Consciousness is a topic that commonly appears when we complain that something happened or we see something done, with which our value system does not agree, and we call unconscious those people who perform actions without taking into account certain predetermined or logical rules for it.
The word conscience comes from the Latin conscientĭa which means “with knowledge”.
The Super Illustrated School Dictionary (1998) refers as conscience to:
- Faculty of the thinking being by which he recognizes himself. Reflective and clear knowledge of things. Personal criterion of conduct.
Different authors refer on the subject:
- Consciousness consists of internal, qualitative and subjective states and processes of sensation or alertness. John R. Searle (2007) "Consciousness." There is no agreed definition of consciousness. But conscience means subjective experience, that is, the opposite of objectivity. In some writings conscience is considered synonymous with mind. But the mind includes unconscious mental processes, and can be defined as the functioning of the brain to process information and control action in a flexible and adaptive way. Francisco J. Rubia (2010) "Consciousness is the greatest enigma of science and philosophy." The capacity of the person, to be able to place himself first here and now, well located in time and space (time orientation). spatial), respect and know the temporal-spatial parameters;knowing about oneself (autopsy orientation) and the environment (allopsychic orientation). Mariana Sosa (2008, Chap. 3) “Semiology of consciousness. Disorders of Consciousness ”.
There is talk about perceiving the world and oneself, knowing about oneself, being present in the moment, allowing a cognitive state that helps interpret reality and interact with it, there is an answer from the conscious being.
The way we perceive the world is through our senses. It is necessary to understand that there is a possibility that our senses have deficiencies or even if they do not, the interpretation that we give is not precisely what others perceive.
An interesting point of view is the one given to us in an exhibition by the philosopher Doctor Dan Dennet, with the title "Consciousness, the tricks of the mind" (Spreading DD, Filmed Feb 2003). Where he describes that what is perceived is very little, apparently we see a lot, but the focal point of the person is almost so to define it the size of a thumb, a more descriptive way is: reaching out the hand, extend your thumb, you put your gaze on it, and what covers is your focal point. A definition of focal point is what the being can perceive clearly and consciously. This may explain why people who do not pay attention are actually present at the right moment and aware of what they are doing, but only in what their focal point detects.
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor talks at a TED conference (2008) on her topic My Stroke of Insight about the opportunity that a scientist like her had by surviving a stroke. And she explains her observations on the functions in movement of the brain, its scope and how the brain is gradually turning off.
It is a fantastic story about how the brain works, she tries to explain it as a neuroanatomist, making mention that the two hemispheres of the brain are like two different consciousnesses. The right side works in such a way that it sees everything as if they were photos or images of various dimensions and cannot define where it starts and where it ends. Feel the energy, colors, textures all the information that enters regularly through the senses. Jill observes everything through the senses without discerning what it is, to the degree that she does not distinguish herself from everything else, mentioning herself as an expansive being (as if she were a genie coming out of the lamp).
On the other hand, the left side is the one that structures and discerns, knows what it is, separates energy and all that the senses perceive, extracts information and defines, separating the individual from all, symbols, sounds, colors, shapes; in such a way that it structures them taking convenient and conscious information to define their reality using the memory of the individual and it is there where one can understand the language, the letters and in general the symbology.
The biggest problems we face are due to our inability to stay in the "Here" and "Now", to live life moment by moment. To achieve this, we only need to carefully observe and listen to what is before us. When we don't pay attention to the moment, we lose everything.
Rocher (2012) mentions it in his passage "Moment". No matter what your content is, it is all there is. “The entire universe begins, for the first and last time, at this moment. In every second there is life, and it occurs through this second of simple consciousness.
It is being in the present, it is like watching a movie frame by frame, where we understand each frame that happens is here and now, and we also understand it and clearly perceive what is happening. This is where it is crucial, because at the moment that we must realize something, we did not achieve it, it left us, we are already in another moment of which we will have to decide according to what we perceive and thus we will take our next step, whether wrong or right. This is how life goes, in the present.
Attending each moment is a task that does not make sense if it is not analyzed, in order to enter knowledge into our self-reflective consciousness. For this reason it is necessary to discern what is important and what is not. Developing a behavior that allows us to direct our perceptions towards what we consider necessary to interpret, would help to enter into our consciousness what is important to our reason.
For this, our minds generate models that are learning that they exist and that to a certain degree understand and rely on them to determine the importance of information. In addition, we must consider training ourselves to not lose focus, avoid distractions, and define up to what point the information is relevant, it becomes a necessary guide to enter the information to be processed in our consciousness.
It is a behavior in which the cognitive function that the brain performs to explain, solve, connect, relate and select what was perceived and what was paid attention, acts to align a concept, an idea, a link that can be understood.
Fuster (2003) wrote “This evolutionary process gave rise to consciousness. The critical step for higher order consciousness depended on the evolutionary emergence of parallel (incoming) neural connectivities between these structures and those areas that are responsible for the formation of the concept.
The knowledge developed during reasoning is linked to memory and everything that was learned at that present moment is linked to everything that was reasoned in the past, expanding knowledge in memory.
It is important to point out that this process is widely affected by the goals that the individual has, that is, it is driven by the desires or goals to generate a future. Hence creativity is born which is motivated by the desire to transcend.
Rocher (2012) Mentions that transcendence is an experience, of a reality in which everything is connected, we find the synthesis and the causes; the last step, the last goal, the supreme values of life. "We are faced with the need to change paradigms and find a way to transcend our ideology and find ways of harmony and ways of validity."
Transcendence lives in the consciousness of all human beings, in our principles and values. Knowledge and evolution over time set the rules that are accepted and that are necessary in the quest to reach a horizon that supports our physical and spiritual world.
In everyday language, an individual with a lack of consciousness is identified as someone who does not realize the scope of their actions.
Those people who live in a hurry, or have many activities, are people who due to their distraction do not perceive the information that their reality is showing them; and even in spite of perceiving it, they do not give their reasoning time to act, in such a way that it happens that they do not realize the scope of their acts, reason why they enter the group of the unconscious.
The important cases that can be differentiated in this group are:
1. Those who think differently from us
It refers to the values or principles are not aligned with their own, there are many explanations for this:
- There are different objectives: the evolution of culture, types of government, geographical situations, education, etc.
2. Those who live distracted
It refers to those people who, due to their lifestyle, culture, and form of education, are not aware of what is happening, therefore their awareness process is not carried out.
The importance of consciousness in current problems is that it has to do with the decisions and actions that we carry out on a daily basis, the values that I have added to my consciousness, the models that I have in my memory, the processes that I carry out to obtain information from My environment, my conduct to see myself as a conscious being, is what leads me to make decisions and carry out actions that transcend and when uniting them with those of our fellow men, lead us to the objective we have to transcend. And when we observe that someone does something different, it is conclusive on the part of almost anyone who attempts against society.
An outstanding proposal by Dr. Alfonso Ruiz (2011) to solve the multiple problems that are currently experienced, must attack the low level of consciousness of the individuals that inhabit the world.
He proposes:
- Modify the educational process seeing the person as the center of the educational process, and consciousness as the center of the person.Development of consciousness from school, through all Stages preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, university. of their own conscience, in addition to common subjects such as mathematics, languages, biology, chemistry, etc.
The current consequences of education by not considering consciousness as the center of the educational process of the person, is observed in professionals who end their careers without having an adequate knowledge of their being, without having a complete vision of what their needs are, not You know yourself, you don't know what you want, and you don't know how to build a life project.
It is about creating a self-reflective consciousness, which is one that can see itself and that can perceive the reality principle. It can discern that we are conscious entities and that we are conscious, that we have a critical consciousness that is what we make to the world and self-critical consciousness that is what I make of myself. It is there where we understand that what we live is not the facts but what the facts mean in our internal state of consciousness.
Dr. Ruiz (2011) defines the following structure to develop Self-Reflective awareness.
Dr. Ruiz, A. (Uploaded to Youtube 2011-03-02). «A notable Absence: You«
The process of awareness, serves to realize everything that is, everything that exists. Realize my existence, the existence of the world and to question myself.
Attentional processes are the helm of consciousness, it is knowing how to drive, direct your own consciousness.
The Cognitive Processes, arise when linking the processes of awareness and attention. It is the understanding of what I have noticed or what I observe, and in this way I am transforming my being and my world.
The lack of conscious management of attention focus is like the feeling we have all experienced of being and not being. The processes of awareness are canceled, the cognitive processes do not appear. Those same problems that happen in education happen in the house, the street, work, etc.
The memory process stores the knowledge acquired from reasoning and this is how all the knowledge that has accumulated lives in our consciousness.
The memory when interacting with the desire, represents the multiple possibilities that can be given in the future and gives way to creativity.
Creativity comes from exploring my being, exploring my world, it is a response to the analysis of critical and self-critical consciousness that results in creativity.
During contemplation, I realize that I am aware of being creative, and I have a sense of fulfillment.
Creating a life project results in development and personal satisfaction. Significant processes are defined and self-reflective awareness is achieved.
Considering which are the weak links within the structure of self-awareness, the activity of the teacher is facilitated.
The development to guide the attention of the conscience is decisive in the progress of the student and of the individual in general; On the other hand, desire and creativity must be a reason for study to create the student's competitive advantage.
It is necessary to promote and apply in our schools, from the first years to the University, studies dedicated to the processes of awareness and the attention process. This will achieve great potential to develop cognitive processes in class.
We must foster huge desires in students, desires that are in sync with values and principles that we respect; foster and develop creativity, and nurture the meaning of transcending, to motivate them to create a successful life project.
We are beings with intelligence, that we are changing and that this change is motivated by the meaning that transcending gives. The consciousness of the human being continues to evolve and distinguishes what must be created to achieve transcendence.
Works cited
- Super Illustrated School Dictionary. (1998). Norma.Dr John R. Searle "Consciousness" (2007). Francisco J. Rubia "Consciousness is the greatest enigma of science and philosophy (2010) Mariana Sosa" Semiology of Consciousness ", Disorders of Consciousness" Chap 3 (2008) Dr. Dennet, D. (Filmed Feb 2003). Awareness, Tricks of the Mind "The illusion of consciousness" Talks TED Ideas Worth Spreading.Dr. Bolte, J. (Feb 2008). A Look At My Stroke of Insight Talks TED Ideas Worth Spreading.Dr. Rocher, DV (Composer). (2012 03 28T18: 16: 58 + 00: 00). "Significance". Yucatan, Mexico.Dr. Fuster, JM (2003). Cortex and Mind. USA: Oxford University Press.Dr. Rocher, V. (Composer). (2012-03-28T17: 08: 19 + 00: 00). "Moment". Yucatan, Mexico: Universidad Anáhuac.Dr. Ruiz, A. (Uploaded to YouTube 2011-03-02). «A notable Absence:You »Talks TED Ideas Worth Spreading.
