Note: This is an extract from the blogger's book,( pages 48,49,50 and 51) 'Is Reason a sense organ? A super-mind above the known mind?( book can be searched by title from Google, or from Amazon.com)
The author attempts to analyze, whether true knowledge or insight into existential reality ever possible for man. Has nature instilled any special knowing mechanism in man to undertake this exercise? Can Ego, man's usual entity in the world, 'transcend' itself and turn a better knowing entity?
The author attempts to analyze, whether true knowledge or insight into existential reality ever possible for man. Has nature instilled any special knowing mechanism in man to undertake this exercise? Can Ego, man's usual entity in the world, 'transcend' itself and turn a better knowing entity?
How
does Ego know of itself? The possibility of multiple ENTITIES within man,
the knowing subject! (Is TRANSCENDING self beyond EGO possible?)
We, humans, are conscious
of our own unique entities among other similar entities. How has nature ensured
this self-awareness? Who is the subject within, that perceives its own 'self', as an
objective entity? What entity existed within Emmanuel Kant that
had made him capable of observing the PHENOMENAL nature of the mind, while
remaining within the limitations of the mind that he found? How can an eye know of itself, and a mind observe itself?
Kant's brilliant act of observation that the mind cannot cross the barrier of
PHENOMENA was definitely NOT within the limit of man's thinking faculty that he
himself had observed and admitted. Obviously, Kant had transcended himself into
a different entity other than his EGO, to make such an observation.
He talked
about transcending man’s experiences. But what really takes place in the act of the self, 'transcending' itself?
Reason as
a faculty cannot observe such hidden relations beyond the PHENOMENA while it’s
in the possession of the EGO. Hence, this study would like to propose that man can
transcend himself as altered 'entities', which uses REASON as a distinct organ,
for acquiring knowledge, in ways different from the usual subject-object method
of the mind, and its owner, the EGO!
This process of humans developing from
the body only entity in the beginning, (animals live in the same sphere even
today) to an EGO centered entity today (a stepping up from the body-centered
stage) and the just observed ability of few select humans transcending themselves
into yet another newer ENTITY with wider realms of knowing, is indicative of
the final destiny, and possibilities that await humankind.
Reason
could find itself to be a potential organ in the possession of such transcended
entities for gathering knowledge in a manner unfamiliar to the mind. Like the
eyes observing some truth and describing it, Reason too, in its capacity as a
SENSE faculty could simply watch and describe what it observes, forming new
dimensions to the act of gaining knowledge. Here the classical method of
acquiring knowledge by the mind and then sharing it with others would
naturally take a beating.
When mankind as a whole realizes
such a possibility of transcending oneself beyond the Ego level, acceptance of
knowledge gained through the new medium would also gain larger mainstream
approval.
As we have discussed, objective
realities are widely 'shared' subjective observations or inferences. Sharing with others
makes a real difference. Hence, when the possibility of man transcending himself to higher stages of knowledge is shared in the mainstream world, what
awaits man is a new world, with newer relations with each other, sans the
(selfish) obsessions of the EGO. Such transcending could be understood as
the first sign of a new spirituality for any human.
A new social order is very well possible
A 'new social order' where everyone gains a new self-image ( sense of self) and everyone behaving in an altogether new way with everyone else is in the offing.
A new society might not be possible with innovative laws, new economic and political systems, etc, enforced from outside, but it is possible if individuals change themselves in the above 'spiritual' manner.
If Reason is accepted as a 'sense faculty' and man starts living with it in his transcended state as explained above, a new world certainly will emerge.
A new social order is very well possible
A 'new social order' where everyone gains a new self-image ( sense of self) and everyone behaving in an altogether new way with everyone else is in the offing.
A new society might not be possible with innovative laws, new economic and political systems, etc, enforced from outside, but it is possible if individuals change themselves in the above 'spiritual' manner.
If Reason is accepted as a 'sense faculty' and man starts living with it in his transcended state as explained above, a new world certainly will emerge.
In short, we could put
it this way for more clarity, that Reason, when used by the ENTITY
-EGO- gives out only PHENOMENAL reality. But when the unit, human, transcends himself by discarding the ownership of the EGO, he becomes a different entity altogether, who could use Reason as his NATIVE faculty for gaining knowledge. In this mode, Reason acts like any other sense faculty, illustrating the depths of the issue that one seeks. This was how great humans of the past achieved coming-out often with astonishing findings pertaining to their fields of study.
The task of sharing such findings with their fellow humans and the world at large is a greater task than the former. Here, such exceptional humans have to use LOGIC, the art, and science of associating his base findings with an already existing truth (universals) and then explaining the relation of his findings with such universal truths, to convert the finding into an acceptable law. Here, he uses logic to convert his subjective vision into a 'collective subjectivity', or an objective truth in the newly acquired status.
-EGO- gives out only PHENOMENAL reality. But when the unit, human, transcends himself by discarding the ownership of the EGO, he becomes a different entity altogether, who could use Reason as his NATIVE faculty for gaining knowledge. In this mode, Reason acts like any other sense faculty, illustrating the depths of the issue that one seeks. This was how great humans of the past achieved coming-out often with astonishing findings pertaining to their fields of study.
The task of sharing such findings with their fellow humans and the world at large is a greater task than the former. Here, such exceptional humans have to use LOGIC, the art, and science of associating his base findings with an already existing truth (universals) and then explaining the relation of his findings with such universal truths, to convert the finding into an acceptable law. Here, he uses logic to convert his subjective vision into a 'collective subjectivity', or an objective truth in the newly acquired status.
Not only Emmanuel Kant, but many other great souls like him had succeeded
in transcending their selves to higher realms for coming out with fantastic
observations and conclusions. The great scientist Albert Einstein had said as follows, after the public’s acceptance of Quantum mechanics:
"Quantum mechanics is very impressive. But an ‘inner voice’ tells me that it is not the real thing. The theory produces a good deal but hardly brings one closer to the secrets of the old one. I am at all events convinced that He (God) does not play dice".
This inner voice was definitely not from his usual mind, a prisoner behind the walls of 'PHENOMENA', but his transcended SELF could use Reason as his native knowledge gaining organ. This claim doesn't mean, that whatever one infer with his REASON faculty will be absolute truth. But when such versions of many humans become part of our language and discussion platform, it offers a better epistemological source for us.
"Quantum mechanics is very impressive. But an ‘inner voice’ tells me that it is not the real thing. The theory produces a good deal but hardly brings one closer to the secrets of the old one. I am at all events convinced that He (God) does not play dice".
This inner voice was definitely not from his usual mind, a prisoner behind the walls of 'PHENOMENA', but his transcended SELF could use Reason as his native knowledge gaining organ. This claim doesn't mean, that whatever one infer with his REASON faculty will be absolute truth. But when such versions of many humans become part of our language and discussion platform, it offers a better epistemological source for us.
As
said above, raising oneself above the EGO realm of knowledge is the primary
step towards a universal spirituality. It will happen with every seeker of truth
either today or tomorrow. It can also be observed that the PHENOMENAL veil on
existence as a whole, as a single object, gets at least partially removed when
one ceases to be an ego entity in the above sense. The very realization that the ego sees only ‘phenomenon’, enables one to get free of its catch. One starts getting enabled to live a life closer to
the 'IN ITSELF' way, that nature has intended it to be.
From the above observed
subject-object principle for the emergence of entities, we have learned how Ego
gains ENTITY on the principle of 'ownership' of experiences, besides the
strength of the existence of similar entities around, which is based on the simple logic of ‘YOU ARE, HENCE I AM'. Fichte called this process of the emergence of EGOS, by the name "INTERSUBJECTIVITY'.
But how is a human able to
perceive his own ego as an external object, and learn about its features and
characteristics as per the questions we have raised earlier? For objective
observation, there should be a subject, existing external to the object. Who is
such a subject here? After the elevation of the science of Psychology to a
certain level of acceptability among other sciences, Freud's Ego concept has,
however, gained some kind of a scientific sanctity. But this existential
question of what 'self' of man perceives EGO as an object has not yet gained
any popularity among philosophers and psychologists. Though religions and
spiritualists attribute this role to the human SOUL, more a non-worldly concept, the scientific world is silent on this subject. ( perhaps, out of contempt?)
Every one of us is
aware of this hidden self within, who often watch our social 'self’ (ego) as a
separate entity. Often there arise internal conversations between these
two internal entities or selves, known as self-talk. Most of our 'thinking' act is such conversations (or self-talk) between these two different selves within.
The keen observer must
have noticed that such conversations are always initiated by this mystery self,
not the EGO because the ego is not even capable of perceiving any object beyond
the realm of the external senses. Hence, this one is definitely a self, located above the Ego, which relates itself to realities beyond the sense world. This
hidden self is an entity that grows out from the ego, like the youth-stage
grows out of man's adolescent stage. As a child is absolutely unable to grasp
the intricacies of his own youth-stage or adolescent stage, Ego too is unable
to know its next stage, namely the ‘SELF’. It seems a natural internal
development in every man's internal life, like a youth turning into a middle-aged man of wisdom, naturally in the due course of life.
Hence, the practice of
philosophy and other pursuits of knowledge in treating humans as a universal
passive OBSERVER, demands rethinking. The
two different entities within man make two different observers, and subjects.
The second one is located at some realms outside the phenomena, hence it is
able to observe EGO and its realm of experience as mere phenomena.
Furthermore, in the ultimate analysis, it becomes evident that any form of
knowledge is possible only as SUBJECTIVE impressions of some kind of ENTITIES.
These impressions serve the purpose of mere MATERIAL for constituting these
ENTITIES.
The 'in itself' reality is,
ultimately that of the RELATION among the entities. Ultimate reality is not a
THING, or an OBJECT, or a SCIENTIFIC FORMULA. It can only be a RELATION, the
ultimate EMOTION that glues existence together. The reason, man’s mysterious sense
organ is capable of receiving or say, SENSING such existential emotions
directly, when nature so wishes or the transcended entity of man seeks it out
from the source of existence. Remember, at such moments, when a human opens up to
receive extra phenomenal signals, he is not a typical EGO, but a transcended
entity, a non-participant in the phenomenal world, at least temporarily.
It could be sensibly believed that
Nature/God has a special interest in humans developing into such stages of ‘sensing’
the emotional content in existence, considering the extreme urge for truth inherent in
human beings. As we have already observed, the urge for scientific pursuits is
also nothing but an urge for knowing the ultimate truth. The rest in routine
life are all ‘phenomena’, serving the purpose of catering to the above main
objective of existence, the emergence of a primary entity, ego.
As detailed in the blog link: http://thewhyquestionofexistenceanswered.blogspot.in/ an element of CREATIVE CHOICE is self-evident in every aspect of existence. The design of the leaf of a papaya plant
could have been a thousand and one other designs and shapes. The hexagonal
shape of the bee-hive could have been spherical, or square! These design choices
explain no logical relation with any evolutionary necessity, hence, these self-evident elements of creative-choice point towards an emotional content in the scheme of
existence. It points towards a universal MIND, which is conscious of
itself.
Humans might possess special 'experience buds' within him to relish such
future experiences of this existential emotion; however, one could safely
presume that this occurs at evolutionary maturity in the future!
Authored by: Abraham J. Palakudy
He is a researcher and seeker into subjects like Mind&Reason, Metaphysics, Spirituality, self, and world, and also Polity and democracy
Twitter: Voice of Philosophy@jopan1
His profile and other blogs: https://www.blogger.com/profile/14249415589712707293
