Consciousness and a Bee's Death

[Pana]

In this weird and wonderful odyssey that having a brain tumour has afforded me, I occasionally stumble upon and get wrapped up in these metaphysical moments that I am never able to find an answer to. No answers and only more questions that set me off in another direction.

My latest one was yesterday, in my back yard, watching a bee die. I have tons of bees hanging out with me as I intentionally planted all native flowers in my backyard. I have a little patch where I do my yoga and have a fire pit but the rest is flowers and garden. I was watching the bees go from one flower to the other when my attention was drawn to one that crawled under a flower. I watched it for an hour ( uh, huh, I have a lot of time on my hands) while it went through it's death throes or spasms.

The thing that struck me all throughout this was out of everything that was happening in the natural world around me, I was the only one that was aware and understanding of everything. In other words, I was Conscious.

This caused me to look up Consciousness and I was surprized that there is no one theory to explain it neither is there a way to prove it's existence. BE might correct me here and I would welcome it, but I'd like to open up a discussion on it cause it really blew me away. It seperates us from everything through awareness but at the same time really connects us to everything.

[Egg]

We don't even know for sure where consciousness originates?

The brain? Doubtful. Is the brain nothing more than an antenna? Is consciousness being beamed down to us?

[Egg]

I also wonder if we're the only ones conscious (not the plants and bees and other living things around you) or the only ones who don't understand what is going on around us...

[Pana]

Egg, I would maintain that the higher mammals (i.e.: apes, dolphins, whales, etcetera) have consciousness. While thinking about this yesterday, I also was fascinated / thought of how language forms/shapes/communicates our consciousness. We can name things, understand concepts of things. The higher mammals seem to have a language as well.

Language seems, to me, linked to consciousness.

[Cartoonsyndicate]

I'd say there is only one conscious principle in all of existence. I call that principle "God." And inasmuch as we share in it... well that may be the best point of departure for the discussion. Martin Heidegger, the great philologist was fascinated by the connective associations of certain words. His analysis of "denken ist danken" (to think is to thank) comes the closest to my own thoughts as any- even surpassing Descartes' "cogito ergo sum" in it's majestic simplicity. So in that case, Panotia, your immersion in the last moments of the dying bee was a high meditation- a gift to your God. And She thanks you for that.

[Egg]

Egg, I would maintain that the higher mammals (i.e.: apes, dolphins, whales, etcetera) have consciousness. While thinking about this yesterday, I also was fascinated / thought of how language forms/shapes/communicates our consciousness. We can name things, understand concepts of things. The higher mammals seem to have a language as well.

Language seems, to me, linked to consciousness.

there's a great sci fi book written by one of the great sci fi writers of the 60s (Heinlein) called "Stranger In A Strange Land". The story revolves around what you've just said. Without giving the whole thing away - Martians are super powerful, what makes them super powerful is the language they use as it determines thought process, when we humans learn their language we become super powerful.
I agree with what you've said - I believe mammals do have higher consciousness than the other species.

[lkwalker]

All actual entities are conscious. It's the animating force in existence. What good evidence would lead us to conclude otherwise? Here- let Dylan Thomas explain it...

THE FORCE THAT THROUGH THE GREEN FUSE DRIVES THE FLOWER


The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.
The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman's lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.

[IndicusMaximus]

Consciousness is weird, man. Lately almost all of my dreams have been lucid dreams where my consciousness expands and I am not even human anymore.... but the funny thing is that no matter how much my consciousness expands to include more and more things, I absolutely cannot affect the free will of another individual.

I remember having a couple of dreams where I actually had to work really hard to wake up. Like the layers of the dreamscapes were really solid and well defined, and I knew I had to find a way to the upper layers and wake up or I might never wake up again. Those dreams were kind of freaky.

[lkwalker]

Life is a highly strange adventure. No doubt.

[Egg]

Animism.... Yes, I believe everything has a certain level of consciousness. The more yearning, the more desire, the higher the consciousness.