by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground e-Magazine

Share your thoughts on the nature of consciousness in our forum!

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve pondered the nature of consciousness – so what the heck. Let’s do it.

Consciousness is a fascinating subject to me, because, like so much of what we explore here at Paranormal Underground, it is an intangible. There is the purely scientific explanation – that we are the sum of complex chemical and physical reactions. Can who we are and what we choose be explained by something so mundane as chemistry (insanely complex chemistry, but chemistry nonetheless)? Or is there more to it?

Then there is the more esoteric interpretation of consciousness – that we are something more than the sum of our parts, and there is a part of us that exists outside of our physical bodies. This view of consciousness leads to speculation about the very nature of the human soul.

The bottom line? Nobody knows. Data can be presented that supports both views of consciousness. I would like to believe that there is something more to me than chemical and physical reactions. Maybe I’m a romantic, but it just seems so cold, if that is all we are. I’d like to believe that I am more than the sum of my parts, and that there is an aspect to me that goes beyond the physical and rubs shoulders with the Divine.

There’s another aspect to this. If I believe that I am merely a series of chemical and physical reactions rather than a Divinely conscious being with free will, then do I also believe that those chemical reactions free me from responsibility for my choices and actions? At least if I believe in Divine consciousness, then I believe that I am responsible for myself, my life, my words, my actions, my choices. This is what I choose. To believe my life is my responsibility. Being at the mercy of my biology holds no appeal for me. If I believe that there is Divinity in my consciousness, then I will respond to the Divinity I see in the consciousness of others, as well. And if we can see the Divine in one another, then perhaps we will be driven to treat one another as Divine – with love, respect and kindness.

I choose to believe that I am something more. If that choice is just chemistry, then so be it.