Existence and Consciousness

The idea of existence and consciousness has always been intriguing our minds and from deep
contemplation, thoughts arise and we are pervaded by an awareness that washes the mind of
all pride and prejudice that clings with these .

Change seems to be the only constant; anything that is present in the universe is susceptible to
change. All objects have the ability to experience various kinds of forces and hence can change
and react within the given framework of the laws of cosmos. The existence always comes in a
pair with another property i.e. ability to experience change. All objects can alter by various
interactions between matter and energy. As stated in general theory of relativity, even space
and time can alter if there is change in gravity and velocity .Whatever that is existent like
matter, energy, space and time, which are intrinsically related to one another can experience
change. However such changes occur in consonance with natural laws some of which are
known and some are still to be known. The laws that govern the change, themselves do not
change. All that which can be experienced can be changed but the framework that guides this
change is unchanging.

The laws can never be experienced directly but they are known through deductions and
inductions and are observed from the various phenomena that occur around us. Our senses are
only capable of experiencing few forms of matter-energy and limited type of interaction
between them but the mind is capable of driving meaning out of these various experiences and
can analyze the laws which govern them. As both mind and senses are limited, the senses can
only perceive within a limited spectrum and our mind can only make deductions and
approximations as to what really is happening. In fact, many phenomena could be happening
around simultaneously at the moment but we are conditioned to experience and know only a
part of it.

Consciousness

The phenomenon of consciousness is generally perceived in a limited sense and is usually

attributed to human’s and to some extent other intelligent animal life, it is only a part of
consciousness. Meaning of consciousness if taken as ability to experience change then it is
observed pervading in the entire existence, as whatever that is existent has ability to
experience. We experience about existence of an object as it exhibits some physical qualities
and quantities which are then experienced by another object with which it interacts. Existence
is known because of projections and consciousness is known because of receptions.
Consciousness is not something that is outcome of life but is already present in this cosmos and
is manifested in living beings of higher order. Through our various faculties of perception and
our mind, our ability of reception or the ability to experience is enhanced and human’s also
project and react in various ways. The most basic level of consciousness is present in non living
matter & can experience change in some of fundamental ways. It can experience change
through fundamental forces of this cosmos and can interact and react not through will but by
the natural laws of action and reaction. It forms the most basic levels on which higher forms of
consciousness can manifest. From millions of permutations and combinations of change, matter
forms more complex structures, few of them, which the matter has formed, starts to maintain
these structures through various cyclic processes, it intakes information and matter-energy
from its environment uses it for its sustenance and gives out an output which is transformed by
its internal process, it maintains more subtle harmony and balance which are increasingly more
adaptable to variations,changes around it. Through the subtle harmony that is existing within
structures, it can propagate itself to the conditions which are more or less conducive for it to
maintain its cyclic processes (Like microorganisms can navigate randomly in a given
environment and ingest those substances which its structures allow through diffusion and are
beneficial to its growth and sustenance). These structures evolve and those which are more
efficient in maintaining its form sustain and as time progresses there come random mutations
and out of the millions of mutations there are few which are more adapt for the given
environment and have the ability to replicate and propagate itself. Those structures of matter
which are not good in adapting in a given environment are slowly filtered out through evolution
and other natural processess. Through various such mutations and filtrations the level of
complexity and harmony increases in living beings, in few cases many of these structures like
cells come together to evolve as better organs of sustenance and perception, a higher degree of
interconnectedness and coherence develops between these organs leading to better
adaptability, survivability and understanding of the world around them. The epitome of which is
observed by us in the evolution of human beings. The harmony and coherence between various
material structures like cells, organs, nervous system leads to an increased ability of
experiencing the world and its various phenomena which otherwise would be impossible for
simple living structures or dead matter. Thus, the above phenomenon solves the dilemma of
egg or hen, which came first.

Humans are more than conscious, they are also self-conscious or self-aware. Consciousness is
ability to experience but self consciousness is the recognition of that consciousness, not only
understanding of self existence but a further understanding that one is aware of one’s
existence. At the very basic level consciousness is the ability to experience of a higher order, it
is an ability to experience ones existence and still at higher levels of humans and some animals
it is the ability to experience the awareness of one’s existence.

The Being and the Becoming

The being is the unchanging/fundamental aspect of the universe and the becoming is aspect
that is always in a state of flux. On the overall background of existence and consciousness the
two dances together as one and create the spectacle of cosmos as we see it. The being exists as
the law and the becoming forms matter-energy. The being and becoming are not two separate
realities but are the two sides of the same coin. The essence or the framework of this cosmos
which guides the various interactions within it remains the same like the law of energy and
mass i.e. e=mc2 is same on earth as it would be on mars or some other place in the universe.
The various laws which are the manifestation of the fundamental law or the being of this
cosmos do not change with space and time; it acts as a universal in which all the particulars that
is the matter-energy act. The becoming on the other hand which is manifested as matter-
energy is never in a permanent state but is always moving and transforming e.g. stars, planets,
earth, moon though they may seem to be relatively permanent with respect to short span of
our lives but even they get transformed in millions and billions of years. Any material form that
exists presently in due time will be destroyed or transformed into something else.

Our senses are adapted to experience certain aspects of matter and energy e.g. our eyes can
sense limited spectrum of electromagnetic radiation or our skin can feel some effects of
pressures or temperatures. On the other hand our mind makes a meaning and understanding
of these various experiences and also guides their movement and attention? The mind through
experience does various inductions and deductions through that it is possible to know some
aspects of the law. Hence our body and senses corresponds to the matter and energy aspect of
this universe and our mind corresponds to the law of this cosmos. The mind acts as the law of
the body which govern its functions and movements, and the body as the material on which the
mind acts and through which it can manifest its will. So, is in the cosmos, the being and
becoming come together as matter-energy and law to manifest various possibilities of
existence, so, does in the microcosmic form of humans these two come together as mind and
body to manifest various possibilities of life. Mind-body, being-becoming, energy-law is really
not separate from each other. It is our understanding that makes these acts as different entities
but working together to manifest the possibilities of life and existence.

Existence

One of the most fundamental questions that have bewildered many philosophers and scientist
is of existence i.e. why anything there is or anything at all? Why nothing? How anything came
into being?

Nobel laureate in physics Sir Roger Penrose in his theory of CCC - Conformal Cyclic Cosmos, has
propounded that the current cosmos that we are in is one of the many in the series of universes
that have come and are yet to come. The end of one universe is the beginning of the other. In
the very distant future in accordance to the exponential growth that we are experiencing in our
universe and due the action of black holes most matter in this universe will be converted into
low energy photons. Pure electromagnetic radiation does not interact with itself directly in
empty space, without any interactions no change can be brought so the effects of the laws
which were guiding the change in matter-energy become un-observable. An universe formed by
them would also lose track of time because photons don’t have any mass and anything without
mass doesn’t experience time, without time the spatial experience of the cosmos would also go
away leading to a type of singularity.

As there is no interaction in pure radiation, it goes into a formless state which has no attributes,
qualities or does experience change because without mass there is no time or space in which it
could be measured, observed, transformed or even found to be existent. The becoming comes
to a primordial state of energy which is boundless and formless because there is no being acting
upon it. The becoming becomes nothing new and the being without a material to act upon
becomes like non-being or a dead law as there is no practical applicability of it.

The creation of this cosmic singularity now acts in such a way as if it were the seed of the next
cosmos, because without space-time it doesn’t matter if the universe expands infinitely or is
contracted to an infinitesimal point in which everything is contained which could be the cause
of the next big bang.

It can only be known of an object if the object exhibits some properties of qualities and
quantities, an object can only project some qualities or quantities if there is a law which makes
it distinct from the outside world thus making it observable. So anything can be conscious only
when there is a law acting which gives the cosmos its distinct properties.

Existence in manifested state that exhibit properties of qualities and quantities, we never truly
know an object, we only know its properties but these properties can only exist if the matter
which is projecting them itself exists. So knowing existence is possible only when there is a state
of matter-energy which can be interacted with and hence observed. Becoming without the
being is unconscious and being without the becoming is nonexistent. But as we know these two
are never separate from each other, the two are the parts of the same whole, in singularity
their individuality end and the parts are again merged as one because as there would be no
space-time where they could exist distinctly which results in an un-manifested state of
consciousness and existence. It is not only that these become non-entities but simply there is
no conception and perception that can define the state that they are now in. Without either of
these two it is not possible to know the state of cosmos or to know anything in general.

The law and consciousness are like the non-existent because they have no perceptible
manifestations. The physical laws of this cosmos cannot be seen, touched, heard through
senses and are only known through the way the energy-matter interact with itself, being never
perceptible to senses yet the law imbibe in the entire existence which in turn gives it form and
qualities which makes it perceptible similarly though consciousness is itself not perceivable but
is the very principle through which our senses can perceive e.g. the eye cannot see
consciousness but consciousness is the very principle that makes seeing possible. Both physical
laws and consciousness are non-existent to our perception and yet they are in everything , they
are the only unchanging aspect of this cosmos and act as inner worker and neutral observer to
the existent .The energy-matter is all that seems to be existent yet this existent is never the
same state but always transformative. We know an object via its form and properties but they
get changed in some or the other way in due time, whatever from that is created into
existence, in due time will change and become something else leaving the original form
destroyed. The existent and non-existent are akin to each other but are also different as they
are the facets of the same whole.

The being and becoming work together in harmony to manifest as this cosmos, this harmony is
also the cause of life and growth. Many non-living things came together as one to make a living
structure possible and many of these living structures come together as one entity to make the
human life possible. If we understand the laws around us and have the will to act in harmony
then rather in conflict if we come together in harmony we could manifest best levels of
development in both our personal lives and the environment around us.

Whenever there was space-time there was existence of something and when there was no
space-time there was a form of singularity which is formless and indescribable by the very
nature of it. So existence never came into being and so did consciousness, they just fluctuated
between a manifested and non-manifested state in a cyclic universe. We go on seeking the
ultimate reality but we are also the part of the same whole and not separate from it, so in a
way the ultimate truth is also within us. We keep on searching for miracles but the greatest
miracle is life and cosmos itself is that out of the dead arises life and out of no-thing arises
everything.