Much of the problem here is through the use of special terms like Pure Consciousness Event. It's much simpler just to think of the cinema when the film runs out -- all that's left is the light from the projector. This really is no big deal. But because we are constantly drowned in the contents of consciousness all of the time this experience is unfamiliar to pretty well all of us -- leading to strange philosophical positions and unnecessary dualisms.
Anyone who takes subjectivity seriously will ultimately have to acknowledge the experiencer as separate from the objects of experience. What's much more puzzling is trying to understand the relationship between the phenomenology and the physiology -- what is the NC (Crick) of the PCE (Forman)?
Mike King put this in an interesting way at Tucson. "Krishnamurti commented once that for the duration of an hour's walk not a single thought entered his mind -- this raises for us the problem of his dog, for whom we can assume the same state for the period of their walk. What then is the difference in consciousness between these two beings?"
There is some well-replicated evidence that the PCE (during meditation) is associated with a minimal metabolism and some form of synchrony at the level of EEG. But given that our subjective experiences are based on the interconnections between brain-cells, what is actually happening at the neurochemical level?
Susan Greenfield has developed a model linking the depth of consciousness with the size of the underlying neuronal gestalt -- does this imply that the PCE is based on some sort of global connectivity, when all the specific activity somehow cancels itself out? On this analogy the white light would be based on a synthetic model.
On the other hand, Walter Freeman has pointed out that the neurotransmitter oxytocin is associated with important transformative experiences and this leads to a sort of "meltdown" of existing connections, enabling new patterns to form.
And Charlie Tart has drawn our attention to at least one case of a person acquiring permanent "cosmic consciousness" as a result of the destruction of part of the brain in a near-death experience.
Any thoughts?
Keith Sutherland
keith@imprint.co.uk
jcs-online
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