Discover how Sufism, mystical experiences, and neuroscience intersect in the study of consciousness. Explore non-local mind, spiritual traditions, and the science behind transcendent states.
In Sufism, consciousness is often stated as overcoming ego and finding love. Clearly, this interpretation is lost in the sea of confusion that surrounds the term consciousness. Baruss (2018) states that 'notions of consciousness are intimately tied to beliefs about reality.' There are three main positions regarding beliefs about reality: materialist, conservatively transcendent, and extraordinarily transcendent positons. My belief, in reality, is characterized more by extraordinary transcendence mainly because of the mystical experiences that I had in my life. Clearly, first-person experiences can be dismissed as subjective because the classical scientific method would include critical features like controlled manipulation of variables, a third-person perspective, and repeatability of observations.
Even though my personal mystical experiences are real to me, I would have to look into scientific research for evidence supporting my belief. Schwartz states that studies regarding non-local consciousness through experimentation fall basically into two categories: non-local perception, non-local perturbation (2015). Dossey introduced the term of non-local mind (1989). According to Dossey, the non-local mind is immortal, which is also mentioned in ancient concepts such as soul, spirit, and Buddha-nature.
Today, it is possible to free ourselves from the boundaries of local and reach non-local consciousness, as evidenced by a large amount of research. 'Today, there are 6 stabilized parapsychological protocols used in laboratories around the world exploring these two categories of phenomena. Under rigorous double or triple blind, randomized and tightly controlled conditions, each of these six has independently produced six sigma results.' (Schwartz, 2015, p.254). With regards to progressive science, this realm of non-local mind being revealed as Imagination by visionaries and mystics, and it also embraces the state of being into which we move beyond death (Cottrell, 2015)
There are other legitimate methods of the study of consciousness which depend on statements of belief. Cognitive neuroscience is used in their general belief system, according to neurophysicalists who believe consciousness is generated only by the brain.
Holophysicalists believe that 'organ of consciousness' is the property of the physical world at large and supernaturalists see consciousness as an echo of the divine.
Consciousness has a subjective quality and is well constructed by Nagel (1974) as the 'what it is to be...' dimension. Levine stated that 'there seems to be no discernible connection between the physical description and the mental one, and thus no explanation of the latter in terms of the former' (2001, p.76-7) Going back to the sufist definition of consciousness by overcoming ego and finding love, my mystical experiences always had an element of feeling oneness or unity. This entails getting a glimpse of pure consciousness through meditative and altered states. It could be argued that while my personal experience is mystical and spiritual in nature, it may be in my brain only or caused by unconscious complex, as Freud would say. Lancaster suggests four levels of inquiry into consciousness: spiritual/mystical, depth-psychological, cognitive, and neuro-physiological (2004). He goes on to suggest that entities at all levels are oncologically real, which he names oncological pluralism. This is extremely helpful when studying consciousness as 'many of the promising developments in consciousness studies entail hybrid relationships' (Lancester, 2004, p.35), referring to explanatory structures from different levels of inquiry in this field.
While understanding causation between different levels, it is integrating data and insights from different levels to find the meaning of consciousness in general. I believe the transformation of consciousness is critical as studying consciousness relies on experiences mainly linked to spiritual traditions and relevant scientific research. The central focus of consciousness studies needs to address the two parameters, which are accessibility and self (Lancaster, 2004, p.70-1). Accessibility is the informational content of the mind, and the self stands for the role of the observer. The spiritual and mystical traditions are very interested in changing self because 'I' or 'self is not a fixed reality. The transpersonal journey is very much about expanding our realm of accessibility.
