Last week,
we had looked at principles; how the wise man will be driven by
timeless principles and not by temporary selfish desires. We
looked at the most important principle of all for learning wisdom; self
knowledge and we talked about what we meant by the self; the drives,
memories, emotions and knowledge that make up a cohesive identity.
This week we started to look at the difference between knowledge and
information. Information is not enough to actually succeed in doing
something; knowledge comes from applying that information and getting
feedback. We cannot be told how to drive a car and simply go and
do it successfully. We need to practice and get feedback from our
attempts.
Feedback always helps us to assess the information that we have.
It is like the scientific method; we have a theory and we test that
theory by performing actions and evaluating the results to see if they
are consistent with the theory. In philosophy, this theory will
often come in the form of teachings, at other times, it will be
developed from introspections or other observations. However it
comes to us, though, we should not simply accept it; we should apply
the knowledge and observe the results to see if they theory makes sense
in light of the evidence.
There are different levels of awareness. This was presented as a
gradient with from the lowest levels of awareness to the highest levels.
Higher consciousness
Fully awake
Waking sleep
Dream
Deep sleep
In deep sleep we have only the most limited awareness; it can take a lot to wake us and we are generally unaware of events.
When we are dreaming, we have more awareness. In particular, we will
have awareness of the world that we imagine while dreaming. We
may even be aware of the fact that we are dreaming, a “lucid
dream“. We can also be influenced by external events; an alarm
clock ringing while we are in the dream can be incorporated into our
dream. In general, this is still a very limited form of
awareness.
“Waking sleep” is the state that we are in much of the time where we
are not fully aware of our surroundings and perform in an habitual
manner. As I understand this, you are simply on autopilot;
performing actions without thinking about them. For example, it
is possible to make a car journey and when you arrive, be unaware of
the route you had taken or have any memory of the journey. The
mechanical process takes up very little of your thought process and you
may, or may not, be occupied with other thoughts. This does not
present a problem with many aspects of life but you can find yourself
living on autopilot when making import decisions; not really thinking
about them but simply going with your first thought without examining
the reasons. You may also be particularly suggestible when in
this state as you will have a tendency to just “go with the
flow”. Often you can get into this state when you are distracted
or worried by something.
When you are fully awake you are aware of your surroundings, you are
alert, receptive (but not uncritically) and generally will have a
feeling of energy. You will be able to appreciate the beauty
around you and will be capable of making rational decisions. You
are not sleeping at any level and are fully in touch with your senses.
Higher consciousness is a more difficult concept for me; one that will
take lots of thought. As far as I understand it, you have an
awareness of not just yourself and your senses, but also of your
emotions, the wider universe and “spirituality”. Some quotes
should help to illustrate this.
There is but one Reason. The mind that made the world is not one mind, but the mind.
And every work of art is a more or less pure manifestation of the same.
Therefore we arrive at this conclusion, which I offer as a confirmation
of the whole view, that the delight which a work of art affords, seems
to arise from our recognizing in it the mind that formed Nature, again
in active operation.
Herein is the explanation of the analogies, which exist in all the
arts. They are the re-appearance of one mind, working in many materials
to many temporary ends. Raphael paints wisdom, Handel sings it, Phidias
carves it, Shakspeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it,
Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it. Painting
was called " silent poetry," and poetry " speaking painting." The laws
of each art are convertible into the laws of every other.
- Society and Solitude, Chapter III Art: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson appears to be talking about God and the fact that all of nature
is an aspect of God. We recognise aspects of Godhood in the great
works of art; the better the work of art the closer to God it brings
us. The idea here is that we can experience a higher
consciousness by contemplating great works of art; we are brought into
close contact with the one overriding presence of which we are all a
part.
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
- Auguries of Innocence: William Blake
Blake makes me think of the situation where we can contemplate
something very simple and use our imagination to expand our
consciousness to encompass much wider areas. So, we can look at a
grain of sand, know about sand and its place in the world and imagine a
whole world; we can take the beauty of a flower and image the beauty of
heaven; we can hold something insignificant in our hand and use our
minds to encompass an infinity of other images and concepts; and we can
stretch time taking us out of ourselves; live an eternity in an
hour. With each of these things we use our imaginations to
extrapolate from a simple beginning to stretch our consciousness.
Love does not dwell on the gifts received but turns
directly to their giver. Love knows no measure but exceeds all
measure. Love feels no burden; it makes light of labour and
strives to do more than it is able. Love considers nothing
impossible and sees itself equal to every task.
Love, therefore, can do all things and finds itself successful where others, without love, often faint and fall prostrate.
Love keeps watch, and even while resting it sleeps not; it may be tired
but not fatigued; it may feel under pressure, but not crushed; it may
be afraid but not terrified. Like a living flame and burning
torch, love always makes its way upward into the open air and blazes
forth.
- Imitation of Christ, Bk3, ch 5: Thomas a Kempis
This is about divine love but we can think about is as love in general
and it is certainly recognisable. Love is certainly an altered
state of consciousness and it has the property of making you concerned
for someone else’s happiness but I am not entirely convinced that it
has the “broadening” effect that other descriptions of higher
consciousness have. To some extent, it seems to me, that the
other quotes suggest that getting out of yourself is one of the aspects
of higher consciousness; perhaps love can be here as well.
I feel I have got a bit of a better handle on this concept than when I
started typing this but there is still lots of thinking to be done.
The study of wisdom allows us to see many of the ideas that have stood
the test of time. The Greek philosophers were the originators of
Western philosophy. Indeed, western philosophy has been described
as “footnotes to Plato”. Plato, himself, is the heart of Greek
philosophy; particularly in his writings about Socrates. It is
not obvious how much of the teachings ascribed to Socrates were really
his and how much he was simply used as a character by Plato, but we can
probably assume that they certainly made an excellent teaching
team. In the Phaedo, Plato describes Socrates last days after he
had been sentenced to death. Socrates idea of the soul is brought
out in great detail using the characteristic Socratic method; asking
questions of a student to let the student make the argument himself.
The climax of the argument can be summed up in the following extract:
And were we not saying long ago that the soul when using
the body as an instrument of perception, that is to say, when using the
sense of sight or hearing or some other sense (for the meaning of
perceiving through the body is perceiving through the senses)-were we
not saying that the soul too is then dragged by the body into the
region of the changeable, and wanders and is confused; the world spins
round her, and she is like a drunkard when under their influence?
Very true.
But when returning into herself she reflects; then she passes into the
realm of purity, and eternity, and immortality, and unchangeableness,
which are her kindred, and with them she ever lives, when she is by
herself and is not let or hindered; then she ceases from her erring
ways, and being in communion with the unchanging is unchanging. And
this state of the soul is called wisdom?
- Phaedo: Plato
Plato (or Socrates) describes a state of being which he regarded as
“wisdom”. This state is where the soul (or the self) is not
caught up with the body; there is a separation and the soul is
contemplating itself. I think that the group got a bit caught up
in the language used here; “soul” is a very loaded word. I think
that the main point is the self reflection; the examining of life that
Socrates said made life worth living. This examination requires
some sort of discipline to separate the soul from the body; we would
call this meditation.
This self examination should allow us to evaluate the habits and
beliefs that we have build up over our life. We should try to
change harmful behaviours and wrong beliefs. Confucius said that
it is easier today to triumph over evil habits than it will be
tomorrow. When we identify something that we want to change, the
longer we leave the change, the more ingrained will be the habit so we
should start as soon as possible.