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SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS-A WAY TO HARMONY AND GLOBAL PEACE
Muni Dharmesh
1. Who am I? What separates me from the non-living material world? These questions and many others have been asked from time immemorial. A probable answer, which is based on intuition, commonsense and ageold wisdom has an appeal that it almost seems axiomatic.
2. Basic concept of Jainology is that the essential entities of cosmos can be divided into two categories: matter or material body, and consciousness. In terms of ecology, nature consists of biotic factor and abiotic factor. In popular terms it can be called nonliving and living. In the terminology of spiritual science, conscious and non-conscious elements.
3. Not only the nature but each biotic factor is not purely conscious entity. It is composite of conscious and non-conscious elements. Each of the species has consciousness with non-conscious material body. There are certain characteristics attributed by spiritual science to the conscious element. It has three properties namely, to know (i.e. to be aware of and to acquire information), to feel and to exercise free will. These properties are not displayed by material objects even as complicated as a computer or a robot. So a living-being knows the surroundings, feels the sensations of pleasure and pain and executes his or her free will to retain or reduce sensations.
4. But what about the material world? What is matter? If we look at it with the views of quantum physics, there is no matter. The whole world is an energy continuum; the reality beyond space and time. But if we see it through classical physics, it has certain properties like heat, light, etc. There can't be a predication of the absolute reality, without any frame of reference. This should not be misinterpreted: There is no negation of absolute reality, but negation of predication of the absolute without any frame of reference.
5. If we become more pragmatic and percieve the world through senses, from which consciousness looks towards the world, we find different characteristics of the matter. These are colour, smell, taste and touch.
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