The concept of awareness

The concept of awareness is essential to understanding the human position in evolutionary time and our responsibilities as the most aware species on the planet. The Egyptians mistakenly attributed the center of awareness to the heart and carefully removed and embalmed it for use in the after life while the brain’s sole purpose was believed to be to produce mucous and was sucked out and discarded. We now know that awareness is the product of synaptic activity in the brain. We are learning more about brain function with every new tool invented to trace and measure its activity and we no longer dispute that it is the organ responsible for awareness. Signals from our sensory and tactile organs lead directly to the brain for interpretation and response and once there, they record their passage and leave open the most used and successful response paths and dim those resulting in inappropriate or injurious responses. Awareness is the ongoing mixing of sensory inputs with learned and genetic synaptic paths. From this simplistic overview responses by any living form would seem to be mechanical and predictable but this is not what is observed. From even the simplest of multi-cellular forms complex states of awareness have evolved in concert with the evolution of complexity in shape, function and form. Evidence for this early connection between form and awareness exists in all single celled organisms. Some respond to light, some to vibrations, some to changes in temperature, and some are tactile. Single celled organisms were the only living forms on earth for most of its evolutionary history and they developed sensory complexities long before the advantage of joining into groups of cooperating cells began their random testing’s against changing environments. One of the best examples of early awareness, and its relationship to more advanced states of awareness, is the amoeba. Amoebae are propelled by many cilia along their perimeter and move and change directions quickly as they move about in a drop of water. Under a microscope they appear to be choosing a new direction every second as if making decisions, and in a way they are, but not in the way we think. An amoeba’s cilia beat in concert until it runs into another amoeba or an object where its cellular wall dimples inward at the point of contact and the electrical differential between the outside and the inside of the amoeba’s cellular membrane reverse polarity. The cilia in the dimple respond to the change in polarity by reversing direction and steer the amoeba away from the obstruction. The amoeba has reacted to a tactile input with an electrically directed response, much the same as synaptic responses in a complex brain offers a choice or directs a response in a multi-cellular form. Seeing an analogous starting point for the evolution of awareness allows us to envision and trace the continued natural selection of advancing states of awareness from simple and mechanical to extremely complex states. It is a natural progression of an essential survival benefit from bacteria to man. Awareness is evident in every living thing to some degree and has become, within evolved organs with billions of synaptic possibilities, an organ allowing choice, inventiveness, and self recognition. Evolved awareness has become a power beyond the simple manipulation of fin or limb and has extended itself to a control over matter and energy through mechanical extensions of its sensory capabilities and mechanical extensions of bodily capabilities. Many words carry concepts similar to the concept of awareness but are not adequate to explain it and cloud a true appreciation for this evolved wonder by carrying within them egocentric and pious preconceptions these words mislead us. Words like; intelligence and cognizance are valuable as limited measuring concepts for separating classes of humans and animals but are often misused. Awareness, when understood as a natural, expression of all living things unites us with the reality around us and makes our responsibilities as the most aware animal and the result of billions of years of testing and growth, clear. We are not so separated from other forms of awareness on our planet that we can declare ourselves rulers of all things. We are as dependent upon a stable planet and the rest of life around us as we have always been. Whenever you exchange glances with a bird on a limb or hold a small insect in your hand with respect you are sharing an aware moment. The sharing is what will sustain us.