As human beings we are conscious and it is evident, for instance, when we have pain and pleasure. But this is the case with the animals too and we have to admit that they too are conscious. Some would ascribe consciousness even to plants and inanimate things too including the whole universe. Of course, they would mean it in different senses other than we understand it in the humans where our prototype of consciousness has its home. Accordingly, even the animals have consciousness to a lesser degree than in the humans and any other understanding and ascription of consciousness even to mere material things is far removed from the prototype itself. Here is a case, one could say, that an idea dies the death of a thousand qualifications so much so that the original is scarcely discernible at the end. What is more, some would like to argue that even machines with artificial intelligence could one day said to be conscious like the humans. Here we have to remember that the humans are able to transcend this world and even transcend themselves culminating in conscience that opens to a larger reality. Any machine with artificial intelligence, but without the ability of self-transcendence culminating in conscience, cannot be said to be similar to the conscious human beings. We shall, therefore, look at the human consciousness and its implications for our general welfare in our life.
If it is admitted that animals are our closest allies in the matter of consciousness, it is imperative to see what is unique in human consciousness. If not, the humans will be considered as just a little more evolved animals and nothing more. We have no problem with the theory of evolution, even though there are unsolved problems in the theory itself, to see it as a particular mode of creation of everything by God. It is like the case of the Big Bang theory, which some believe is incompatible with the belief in the creation of the universe by God. The ultimate reason for our conviction that God is the creator, in spite of many theories challenging it, is that God is not bound to any particular mode of creation, but can use various models as He pleases. God is Spirit and is Consciousness Itself encompassing the whole universe and the humans are at the pinnacle of the pyramid of creation by virtue of the high level of consciousness unseen anywhere else in creation except in spirits without bodies or the angels and the devils. The humans are constituted as spirits in bodies and what we call souls are nothing but spirits in bodies. Our souls exist by participation in the Infinite Consciousness that is God Himself by virtue of direct creation by God, whereas our bodies could be the end product of a gradual evolution. The Genesis account of creation of the humans supports this view from the description that God formed man out of the dust from the ground and breathed life into his nostrils. This life is a participation in the very life of God designated as soul by us.
The humans being composed of both body and soul, our consciousness has to do justice both to the body and to the soul. There should be a proper balance so that finer realities of life do not escape us. If we are too engrossed in the bodily aspects of our consciousness, we shall not be able to capture its deeper and nicer side for which the faculties of our soul should be developed. In daily life we are at the mercy of our mind that is but a web of soul's faculties like intellect, will and reason on one side and the five sense faculties of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste controlled by our brain on the other. Our consciousness may be numbed by excessive indulgence of our senses without any control and we shall become aliens to higher truths like the resurrection from the dead. Since our consciousness plays a crucial role in whatever we perceive and this is a scientific fact proved by the theory of relativity and Quantum physics, we have to allow our consciousness to be polished and adorned to be open to truths beyond the confines of this material world. For this we don't have to run away from the world and its normal pleasures, but be detached from them, even as we use them, in order not be enslaved by them. Thus being free in spirit, we are well on our way to understand sublime truths like the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. How do we communicate this deep truth to others as it is meant to touch the innermost core of their being?
If it is admitted that animals are our closest allies in the matter of consciousness, it is imperative to see what is unique in human consciousness. If not, the humans will be considered as just a little more evolved animals and nothing more. We have no problem with the theory of evolution, even though there are unsolved problems in the theory itself, to see it as a particular mode of creation of everything by God. It is like the case of the Big Bang theory, which some believe is incompatible with the belief in the creation of the universe by God. The ultimate reason for our conviction that God is the creator, in spite of many theories challenging it, is that God is not bound to any particular mode of creation, but can use various models as He pleases. God is Spirit and is Consciousness Itself encompassing the whole universe and the humans are at the pinnacle of the pyramid of creation by virtue of the high level of consciousness unseen anywhere else in creation except in spirits without bodies or the angels and the devils. The humans are constituted as spirits in bodies and what we call souls are nothing but spirits in bodies. Our souls exist by participation in the Infinite Consciousness that is God Himself by virtue of direct creation by God, whereas our bodies could be the end product of a gradual evolution. The Genesis account of creation of the humans supports this view from the description that God formed man out of the dust from the ground and breathed life into his nostrils. This life is a participation in the very life of God designated as soul by us.
The humans being composed of both body and soul, our consciousness has to do justice both to the body and to the soul. There should be a proper balance so that finer realities of life do not escape us. If we are too engrossed in the bodily aspects of our consciousness, we shall not be able to capture its deeper and nicer side for which the faculties of our soul should be developed. In daily life we are at the mercy of our mind that is but a web of soul's faculties like intellect, will and reason on one side and the five sense faculties of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste controlled by our brain on the other. Our consciousness may be numbed by excessive indulgence of our senses without any control and we shall become aliens to higher truths like the resurrection from the dead. Since our consciousness plays a crucial role in whatever we perceive and this is a scientific fact proved by the theory of relativity and Quantum physics, we have to allow our consciousness to be polished and adorned to be open to truths beyond the confines of this material world. For this we don't have to run away from the world and its normal pleasures, but be detached from them, even as we use them, in order not be enslaved by them. Thus being free in spirit, we are well on our way to understand sublime truths like the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. How do we communicate this deep truth to others as it is meant to touch the innermost core of their being?
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