The Consciousness Soul Link

For the average person, a consciousness soul link can be a strange concept. But, it does exist in the nervous system. To be very practical, just now and then, consciousness mirrors the soul. Essentially, "consciousness" is the neural sub-system, which brings each person an intimate awareness of life.

In the same way, the “soul” is the most advanced intelligence within his nervous system. You know your soul as your "inner self." It is the deepest wisdom within you. These are not mystic concepts. Pattern recognition enables different regions within your brain to be both independent and cooperative.

Their conflicting viewpoints manage your personal experiences and behaviors. Understand the evolutionary logic of these systems. You will then experience the reality of your consciousness and learn to empower the deep wisdom of your soul.

Science has identified the neural correlates of consciousness - the active nerve cells, which grant you a conscious awareness of sensory perceptions and of emotions.
Benjamin Libet's experiments suggested that you become aware of an action only after the nervous system has made its decisions and acted. Consciousness follows an action.
Your prefrontal regions, PFR, is historically young, but is the seat of your common sense, your rational human brain. It is your soul, your inner wisdom. PFR exists and competes with a mammalian and a reptilian brain within the nervous system.
The system hands over control of the whole system to the most powerful emotion, enveloping you in a specific level of consciousness. When emotions have been stilled, PFR takes charge.
As Kezwer advised, use your mind as a research laboratory. As a pattern recognition entity, a simple exercise can enable your system to recognize your PFR.
The Buddhists discovered that the attention of PFR can still emotions. Their texts also confirm the existence of PFR, a rational unemotional mind within the system.
With PFR in control, you can attempt to reach your highest level of consciousness.

The Consciousness Soul Link - Your Awareness
The consciousness soul link exists in the nervous system. Consciousness has verifiable links to the physical brain. Science calls them the “neural correlates of consciousness.” When one group of those cells fire, you feel touch; for another, you see a pixel of light. Your awareness comes from the firing of a vast and identifiable group of nerve cells. When those special neural "correlates" fire, they enable you to perceive the world, recognize events, recall memories and feel emotions.

Billions more fire in the nervous system, without your being conscious of their activities. Those other neurons support millions of internal processes, without your awareness. This very moment, while you become aware of the significance of the words you read, you have no awareness of the complex multi-stage process, which converted the black pixels on this page into a meaningful concept.

While the impulses of one hundred billion neurons power the nervous system, current research points to a single organ, the claustrum, which acts as a “conductor,” which coordinates the highest cortical levels of the system. Thoughts "emerge into subjective experience" from the combinatorial firing patterns on the claustrum screen. The activity of this "screen" generates your conscious awareness. They create your awareness, just as concretely as the control panel of a power station grants you awareness of the essential workings of its major subsystems.

The Consciousness Soul Link - Your Awareness Follows
The consciousness soul link has a second component - soul. Let us call the "ghost who watches," the material soul within your mind, "PFR" (the Pre-Frontal Regions). When PFR is the soul, consciousness is its awareness. Awareness follows the processing. The brilliant experiments of Benjamin Libet uncovered those fleeting milliseconds of processing time by the rest of the brain before arrival of the awareness of PFR. He studied subjects who voluntarily pressed a button, while noting the position of a dot on a computer screen, which shifted its position every 43 milliseconds.

The noted moment of depressing the button was the moment of conscious awareness; the exact instant the subject thought the button was pressed. Each time, Libet had also timed the beginning of motor neuron activity in the brains of his subjects. He discovered that awareness occurred 350 milliseconds AFTER the beginning of motor activity. The processes had already begun before the subject thought he pressed the button. The conscious awareness of PFR was data about an action already initiated from the system. That time delay sharply indicates the tanglible existence of your conscious awareness, separated from the mechanisms of the system.

The Consciousness Soul Link - PFR Is A Wise Intelligence
In the consciousness soul link, PFR, the soul is historically young. There is a reason why some people suggest that animals do not have souls. The highest human level intelligence residing in the prefrontal regions of the human cortex appeared only after millions of years of evolution. It is a rational subsystem with substantially increased processing power, achieved through development of the outer layers of the cortex. The process transformed this, the investigative part of the animal brain, into a massive reservoir of common sense, with a wisdom which could comprehend the wonder of the universe.

The Consciousness Soul Link - The Triune Brain
In the consciousness soul link, the dispassionate soul, PFR, exists at the apex of your triune brain. Its evolution began millions of years ago, when nerve cells linked together to create life's early intelligences. Those simple networks of neurons, without specialized brains, originally controlled primeval animals through simple motor responses. Those lowly creatures merely moved about and swallowed, or expelled food. Those humble mechanical systems for survival developed into more advanced circuits in the reptilian brains of snakes and birds, motivated by the elementary pangs of hunger, anger and fear. Further developments led to the subsystems in the mammalian brains of dogs and cats, governed by more complex social feelings. These control systems compete. Being a part of this competing hierarchy of intelligences, your calm soul, PFR, your highest intelligence, is often overwhelmed by its primitive lower levels. At such times, you may complain "My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak!"

The Consciousness Soul Link - Competition For Control
In the consciousness soul link, the soul, PFR, competes with lower intelligences. Your computer has separate programs, which manage word processing and spreadsheet computations. They are groups of codes, located in different memory locations, which utilize the same circuits. Similarly, your mind contains coded memories, which can only be contained in cubic miles of 500 page books. It contains strategies from battles fought millions of years ago. It contains your experiences over a lifetime. It is a network, which accumulates knowledge and acts intelligently. It evaluates the world and will choose to be angry, or fearful. From its experience, it will deliver the best answer suitable to anger, or fear to solve the immediate problem. If fear takes charge, your words will be wary. If angry, you will speak sharply. If PFR takes charge, you will become reasonable.

The Consciousness Soul Link - The System Decides
The intuitive decisions of neural circuits switch controls between these entities. Thus “Free Will” is not the will of an ethereal soul, but the decision of one out of several control systems. As Libet discovered, the system makes your decisions and informs you. Your action will be the output of one of several powerful and competing intelligences. Lack of a free will may lessen your dignity, but relieves you of responsibility. Effective mind control is all about enabling PFR, your soul, to make your decisions.

The Consciousness Soul Link - You Can Recognize PFR
Lynda Buck discovered that when the olfactory network evaluates molecules in the air, its outputs are signals, which identify an odor. Similarly, the output signals of your somesthetic association region indicate recognition of a touched object. If that region is injured, you lose that skill. You will not be able to identify a pair of scissors by touch, with your eyes closed. You will still feel the scissors, but you will not know what it is. Your nervous system has myriad such recognition regions, which enable it to perceive and identify complex patterns of molecules as the smell of an orange, or as President Clinton. Just as you can identify an odor, you also know that it is your eyes, which reads these words. In the same way, the system can identify the “mystic” presence of PFR. Your prefrontal network can listen to internal signals and identify PFR. An awareness of your soul can enter your consciousness.

The Consciousness Soul Link - The Glen Kezwer Advice
With a little effort, your consciousness can become aware of the presence of your soul. Glen Kezwer advocated using your mind as a research lab to study experience. "The cost to the government exchequer and the people is nil, no research grants need be applied for, no progress reports are necessary and there is no need to be concerned about the renewal of funding. There is also no pressure to publish papers, technical reports or books on the experiment." Since the viewpoints in this website are original, it is recommended that the reader ascertain the claims made here based on the Kezwer experience. You can identify a pair of scissors by paying attention to it. So also, your attention can identify PFR.

The Consciousness Soul Link - How To Identify PFR
Lie down in silent darkness and pay attention to your body. Your kinesthetic system will inform you of the position of your body. Your sense of touch will give you a feel of the bed. No other sensations will be present. As you watch this silence, you will become aware of a silent observing entity, seeking to recognize any possible sensory input. At the highest level in the hierarchy, including your body, thoughts and feelings, become aware of an observing entity. It is constantly evaluating received patterns to recognize their import. That entity is PFR, which occupies your prefrontal regions as a massive recognition system, with access to your memories, sensory and emotional inputs and recognition messages.

Lying in the dark, you can exercise your ability to move your muscles, or direct your attention to any part of your body. You can ask a question and receive an answer from the system. As Libet had discovered, there will be a time lag. Your awareness of the results of your efforts follows massive processing by the system. PFR functions similarly within your nervous system, from the prefrontal regions. Unlike simple computer programs, PFR is an immensely wise intelligence, with its own thoughts, urges and longings. Its existence has been inferred for centuries. Ancient cultures speak of a particular viewpoint, a level of consciousness, which defined “This is who I am.” You too can discover the PFR within you.

The Consciousness Soul Link - Discovery Leads To A Still Mind
The great sage J.Krishnamurthi recommended watching your mind as the essential path to a still mind. The investigative role of PFR has a stilling side-effect. Myriad specialized networks compete for the attention of your mind. They recognize the impact of events to suggest alternate patterns of behavior required to meet threats and opportunities. Many emotions compete for control.

When you pay attention, neural channels highlight the focus of attention and still other activities. Being a key tool for survival, investigaton requires an unemotional approach. So, nature further stills emotional activity, when attention is directed to a new stimulus. When you watch your mind, PFR takes over and the system stills emotions. Just as emotions more often than not dominate your behavior, PFR, your soul, can take calm control. Since emotional signals have an urgent priority, the achievement of PFR control is difficult.

Historically, the Buddhists have learned to still emotions and have practiced the skill for centuries. They describe the achievement of a state, where the ups and downs of life appear to be as neutral as “birds in the sky.” People don't usually think that poverty, or sickness can feel like a "bird in the sky." Immersed in their emotional levels, they do not experience this view. But, the Buddhist description reflects the special state of mind of an PFR level of consciousness. When the amygdala, a lower animal intelligence, takes charge, you become angry. You are blinded by an angry level of consciousness. Only when the system is controlled by the PFR level of consciousness do you experience a calm common sense view of the world. If you are troubled by anger, or despair, discover "who I am," and truly know yourself. It is this understanding, which leads to peace of mind.

The Consciousness Soul Link - Give In To The Best Within You
Let your soul guide you. Across millions of years of history, nature largely mechanized your responses to situations; to caress gently with love, or to strike hard in anger. The ability of the system to categorize events and behavior with precise subtlety is its ultimate achievement. But a large residue of irrational impulses remain as a left over from past ages. Hope lies in stilling those absurd urges of the mind. When your mind becomes still, with PFR in control, your behavior follows a more rational path. The actions you take will be the best you can to achieve your goals. But, your soul is much more than your PFR. Nature has already created a potential for the best in humans through positive emotions. Nature is not a cold, calculating evolutionary process, but one, which has evolved concepts, setting the highest principles attainable by humans. When your PFR accepts the nobler emotions, you will not be a cold participant in the world, but a warm, compassionate and loving person. This website offers you a practical path to empower your soul!

This page was last updated on 31-Dec-2013

Tell Me Who I Am
Back in 1902, the great sage Ramana Maharshi offered his pupils a method of reaching an enduringly happy state, where there is no mind.
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Once, Decades Ago, I Tripped Over The Divine

For me, the flash of insight into the sublime happened way back in 1989. The vision stunned me with the grandeur of its simplicity. The startling prospect emerged from, of all things, an algorithm! Its potential flickered into my view by accident, while transferring a Prolog AI disease recognition procedure to a Lotus spreadsheet.  I had inadvertently reversed the logic of the Expert System, instructing it to eliminate improbabilities, instead of selecting probabilities. Such algorithms are just repetitive procedures. Cold and logical lines of code. But, they yield dependable results. Algorithms are just mechanical tools. But, this algorithmic code was unique.

The capability of the algorithm was that it could sift a Google sized database of connected facts to instantly recognize patterns. This was 10 years before Google started building its vast data warehouses. But, I knew the mind identified complex patterns when you just opened your eyes!  For the next few months, glimpses of probable neural accomplishments through instant pattern recognition kept waking me up at 3 a.m. I kept adding to the list on paper. The dots just kept connecting. Decades later, more possible links keep opening up new horizons - say, the seat of consciousness or the persistence of working memory. This algorithm could distinguish between good and evil. It could make us weep in anguish or gasp in wonder.  Could it be the fabled divine gift to life?

It worked in the mind. Gray's Anatomy was an exhaustive source and a starting point for me. Its 1500 pages listed the functions of virtually every mental organ. The algorithm could link them all into a single mind that could suture an artery, while recalling a tennis match. Starting at the input level, it focused your senses. The light from the heavens. The songs of the birds. The touch of a loved one. The fragrance of a rose. The taste of chocolate. We were blessed with millions of receptors, which flashed this magnificent perception of the world to the sensory regions of our cortex. There were association regions there, which could use the algorithm on this data to identify a pencil, or a word. We could separate the idea of a gun from the idea of a war in the abundance of incoming sensory patterns.

Object and event recognition. Algorithmic pattern recognition could act at every stage of mental processing. Things were happening all around us. There was a limbic system, where the algorithm could identify between good and bad happenings. It generated emotions. This mammalian region could drive us to attack in anger, or flee in terror. It was the limbic system, which held us in thrall. It filled us with despair, or tortured us in grief. It made us question the very meaning of life. Life was so unfair. Why did we have to suffer so?

Sadly, we lacked the capacity to naturally see our emotions and feelings. The limbic system was invisible to us. It was the algorithm, which caused the motor system to transform those emotions and feelings into actions. Hunger made us raid the frig. We went to work every day to avoid the pain of guilt. Love reminded us to pick up children from school. Hatred built the death camps. In the end, urges from the limbic system drove us out of Eden.

As a precious compensation, algorithmic pattern recognition ascended to higher levels. Our prefrontal regions gifted us with science and logic. Those skills enabled us to understand the vast structures of the cosmos. We built leviathans, which could sail the oceans and fly the skies. We explored the heavens. Our powerful civilizations conquered the continents and explored the cosmos. Even more, the algorithm also pointed us to the divine, which defied logic and definition. We sensed the order and beauty, which, like the laws of nature, existed from the beginning of time.

Pattern recognition dealt with subtleties. Reason and logic could not create great symphonies, or works of art. Why do we stand in awe of the sunset? Or find joy in a lilting song, or in the laugh of a baby?  Nerve cells recognized such patterns without our awareness and fired to initiate the skin tingling thrill. Who, but the Designer, could possibly want to hard wire us to thrill to the astonishing splendor of the design?

Over three decades have passed since my first glimpse of the truth. Like an ancient city hidden by forest cover, the vast and invisible city of the mind has many avenues linking its great palaces and temples. I also realized that those divine pattern recognition paths led to still spaces, untrammelled by the ravages of emotions and feelings.... Life was worth living! Even the great sages of the past advised us to still passions to empower the sublime within us. The divine stillness lives at the core. You too can find your home there.

The information provided in this website is useful for the modification of normal behavioral patterns. Please do get professional help, before applying the advice for the treatment of any abnormal behaviors. Copyright ©2008 by Ebbi Thomas. All rights reserved. This material may be freely published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.