Science and Advaita - 6

July 9, 2008

Psychology

As we make use of our cultural expressions, we each depend on inner capabilities of intuition. Those inner capabilities are deeply individual. They are accessed and developed individually, through a reflective turning of attention back from outward perception towards inner judgement.

It is through outward perception that attention turns towards particular objects, in a differentiated world. As objects thus appear in particular, they are interpreted as differing instances of general principles that are more deeply recognized. That recognition is achieved reflectively, by each of us. It is achieved at an inner depth of intuition which each person accesses and develops individually, in her or his own mind.

Our intuitions work through an inner judgement of value. They work through an intuitive discernment of right from wrong, as expressed in good and bad qualities. An inner judgement is thereby implied in qualitative feelings and emotions, which motivate our thoughts and actions towards objects. Thus motivated from within, our minds turn attention from one object to another.

As each object appears, it occupies attention. It is then shown as a perceived appearance, which is interpreted and taken into understanding. Through this interpretation, our minds inherently reflect -- back into their conceiving thoughts, and further back into their intuitive judgements. In course of time, each mind works through a repeating cycle of expression and reflection:

The expression goes out from subjective consciousness, as some current state of understanding is expressed by feelings that motivate thought and action towards an object of attention. The object thus appears perceived, and the appearance is inherently followed by a reflection that absorbs it back in.

The reflection turns back from changing perceptions to continued knowing. The changing perception of an outward object is absorbed by a conceptual interpretation of thought and by an intuitive judgement of feeling. From each such absorption, there results some further state of understanding, in a learning process that is carried on through time.

As time proceeds in any mind, objects keep appearing and disappearing. But the knowing of consciousness stays present through the change. It stays present in the background of experience, while objects come and go at the changing surface of mind's limited attention.

Each mind is thus a mediating process. Through its repeated cycle of expression and reflection, it mediates between its inner background and its outward surface. Its inner background is a subjective consciousness, whose knowing carries on through change. Its outward surface is a changing stream of objective appearances, which are produced by the turning of attention from one object to another.

In the world that mind conceives, our senses show us different objects, in different parts of space. Thus different objects co-exist, in structures that are made of parts. But, in the process of each mind, there's no such co-existence. As mind's attention turns from one object to another, these objects appear one after another -- in mental states that replace each other, at succeeding moments of time. (For a diagram that represents this mediating cycle of expression and reflection, see figure 1 at the end of this posting.)

There is an essential difference here, between the external world and our internal process of conception. The world is made of structured space, where co-existing parts are related together in objective structures. Within each mind, there's only passing process, whose states occur in time alone.

In mind itself, there is no co-existence of any different things. Each moment brings a present state, in which all previous states and future states are absent. As each state of mind is experienced now, all previous states have passed away. And any future states have not as yet occurred.

This mental process is investigated in the science of psychology. Here, as we investigate our mental states, cause and effect is one-dimensional. Causation acts in one dimension only, from earlier to later states of time. Two states are known, one at a time, at earlier and later moments. They are known separately, each at its own time. And yet they are described as connected together, in a causal relationship that carries on through time.

What is this causal connection, which we experience in our minds? Given that an earlier state is never known together with a later state, how can we possibly connect these two states, so as to know that they are related to each other? In order to know that these states are related, there must be a knowing that stays present in them both. That knowing which stays present must be shared in common, by earlier and later states, beneath their differing appearances at earlier and later times.

That common knowing is called 'consciousness'. It is that knowing principle which is found always present, throughout all change of mental states. Each state of mind expresses it, as it stays present through them all. It is their common principle, found differently expressed as each one of them appears.

In course of time, these states of mind get modified. As mind's attention turns from one object to another, our mental states keep on expressing consciousness. They each express that consciousness in their own different ways -- which are experienced through a variety of changing perceptions, thoughts and feelings. Each state of mind may thus be described as a modified expression of unchanging consciousness. As the expression is renewed repeatedly, a changing stream of mind appears, displaying a succession of perceived and thought and felt appearances.

Here, in this changing stream of mind, causation may appear deceptively. At first it seems that cause produces its effects through time, but this is not quite true. An earlier state of mind has no direct effect upon a later state. In order to connect two different states, there has to be a reflection back -- into that one, same consciousness which both of them express.

As an earlier state is absorbed back into consciousness, it must leave an after-effect which stays present there, beneath the change of mental states. Such an after-effect must continue then in underlying consciousness, beneath the changing surface of the mind. It must continue as a dormant potency, like a seed that is buried in the ground. Thus it stays hidden quietly, until it is stimulated to appear later on, like a seed that sprouts forth into a growing plant.

All causation in our minds is carried thus, by absorption into hidden seeds of potency. Each seed is an internal conditioning that has been left behind, by the appearance and absorption of some previous mental state. In Sanskrit, such a seed of conditioning is called a 'samskara'. The conditioning remains absorbed internally, in underlying consciousness, until it emerges through some later state that brings it to expression at the changing surface of appearance.

As these seeds of conditioning become absorbed, they get accumulated into character. But as they emerge into appearance, they are found expressed, in various ways that may add to the accumulation or reduce it. On the one hand, a person's mind may be expanded, by developing additional capabilities. Or on the other hand, a person's character may be refined, by removing unwanted tendencies.

The science of psychology may thus proceed in two directions: either by expanding mind through practices of meditation, or by refining character through ethical and motivational discernment. In either case, causation has to be understood reflectively. It has to be understood as acting from a changeless depth of consciousness, beneath the changing surface of our minds.

Through meditative practices, the mind reflects from its superficial perception of particular objects to some deeper intuition of more general principles. As meditation thus develops intuition, it penetrates to underlying principles, which are found shared in common by more superficial objects. Each principle is thereby understood as a common cause, beneath its particular effects in many different instances.

Through ethical and motivational discernment, the mind reflects from superficial emotions of changing desire to deeper judgements of more lasting value. Each such value is then understood to function as a common principle of motivating cause, beneath its particular effects on many different occasions.

Whether through meditation or discerning value, psychology reflects into a depth of mind where conditioning has been absorbed from passed states into a person's character. It's there that general principles are intuitively recognized, and there that lasting value is more deeply judged.

That depth of mind is often called the 'unconscious'. But this description needs to be qualified. It refers to a depth of insight where mind is not conscious of external objects. What's here described is a pure consciousness that must be experienced inwardly. It can only be experienced by an inward reflection, from outward objects into underlying principles found deep within our minds. At that depth of insight, it is objects that are found to be absent. There, consciousness is present on its own, quite unmixed with any objects of perception, thought or feeling.

Ananda

Figure 1 -- Expression and reflection