This thesis focuses on an
in-depth exploration of an advanced topic in cognitive psychology, Higher Cognitive Processes: Thinking and
Consciousness. My argument is (1) Explore higher order cognitive processes,
ones that more drastically separate the human species from other animals involving
judgment, logic, problem solving, creativity, intelligence and introspection.
(2) Explore the realms of consciousness focusing on the nature of mindfulness,
the role of acceptance in the phenomenon, the relation between mindfulness and
meditation, and the measurement of mindfulness in meditative and other
contexts, including spirituality.
“A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me
with full hands;How could I answer the child? I do
not know what it is any more than he.”
(Whitman, 1983).
Creativity is a process where the artist accesses the
unconscious mind allowing the thinking mind (conscious) to dissipate which in
turn allows the subconscious to enter even though “creativity
is a natural phenomenon, part of the very structure and function of
consciousness.” (Adams, 2018). What then is
consciousness? Numerous definitions exist according to one’s perception and
reality.
The 14th Dalai Lama (meaning teacher, ocean, in Tibetan), Tenzin Gyatso, following
the teachings of Buddha to decrease human suffering; believed consciousness to
be “choosing spiritual development over material gain.” (Dalai Lama, 2006).
Buddhism practices the belief that human beings are “understood as
fundamentally good, but monetarily confused.” (Dalai Lama, 2006). Through the writing of
Walt Whitman and the teachings of Buddha, consciousness is everything you
experience.
Whitman was “tapping”
into all three areas of the mind, the conscious, subconscious, and
unconsciousness, including his own spirituality, when he wrote poetry. In his
lines above from Leaves of Grass,
Whitman has no conscious reply to the
child for he, like the child, is humbled before the universe, nature, and existence.
How then is it possible to allow all three areas of the brain to work
simultaneously? All three parts work together to create our own reality that
produces knowledge utilized to change habits and create a happier, more
peaceful and confident self, like Buddha suggests.
Scientifically, the
brain as a whole generates experience, every day, all day; however, the “seat
of consciousness” goes much deeper to “physical footprints” from the brain to
the spinal cord. Consider a tetraplegic (paralyzed in legs, arms and torso, no
bodily sensations, damage to the cerebellum) that continues to see, hear,
smell, feel emotions and recall memory.
Then consider the cerebellum (little
brain behind the brain), a “brain circuit” for motor control that “has
by far the most neurons, about 69 billion, four times more than in the rest of
the brain combined.” (Koch, 2018). One would think damage to
the cerebellum would affect consciousness; however, “even being born without a cerebellum does not appreciably affect the
conscious experience of the individual.” (Koch, 2018). Neural tissue found
in white and gray matter regions of the brain compose the “seat of
consciousness.”
Science
has long debated that when you are observing something, you are conscious of
what you are experiencing and different areas of the brain access that
information and if you do something unconsciously, that information is local to
the specific sensory area of the brain itself. For example, typing these words,
I am doing that automatically. If asked how I type, I do not really know
because I have little conscious access to that information, it is the local
brain circuits that tell my eyes and fingers to move. This theory is known as the
Global Neuronal Workspace.
Sigmund
Freud, psychoanalyst, created a model of the mind, separated into three tiers,
the conscious mind or ego, the pre-conscious or subconscious, and the
unconscious mind. Each area is represented by a percentage showing an estimated
use of each part of the brain.
(Image © Journal Psyche, 2018).
Freud’s model is the simplest way to attempt to define
conscious, subconscious and unconscious. The conscious mind
communicates to the outside world and the inner self through speech, pictures,
writing, physical movement, and thought. The subconscious mind is in charge of
recent memories and is in continuous contact with the unconscious mind. The unconscious
mind is the storehouse of all memories and past experiences, repressed and consciously
forgotten. It is from these memories and experiences that our beliefs, habits,
and behaviors are formed.
The unconscious mind constantly communicates with the
conscious mind via our subconscious mind through feelings, emotions, imagination,
sensations, and dreams that provide a perception. Not unlike a chain-link
fence, these regions of the brain are interconnected. Definitions of the mind
vary according to one’s perception. For example, a philosopher may view mind as
one’s personality, identity, and memories, a religious individual may view the
mind as a vessel that houses the spirit, or awareness of God and to a scientist
the mind is the generator of ideas and thoughts.
In 2012, neuroscientist
Jaak Pankseppat, published The Cambridge
Declaration on Consciousness. This declaration (witnessed by Stephen
Hawking), stated that, “scientific
evidence showed clearly that non-human animals have “conscious states along with
the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors.” (Coombs, 2015). This
declaration proposes that mammals, birds and other organisms have the same brain
structures that make consciousness possible in humans.
Affective consciousness
(core emotions in animals and humans), is a neglected form
of animal/human consciousness experienced via emotional states, and other
mammals do have affective experiences. Humans have the capacity for
consciousness because we think, make decisions, have feelings and have a sense
of self.
Higher order cognitive
processes, ones that more drastically separate the human species from other
animals involving judgment, logic, problem solving, creativity, intelligence
and introspection is secondary awareness or secondary consciousness. Primary
consciousness is simple awareness and perception in both animals and humans.
Affective
consciousness, the simplest form of consciousness, is the ability to have core
feelings and emotions. Secondary consciousness is the ability to move beyond
the limits of primary consciousness to access self-reflection, abstract
thinking, and metacognition. Metacognition is awareness and understanding of
one's own thought processes. This state of consciousness is what separates man
from animal.
Metacognition is “thinking
about one’s thinking [and] refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and
assess one’s understanding and performance.” (Chick, 2018). Metacognition
is critical awareness of one’s thinking and learning and oneself as a thinker
and learner.
One key aspect of
metacognition in humans in relation to animals is that humans have the ability
to recognize the limit to one’s own knowledge and figure out how to expand that
limit. An example of this is knowing what one’s strengths and weaknesses are.
In contrast, humans that are unaware of metacognition are “people [that] tend to be blissfully unaware of their incompetence,
lacking insight about deficiencies in their intellectual and social skills.”
(Chick, 2018). It is integral to consistently ask oneself, What am I learning? moreover, How
am I learning? Such questions challenge one to test self-efficacy.
Albert Bandura, social cognitive psychologist, postulated,
“people with high assurance in their
capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than
as threats to be avoided.” (Bandura, 1994). Bandura believed that through
mastery of experiences, resilience, sustained effort, overcoming obstacles,
persistent effort, allowing setbacks and difficulties as a learning tool, and
believing in one’s self establishes a strong sense of efficacy.
“After people become convinced they have what
it takes to succeed, they persevere in the face of adversity and quickly
rebound from setbacks.” (Bandura, 1994). Sticking things out through tough
times causes one to emerge stronger via adversity. As Carl Jung wrote in Relations Between the Ego and the
Unconscious, which addresses variances between healthy and unhealthy
self-efficacy, “One man’s optimism makes
him overweening, while another’s pessimism makes him over anxious and
dependent.” (Jung, Pg. 87). As with everything, balance.
In regards to
psychology and cognitive processes, metacognition is regulated by forethought
such as embodying valued goals, personal goal setting and motivation. The
stronger the self-efficacy, the higher the goal challenges set. In addition,
the belief in oneself as an affective process controls thought processes that
regulate “thought produced” stress and depression. Human accomplishments and
positive well-being require an optimistic sense of personal efficacy.
Strong
self-efficacy can come from suffering severe distress and trauma, recovering,
and growing; and practiced, such as mindfulness and meditation. Different
periods of life present certain types of competency demands, which everyone
must pass. “There are various pathways
through life and, at any given period, people vary substantially in how
efficaciously they manage their lives.” (Bandura, 1994).
How then is it possible
for the brain (a physical object) to have nonphysical thoughts and feelings?
Imagine you wish to say hello to someone and you do, by saying, Hello! Your mouth, lips, vocal chords
and muscles are physical objects that move to form words; however, your idea
was to say, Hello, which is not
physical. How does a nonphysical idea allow your mouth, lips, vocal chords and
muscles to move? This is a form of dualism, mind and body separation, meaning
the mind (nonphysical) and its thoughts and feelings are a different entity
from the physical (body/brain), and yet the two influence each other.
Philosopher Rene
Descartes in the 17th century presented the “metaphysical stance that mind and body are two distinct substances,
each with a different essential nature.” (Mehta, 2011). With dualism, the body
is subject to mechanical laws and the mind is not. In this vein, people can
exist with two histories, one consisting of what occurs in and with the
physical body, the other, what consists in and of the mind. As a result, one
history involves events in the physical world, the second history, events in
the mental world.
The mind and body
connection, in addition to dualism, represents how the mind and body, while
separate, influence the other by occurring on a physical and chemical level. The
mind encompasses mental states including thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and
emotions and varying mental states positively and negatively affect biological
functioning. “The nervous, endocrine, and
immune systems share a common chemical language” (Weinberg, 2018), that
allows communication between the mind and body through hormones and
neurotransmitters. Examples include
feeling your heart pounding out of your chest with anxiety or butterflies in
your stomach when nervous.
Mindfulness, conscious
present thinking and awareness, in psychotherapy is utilized when people are
encouraged to pause, pay attention to, and take delight in, the present moment.
In spirituality, mindfulness is practiced via meditation, prayer and song.
Mindfulness helps to reduce stress, alleviate some symptoms of mental illness,
and improve the quality of life.
Paying attention allows one to identify
emotions as they arise, process them, and choose how to react. Meditation helps
the body control emotional responses and increase awareness of the body’s
biological processes (neurotransmitters) that may flood the body with stress
hormones. Mind-body modalities help control psycho-emotional health (mind), as
well as physical health (body). Thus, while separation of mind and body exists
(dualism), mind and body influence each other.
Joseph Campbell
explained meditation, mindfulness, and all three forms of thinking; conscious,
subconscious and unconscious, by focusing on “the journey “of life instead of
focusing on “the destination.” Campbell, along with Bill Moyers, discusses higher
consciousness in The Power of Myth,
where Campbell states, “The end of the
world is not an event to come, it is an event of psychological transformation,
of visionary transformation.” (Campbell, Pg. 285).
Campbell continues, “It’s been said that poetry consists of
letting the word be heard beyond words. Everything that’s transitory is but a
metaphorical reference.” (Campbell, Pg. 286). Moyers then asks how we,
humans, worship, love and die for metaphor.
Campbell introduces one
word, AUM, used during meditation and
yoga, and continues, “AUM is the word
that represents to our ears that sound of energy of the universe of which all
things are manifestations.” (Campbell, Pg. 286). The origin of AUM/OM (Sanskrit, Hindi, Tibetan, Latin),
is defined as "all."
Three phonemes, a, u, and m, symbolize states of
consciousness. A is conscious or
waking state, U is the dream state,
and M is the dreamless sleep state. The
combination of the three represents the full state of realization. “This final state is the aim of yoga: Samadhi
- a complete union between breath, body, mind, and spirit.” (Soul, Body,
Yoga, 2011). OM embodies the essence
of the entire universe.
Aum
is the birth, the universe, all images and fragments, and the proof of “being”
in the world. Campbell compounds on existence deciding that the “meanings”
humankind searches for are, essentially, meaningless because language has limitations.
It is in this vein, Joseph Campbell asks us to focus from the conscious to the
subconscious to the unconscious.
* * *
References:
Campbell,
Joseph, Moyers, Bill. (1991). The Power
of Myth. Pgs. 285, 286. Print.
Dalai
Lama. (2006). Living Wisdom. Introduction.
Print.
Jung,
Carl. (1971). The Portable Jung.
Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious. Print. Pg. 87.
Whitman, Walt. (1983). Leaves of Grass. Song
of Myself. Print.
