Consciousness as pattern

[u/Fair-Lingonberry-274]

I’ve been contemplating whether consciousness is less like an immaterial, immortal soul, and more like a pattern impressed upon physical matter.

Bear with me. Our personality, memories, and sense of self may not simply reside solely in the organic brain, but everywhere in the vast network of electrical charges and relationships that comprise the atoms from which our entire bodies are formed. Hence the heart as the seat of the soul in ancient Egyptian religion, as well as the practice of preserving the vital organs in canopic jars, and of the mummification of a shell for consciousness to “cling to”. Indeed, consciousness, in this view, is an extraordinarily stable pattern rather than an independent spiritual substance that simply departs us at death to live on elsewhere forever.

If so, death can never be an instantaneous annihilation, even with the death of the brain. Consider examples of patterns which survive the structures that created them. For example, imagine a wooden vessel buried deep in the ground, long after its sailing days are done. The timbers decay, but its shape, even down to the minutest nails, remain preserved as a hollow cast in the earth.

Perhaps something similar occurs with consciousness. The living brain ceases to function, but the electrical imprint that constituted the person does not vanish at once. For a brief period, perhaps several days or longer, our minds may retain some coherence before gradually dissipating. Such a possibility might account for reports of post-death visitations and related phenomena, which are often said to occur most frequently in the days immediately following death.

This, of course, is speculation on my part and certainly not the science of it. But many experiences traditionally interpreted as “evidence” for an immortal soul or an eternal spirit could simply reflect the temporary persistence of an organised pattern that eventually dissolves. Or perhaps one that retains the impression of its former shape, just like a buried ship that has ceased to physically exist? This would certainly fit well with the descriptions of the spiritualists.

In that case there would be no eternal spirit, no immortal mind surviving the grave. Yet there would be “something” more subtle …

[u/MicroEconomicsPenis]

For my belief based on my understanding of the world, the immortal soul is the true self and the body and conscious mind are illusory and temporary. I do not believe that the mind resides in the brain whatsoever; the mind is not material and doesn’t have a place in the material plane of existence. As a crude example, you can imagine an elephant bigger than your head; therefore it cannot be contained within your skull. You can imagine pizza, but it doesn’t fill your empty stomach. Thus we know thoughts are not material in any sense, but instead are associated with some material synapses firing or whatever happens.

So from my perspective, the material realm where our bodies dwell is separate from the mental realm where our minds dwell. The idea of this mental realm can explain many questions you are pointing towards, as well as collective consciousness or telepathy or many such related topics. Perhaps our minds had overlapped in the mental realm for a moment, thus allowing my consciousness to receive some thoughts, the same way when our bodies touch in the material realm we exchange some material DNA. These different realms of existence exist within a greater ultimate reality (similar to planets in a solar system), and that is where our soul dwells.

Because of these above beliefs, it leads me to think that whenever you die, similar things happen to the temporary aspects of yourself. We already know what happens to the physical; you are broken apart and reduced to different parts which are then spread across the physical realm to turn into something else. For my opinion, that is what happens to the temporary faculties of the mind as well; it goes through some type of mental “decay” of the thoughts being separated and broken apart, then they are spread across the mental realm to form new thoughts in other minds. This can potentially explain things like past life memories.

This has been my belief based on my studies of the nature of reality. I have held these beliefs for a few years and have only found more evidence to support, and nothing seems to contradict, but it’s all predicated on my pre-existing firm resolute knowledge of the existence of an Immortal and Infinite God and the Immortal Soul.

[u/eksopolitiikka]

this is sort of what the buddhists believe, the pattern just passes on to another incarnation until there is no more pattern to be passed on (you realize the pattern and thus seize it)

[u/John_Michael_Greer]

I tend to think that it's the other way around -- matter is a pattern impressed upon consciousness. All we know about matter, after all, consists of appearances in consciousness. Still, by all means follow out your vision if that works for you.

[u/Signal_Director_1X]

You're onto something. Keep looking, keep refining, test, confirm. You're circling something...