What is consciousness? It is the age-old question. Scientists believe that it is a firing of synapses in the brain that discharges information. But theologians have been saying it is something more than that for ages.
Federico Faggin, the inventor of the microprocessor, has been dedicating his time to learning about consciousness. Faggin originally believed that consciousness was an experience that occurred in the brain. He was “interested in seeing if he could make a computer conscious” and the more he studied it the more impossible it became. During his investigations, he was visiting his lake house in Tahoe when he touched something deeper within and was inspired to further investigate consciousness.
Faggin describes the experience in an interview: In the middle of the night, he got up to get a drink of water. Faggin describes seeing “a white scintillating light that was a unitive experience.” He went on to say that this experience started with a rush of energy coming out of his heart and it generated an experience of love that was so profound it was beyond him to comprehend. The two-foot space of light exploded and filled the space. He had a vision of the entire universe that expressed itself as him. He even used the words of Hinduism in describing the experience, “I am that.” He noted that “A unitive experience makes you live yourself as one with the world.”
Faggin’s experience is not unique. The great religious figures like the Buddha had this experience under the Bodhi tree. Jesus had the experience of transfiguration on a mountain and in the waters of baptism. Read the poetry of Emily Dickinson or Whitman, or the ecstatic experiences of Hildegard of Bingen or visions of Teresa of Avila and you’ll have a better understanding of this ineffable experience of mysticism, but the most accessible may be Julian of Norwich.
In her book “Revelations of Divine Love,” Julian teaches us that conscious awareness is implicit in the act of being — that we are calling forth through nature and prayerful experiences a touch of something beyond that points to the infinite power of God’s love. She writes, “The soul wills as God wills…. He will make us partners in his good deed…. The more the soul sees of God the more the soul desires of God and His Grace.”
Faggin said you can’t understand this experience by reading a book, though he was raised believing that. You need to have the experience yourself. This is why he feels it is fundamental to the individual. Faggin sought out others from different religions to help him understand what he experienced. He then had other expansions of consciousness. After 20 years, he learned that science is wrong on the idea that evolution stems from material phenomena in a “quantum vacuum.” He established a foundation to understand the evolution of the universe and its relationship to consciousness. He said, “The universe could not have evolved as inert matter.”
What is intriguing about Faggin’s experience is that scientists are exploring whether or not AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be used for good or evil. AI opens a whole other realm of possibilities, but it has everything to do with information and nothing to do with consciousness. Faggin notes that “a particle is just a particle, but it is part of a greater unified field.”
I love the way it was described by Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, in his book “Awakening.” He writes about the idea of being born into a new awareness through the parable of you as an individual traveling from a different universe. He writes:
“The miracle was that as you awakened, so too did the whole universe. From the dance of the galaxies to the unfurling flower and the struggle for self-esteem in those who had been broken by life, the entire Cosmos resounded with the clarion call “Awaken!” And though you found that you still had the same body, personality, relationship, and responsibilities as before, your experiences of these circumstances had shifted dramatically: your awareness had become the lens through which God looked out upon the physical world; you became “the eyes through which God sees.” Your glance was the Divine glance.”
No matter the context, we are journeying to discover deeper realities of consciousness whether we are aware of it or not. Some are stumbling through their days in a literal daze; drug induced, hedonistically trying to satisfy the senses. Some have sought it in the psychedelic mesmerism of hallucinations, but it is not the same as authentic experience. Others soberly find it in the serenity of nature or church community, meditation or song, or art, or a pet or loved one. Ultimately, nothing outside ourselves satisfies the earnest desire to glimpse the presence of Divinity, as it is an inside job.
Ultimately, each individual journey will glimpse this in his own way in the time needed. Conscious awareness is a light of understanding and deeper realizations of grace in individual fleeting expressions and experiences designed to make us see deeper and engage with mystery.
spirit beat 