace. The Mind Cave Focus instructs us to close our eyes and expand your third-eye space to the back of […]

Stress in America – 2019 Every year the American Psychological Association ( November, 2019) conducts an extensive survey to determine the levels of stress in America. The data below does NOT include children; therefore, the already high numbers would be much higher. Here are some highlights. Stress levels are quite high but stable. Increased concerns […]

Relational Suffering and Buddhist Practice Recently I experienced a deep, sudden, afflictive emotional experience. This sudden and profound sense of loss was due to temporary heartbreak; the temporary heartbreak dealt with rejection from a younger woman I found to be interesting and attractive (inside and outside). My “lost” person seemed to possess all the attachment […]

Mindfulness and Concentration –  Experience Differences In this post I will explain some basic differences between mindfulness and concentration, both of which are required for effective meditation practice.  This will be the first of three posts dealing with what mindfulness and concentration are, how to experience them briefly in a body-based activity, and how to […]

Zen Buddhist Practices – Egolessness In our practice we often inquire, and sometimes experience, the no-self and/or egolessness. What is egolessness? Who and what do we think we are? Some say that when we die the essence but not the ego lives on into new experiences. Karma and re-birth are givens in this spiritual view. […]

The Deep Courage to Let Go Pema Chodron, now recognized as a world leader in the Chogyam Trungpa Shambhala tradition, has presented a wonderfully clear method for letting go of personal blockages and impediments to enlightenment,  the bodhisattva way of life, and awakened bodhichitta (clear mind, soft heart). She teaches us how in “The Joy […]

Spiritual Mantras from Buddhism Spiritual Mantras:  Mantra practice is certainly not informal Buddhism, nor is it a way to apply practical mindfulness skills to life.  The path of mantra practice is much deeper than the psychological applications for good health. Mantra practice is a highly important part of formal Buddhist practice, especially on the spiritual […]

Stress In America – How to Deal with it Effectively The American Psychological Association just released the results of its annual stress survey for 2014.  This comprehensive study of stress in America has some serious implications for our health and happiness.  Although self-reported stress levels in many categories are lower than in 2013, the overall […]

Meditations and Mantra: Try Them Out in Your Practice There are many forms of meditation.  In most cases, the common meditation forms fall into one of two categories: Mindfulness and Insight.  There are also demanding concentration meditations, chakra meditations, and mantra meditations. Here we’ll deal only with the two forms noted above and the use […]

Mindful Equanimity and Homeostasis Neuroscientist Antonio Demasio’s new book  The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Culture. (2018) New York: Pantheon Books notes the very important role homeostasis plays in human life and well being. In some ways homeostasis is about the arising, falling, and balancing out of all things important to human […]

Counseling/Psychotherapy with Self-Compassion Please begin by ending all conversations, and PLEASE shut-off your phones and/or laptops.  Simply be for a moment in the quietude of your inner self. Please close your eyes if you wish to do so. Contemplate the sacred nature of your profession – saving lives, reducing suffering, being a constant object, practicing […]

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness