«Thoughts»
THE PRODUCT OF
MOMENTARY NEUROLOGICAL PATTERNS (Neural Networks) formed by stimulating many different parts of the nervous system at the same time; involving most importantly the Neocortex, the Thalamus, the Limbic System, and the upper portion of the Reticular Formation in the Brain Stem. This is a concept that is often referred to as
The Holistic Theory of Thoughts.
«Consciousness»
THIS STATE could therefore be described as the continuous
stream of awareness of either our surroundings or of our sequential thoughts. Conscious retrospection, therefore, is not the retrieval of images, but the retrieval of what one has been conscious of before, and the reworking of these elements into rational or plausible patterns.
Consciousness requires both arousal and mental content. People disagree about exactly what consciousness implies. Some equate consciousness with self awareness.
Many consider it to be the activity of the mind, something supposedly More than just a function of the brain. Without consciousness, the human body only functions at the perceptual motor level, little better than an automaton.
Ancient Mystical Writings
have alleged that consciousness exists within a larger body of Consciousness; that thoughts are energy transmissions and that the Mïnd (individual and as a whole) is a transceiver, sending and receiving!
Try to imagine, if you will, a time when men spoke not of themselves or, perhaps, spoke not at all; a time when men spoke no words nor heard words, per se, for the words did not exist; a time when the individual did not recognize the nature of individuality; a time when all worked in unison for the benefit of one and all; a time when the "gods" spoke directly in orchestrating all activities; a time when knowing was an inner prompting, an intuitive guidance, and expression of instinctual urge, a sharing of thought without words! Is it difficult to imagine such a world where words, per se, did not exist?
Homo Sapiens Sapiens, until as recently as 3,000 years ago, were virtually automatons; lacking both a concept of self-fulfillment and a sense of the brevity of life. It is possible that in the early phases of the evolution of language, humans were caught off guard by the fact that they could speak to themselves. They heard voices inside their heads and called them gods. These gods told them what to do, and how to act. Their minds were divided into two parts: one executive part called God and a follower part called Man.
When writing and the other more complex human activities started, weakening the authority of these auditory hallucinations, this Bicameral Mind of humanity slowly broke down; giving way to that of a Mïnd ; with the capacity to value, aspire and reflect upon life experience, and thus what we call Consciousness was born!
The nature and origin of those mental qualities unique to humanity are dependent upon an active language system. The richness and characteristic flexibility of human behavior seems to be lacking in the absence of linguistic sophistication. It would follow, therefore, that the brain events experienced as conscious are the events processed by the language system of the brain. Hence, Consciousness depends on linguistic processes and the creation of an internal, metaphorical «I.»
In Ancient Times man spoke only to himself and his god (or gods) until his consciousness had evolved well enough to communicate with others. Civilizations existed without consciousness or consciousness of Consciousness!
So, are these voices from within the manifestations of paranormal activity, a birthright given by God? Or are they nothing more than the manifestations of schizophrenia?
The nature of consciousness - that awareness of a unique self - has long been the subject of controversy since man first considered his independent self as acting and interacting in the world. Without critical thought, the average individual is likely to categorize consciousness as merely being awake !
METAPHYSICIANS traditionally deal with consciousness in its higher form as an Altered State of Consciousness that somehow transcends the personal Ego consciousness but remains either as ineffable experience consciousness or consciousness of higher Consciousness, never actually treating what constitutes basic consciousness.
People have sought the seat of consciousness for centuries. In the 17th Century the French Philosopher René Descartes located human consciousness (or the Mïnd) in the Pineal Gland. In the early 20th Century neurologists placed it in the convolutions of the Neocortex. From there, achademic theorists re-located it to the Limbic System. Research now suggests that consciousness actually resides in an area of the Brainstem called the Reticular Formation.
Besides their main paths to the Neocortex, sensory nerves route branch lines through the Reticular Formation. Many of its cells supply the Thalamus. From there, other cells fan out around the brain: to the Hypothalamus, Corpus Striatum, Cerebellum, and other regions of the Neocortex.
Various types of stimuli fed to the cortex start the Reticular Formation firing signals at particular targets all around the brain, measureably altering electrical impulses from the Neocortex and arousing the brain's so-called Higher Centers . And so it would appear that consciousness requires both arousal and mental content: the anatomic substrate includes both the Neocortex, and the Reticular Activating System.
Microelectrodes implanted in the brain have revealed so-called
Novelty-Recording neuronal cells that fire only in response to new stimuli. Ten to 15 repititions at one second intervals are enough to stop responses by these neurons in the Brainstem's Reticular Formation - the area involved with general arousal. After that ten to 15 second period of repititive stimulation, the cells become Habituated to the stimulus.
Habituated neurons can be re-activated however by a strong, sudden stimulus, or even by a change in the frequency of the original stimulus. 
The Cerebral Cortex without the Reticular Activating System to drive it is like having a computer without a power source.
Without the Reticular Activating System's alerting signals, the brain falls asleep. Damage to this same system can produce unconsciousness. Irreversible damage causes coma, and sometimes death.
" The most complicated achievements of Thought are possible without the assistance
of Consciousness! "
A person can do more than one thing at a time, and most often does. Some things that he does are more automatic than others, and his attention is directed to the less automatized activities. Driving a car while carrying on a conversation with a passenger is just one example.
Consciousness is both active and receptive, as Paying Attention suggests. Hence, in approaching the manipulation of consciousness, it is important to keep in mind the processes by which experience is controlled: The voluntary-involuntary distinction, as well as the receptive aspects of being aware (ie. the Conscious-SubConscious distinction).
«Human consciousness is selective; it concentrates on some things and ignores others! »
Consciousness itself is not fully understood, let alone one of its artifacts: Perception. The human is extremely sensitive to a variety of stimuli that go consciously unrecognized. The brain does respond to information that the Mïnd is oblivious to.
«The Early Selection Theory»
A great deal of research has taken place around
Selective Attention and how information from the environment is selected into consciousness. Broadbent (1958, 1977) contended that only those aspects that are selected into consciousness receive processing for meaning in the
CNS. All other factors are disgarded before there is any understanding as to what those signals signify. With this in mind, a continuous effort of attention toward one source of information does not allow other sources of information to influence the nervous system if those sources require higher-level processing to understand their significance. This view is called "The Early Selection Theory" of selective attention.
«The Late Selection Theory »
The alternative to Broadbent's contention; proported by Norman (1968, 1976), it states: In-coming signals are processed in parallel, and only then are they selected into
Focused Attention for further processing or for action.
The late-selection theory of attention allows for simultaneous sources of information to influence the nervous system, based on the full knowledge store. Only then is entrance into focused attention gained by the feedback influence of ongoing plans and the pertinence of the information. Consciousness of an event takes place after the knowledge base has already interacted with the incoming signals.
Language can be comprehended and responses initiated before conscious processes are activated, in keeping with the late-selection theory. Hence, conscious processes are not always necessary for highly skilled neurological and preceptual activities, which include language understanding. Therefore, it is possible to understand and respond to a linguistic message even without awareness of that message.
«Human Ideas and Beliefs are essentially plans for organizing and structuring our Experience and World! »
ATTITUDES are continually organizing and framing the many experiences within our inner world. These attitudes are programmed into our psyche as unconscious Ideodynamic Templates which reduce incoming sensory information to Memory Engrams that are consistent with those ideas which we have previously held. No conflicting information is available to the conscious Mind unless it is of such an intense level, that it cannot be avoided.
When individuals isolate themselves within an inner world that does not provide unusual or unexplainable examples of experience, their attitudes do not change, because they are not challenged. Attitudes are not especially resistant to change, but are unlikely to spontaneously change if left unchallenged. Common potential challenges to an attitude are not usually consciously perceived, due to the filtering and framing aspect of the process of maintaining an attitude. However, a challenge to an attitude which becomes conscious is often perceived as some sort of threat to the Ego and consequently call Ego Defense Mechanisms into play.
In general, attitudes are those beliefs that are capable of generating certain emotions, which in turn affects behavior. Like self-fulfilling prophecies, the individual repeatedly experiences attitudinal beliefs as true. Attitudes define self-reinforcement matters and tend to exhibit characteristics of continuous reinforcement paradigms.
Continue To
Hûman Memory
Return To The
Hûman Mïnd
Now Available!
FREE ! ! ! "Trance Tracker Workbooks!" 
with
Personal Training CDs & DVDs on:
"Self-Hypnosis & Mood Elevation"
"Self-Hypnotic Learning & Study Techniques,"
"Self-Hypnosis & Creative Visualization,"
"Self-Hypnosis & Meditation," and
"Self-Hypnosis & Miracles!"
If you are interested Press 
Here and I will provide you with the necessary information!
a service of
Ther°al L.Bynum, M.D.
Dr.Bynum@HypnosisForYou.com®
last update: July - 2010.
For You.com®
Mÿth
