Can consciousness exist independently from the brain?

Question

To be more exact-can consciousness survive the physical death of the body?

To ask this question assumes that consciousness exists at all.

I have just watched a fabulous documentary in which Morgan Freeman narrated. The documentary was part of an American series called Through the wormhole.

The documentary centres around various people who believed they have experienced NDE's (Near Death Experiences).

I have always believed that consciousness is a completely different entity to the brain and this documentary only reinforced my belief.

Through the wormhole considered how consciousness came to be, what is it's function and ultimately where it goes after death.

Above all of the greatest philosophical and scientific questions; Is there a god/creator? What is the nature of reality? Are we alone in the universe? I believe that the nature of consciousness is the most intriguing.

What do you think?

Many thanks.

Chris (UK).

Answer 1

It does. Consciousness is an aspect of awareness and the capacity to 'know' that we know. Consciousness is the power that activates the brain, like the induction of an electrical current to create magnetism. This is why science has failed to detect the source of consciousness in the brain. It is a formless and all pervasive field, out of which existence appears. Within the individual, consciousness persists in degrees of awareness of the totality of all of existence, and can progress or regress (see Hawkins, Scale of Human Consciousness).



The examples of NDE's and OBE's, although subjective, demonstrated objectively throughout time and culture to be almost identical in every case. Consciousness survives the physical mortality, because it is nonphysical and not subject to creation and destruction, thus it leave the material existence and continues on to the nonphysical realms. To presume that the material existence is all there is is a misconception the mistakes appearances for essence. The material realm is only the superficial surface of existence, and is the result and after effect of the unseen formless reality it conceals.



If you're genuinely interested in the subject of consciousness, I recommend you read the teachings of Dr. David R. Hawkins, who goes into great depth on the topic. Transcending Levels of Consciousness and Truth vs. Falsehood are a good introductory in understanding the nature of consciousness. You can also youtube many of his lectures, interviews, and demonstrations.



Here is one of many clips you can watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A-ac77vTOo

Answer 2

Seems obvious to me that consciousness is not dependent upon the brain.

Plants have consciousness....they don't have a brain.

And I've experienced that thing they call NDE. I don't know why they call it that. Near Death? Not quite dead? What does that prove?



All I know is the abilities of consciousness are not limited to this 3d world, nor are they dependent upon a physical organism in order to exist. The abilities of consciousness are multi-fold.



It's function....is to be, to explore it's own nature and hone it's own abilities. Imagination is a function of consciousness. Some people imagine there is no life after the body. So it is for so long as they are in the body...then there's this other thing that happens.



We probably aren't alone in the universe. I suspect there is life out there. And I suspect the abilities of consciousness are part of what connects or disconnects us from realising that.

Answer 3

Can it? We don't know but there is enough literature on the subject to sink the proverbial battleship. To sum it up, there's anecdotal evidence but as yet there's no hard scientific support for it.



For a very long time it has been assumed in western philosophy that the brain creates consciousness, although how it might do so has never been explained. However, given that the brain has on the order of 100 billion neural connections in a cubic centimeter of brain matter, it seems as if it has to be related to consciousness in some way. Our physical senses are certainly part of our consciousness (called sense perception) and our memories are certainly part of our consciousness, but is there any part of human consciousness not connected to the mind or body?



Eastern traditions such as Buddhism believe so, in that death is considered to be the separation of consciousness from the body. This sounds similar but is not at all the same as the concept of a permanent, discrete soul as professed in Christianity. In Buddhism and some other Eastern philosophies there is one universal consciousness that pervades all. We all draw from it and we all contribute to it but the concept of self is only an illusion. At death the illusion of self (a discrete consciousness) disappears.



To give an analogy, universal consciousness is like an ocean. When you are born, you get a discrete bucketful of metaphoric water that is you, yet part of the ocean. To be more precise, the bucket is your body and the water is your consciousness. When the bucket dies, your consciousness is diffused back into the ocean from whence it came. It is no longer that discrete volume of water, but it still exists as part of the ocean of consciousness.



It sounds plausible to me.

Answer 4

'Materialism' is a long obsolete theory.

The brain neither manufactures 'thought' nor Consciousness!



"Consciousness is the ground of all being!" - Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics

One Universal Consciousness!

There is no point in the entire One Universe, ever, that is not Consciousness!

Consciousness is unaffected by the imaginary concepts of 'life' and 'death'!



Existence = the complete Universe = Nature = Reality = Consciousness = Truth = Love = 'Self!' = God = Brahman = Tao = ... etc....

ALL INCLUSIVE!!

'One'!

Answer 5

The belief in some sort of "soul" is very old and is an essential part of all religions. Unfortunately, there is no evidence whatever in support.



"Consciousness is what brains do." says the neuroscientist. The brain is a marvel of evolution, vastly complex...."The most complex stuff in the universe." Billions of neurons interconnected by billions of synapses... with dozens of neurochemicals at play.... Consuming enormous body resources.... Blood, heat dissipation, nutrition.....All to support consciousness.

How might consciousness be supported with "nothing"? How would memory and such be maintained? It's nonsense. Believers will make airy-fairy handwaves to "it's spiritual!". Right. Sorry, but the only way to maintain consciousness after death is to upload yourself into a computer.

Answer 6

Well........... it's sure going to be fun to find out. I suppose this leads directly to the "life after death" question - but nobody gets to go there until he dies.



Nobody had any clue as to what life is.... it's an energy form - and it's said that energy doesn't just go away - it changes form. So perhaps the psyche (energy - Greek for butterfly) will continue to exist after the brain is no more.



There's a fun book about life and what it might be by a physicist - "The Fifth Miracle". It gets a little deep sometimes.



There's also a terribly interesting book i just started called "Inside the Neolithic Mind" http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Neolithic-Mind-Consciousness-Cosmos/dp/0500288275/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421207802&sr=1-1&keywords=inside+the+neolithic+mind



Here psychology and archeology come together in a real hard headed little book about what our very ancient ancestors might have been like - and what concepts we share with them.



It's heavy, man.

Answer 7

I agree with you. It is definitely the most intriguing. And, how consciousness effects reality in wave function collapse. But, I think that the consciousness that we experience is only a product of all the living brains who are aware of their selves and their places in the universe, if even on a small scale. I think that if all humans were wiped of the Earth consciousness would be limited to the animals that appear to be conscious and eventually they would evolve to rule the Earth as the apex animal. Without consciousness the question wouldn't be "Does reality exist?" but "What would it matter?" a null question

Answer 8

Take a read of Thomas Nagel's "Mind and Cosmos".



There is a problem here that is being ignored by many. To understand "consciousness" it is necessary that we fully understand what "unconsciousness" is - and , just as a fish cannot "understand" what it is to be dry, we, at present, have no idea what "unconsciousness" means. Not surprisingly, everything I've ever read about "consciousness" presupposes complete understanding of it, either tacitly or more obviously, and this is a serious logical flaw.

Answer 9

It seems as if it can because when we die, our physical brain must die, and yet, our spirit leaves our body to return to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes). God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and He lives in a spiritual realm - that's why only our spirit goes there, because no flesh and blood which is corrupt, can inherit God's kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:50)



Everyone in heaven is conscious; they can speak and laugh and worship God etc. without their physical brain which remains in the grave. Once we get to heaven without our brain but in the spirit we will be judged (Hebrews 9:27).



Jesus Christ will be the judge according to Scripture (John 5:22 & 23) and we will be judged upon whether we have receive Jesus as Saviour, followed Him and obeyed His commands, or whether we have rejected His wonderful sacrifice for our sins.



The choice is ours whilst we live. Once we are dead it will be too late to change anything and hell will be the destination of all those who refused to believe in Jesus the Saviour who died for us. (John 3:18 and 1 Corinthians 16:22)



As the scripture makes clear, unbelievers are already condemned because we are born that way and need to change things willingly whilst we live. Unbelievers therefore are cursed - Anathema Maranatha (1 Corinthians 16:22) because he who believes and is baptized shall be saved. He who does not believe shall be damned (Mark 16:16)

Answer 10

Consciousness is always individual.Consciousness is just a part of our reality, Unconsciousness is also there. So there was not just consciousness in the beginning. Unconsciousness was also there, as much as consciousness. Or you can say that in the beginning something was there in which both consciousness and unconsciousness are involved.



That "something "is the meaning of God. God is not only consciousness: God is consciousness plus unconsciousness

Answer 11

I have read that a brain continues to function even after the heart is stopped. I think that a dead person's brain takes little time to stop it's functionality. During this period there is possibility of dreaming. I don't think that all people who had near death experiences have had these dreams. These dreams are just dreams, not real. Certain state of a brain can cause dreams.



This is a short form of my research based on my personal experience. A human being is always living with a group of spirits which have joined one by one since birth. Between creatures (including human beings) and God there are millions of invisible elements. There are divisions too. We are just robots made of different materials (flesh, bones, nerves etc.,) created by scientist God or eternal beings to entertain God. Each of us have memories like computers have RAM. The fed things (data= knowledge=several spirits or invisible elements) are in contact with the mind since childhood. A brain is a media to connect spirits to a human mind. In fact, all things (knowledge, skills, feelings, emotions, interests and everything) related to a human being lives with a human being in the form spirits. Even thoughts are not our own. One after another the spirits think and we choose (accept) or reject based on the knowledge we have possessed. If current (electricity) stopped the memory loses all data. This is with the computer. The same thing occurs to all of us. Computers are functioning by electric power but human beings are functioning by natural power. We call this as soul. This soul is nothing but simply the functionality of body. If this is stopped our memories lose all data (all spirits or invisible elements). These spirits leave the body and go to different places. No one lives in the form of spirit or anything after death. We are simply our bodies, the toys made for spirits for their games.



After death no one is going to be anything. Can you remember what all happened to you when you were a baby? You forget everything very soon. Even at the age of six, you don't know what happened to you when you were a baby. We are still new born babies. What you see in you, may be changes of intelligence or changes of behaviour, manners etc., whatever may be, are spirits - real spirits. That's why certain people during their deadly accidents lose everything and remains like a baby. During these accidents, the extremity of shock drives the spirits away from the body or contact. Their behaviour changes or go back to a level according to the number of spirits they have lost. After death all becomes nothing.



There is no hell or heaven for human beings. They are only for spirits. Spirits are separate elements. We are like other creatures except that we have an additional sense (sixth sense). This sense had changed only the living conditions of the human beings but not the fate. The fate is almost same to all creatures including human beings.





REINCARNATION

Reincarnation is a rare phenomena which is not possible to all. To form a reincarnation all spirits which lived with a body must possess another person together. Then only he/she can feel same thing of the demised person. But this is not happening because the spirits never stay together to haunt or possess another. They go to different bodies. Rarely there might have been certain cases but I think it had changed after some time. Spirits in their life time live with many bodies (one after another). Their memories sometimes affects the person. This is natural. This is not enough to believe that there is rebirth. No one returns after death. A human's life ends with a single body.

Answer 12

I do not think so myself. We are but particles and maybe after death we,(meaning our particles) linger awhile until the join the whole again.

But also beleif is a personel thing whatever makes you live comfortable in your own life is good.