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January 14, 2016

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Very nice post. This reminds me of Gerald Edelman's first and second nature features of consciousness, where first nature is PRESENT MOMENT, and second nature is our VIRTUAL SIMULATOR.... the latter is what makes us human.

Both are necessary and both can be wonderful in their own way.

good post thanks

This theory of Arne Dietrich is that higher states of consciousness do not exist, and that all altered states of consciousness are lower states.. Very good. But there are some fundamental questions he need to answer:

Why is it that musicians, artists and creative professionals produce their best work in altered states of consciousness ? Why do they consider these states to be fundamentally superior ? Their work is there for all of us to evaluate.

It is not just creative artists. Even many scientists attribute their best works to altered states of consciousness. Why is that ?

In an earlier era, people attributed their best works in music and mathematics to "devotional states", in a state of direct communion with their muses and god. These people longed for these altered states to reappear, and in fact, wrong songs and poems about this longing. Why is that ?

The final nail in Mr. Dietrich's theory is about behavior. Even if a person is not gifted in any creative sense, why is it that the person behave differently in altered states of consciousness. No, this behavior is not primitive - in the sense of a reptilian behavior or a lower mammal behavior. In fact, people are released from the persistent dread of stress and cognitive overload while they are in these altered states. They may not be able to keep time, reason about the division of self from the environment, or appreciate the shiny bald pate of Mr. Dietrich, but that doesn't mean they are in any "lower state of consciousness". What is the criteria for evaluation ? Who is flying with the pixies here ?

Wow Mr Vakibs
Yes, Lets ask Van Gogh, Einstein, Mozart, Niels Bohr clearly stating his Dream about
The Theory of Atoms
In Fact ask anybody !

777

I couldn't agree more with what Vakibs has mentioned above.
This is just an awesome explanation.

Let's for a moment leave the discussion and comparison of lower or higher state of consciousness; by listening to a song, anyone in the world can clearly observe whether the song is making an impact or not. What these melodies brings in the heart of listener is: Love. Because these melodious songs were really composed in a state of Love and many times not in the full conscious state - call it altered state, higher state or lower state - whatever, but truth is that it's really beautiful.
And if it's more beautiful then the fully conscious state, then how it can be termed as lower ? I think so!

If Brian allows, I would like to given a live example of the above.
This song is part of one the greatest compositions of all time in Indian Music History. (And also recognised in many other parts of the world).
It's composed by the Indian Music Maestro: A.R.Rahman
If you wish to, you can listen the song here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnIWuCOc7tc

When interviewed about the song, Rahman explained that he was not fully consciously awake when he composed this song. He was in a sub-conscious state at 3 AM in the early morning when he was feeling a lot of love and was sitting in front of his piano - his eyes were closed and the tune flown through his fingers on to the keyboards.
This has been his repeated experience with most of the melodious songs he has composed.

OI

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