Cognitive Science, Neuroscience and Meditative Consciousness
At the very outset, I would like to point out that these three sciences are profoundly linked, though meditative consciousness is a 'beyond science" affair. Why then do I categorise the latter as a science? It is so because meditative consciousness is the fruit of scientific methods. Let us go into all these three sciences and see how they are linked to each other and also why scientists have stopped with the first two only.
Cognitive science is related to cognition, that is, the mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and the senses. It includes intuition, sensation, idea and perception. The root word is cognoscere, 'get to know'. This leads us to the second word, neuroscience, which is defined as any of the sciences such as neuro-chemistry and experimental psychology, dealing with the structure or function of the nervous system and the brain.
To understand how these are related to the meditative state, it is important to know something about consciousness. Consciousness is consciousness! It is neither traditional nor modern and is independent of the brain, which is only a relay station or instrument through which we not only become conscious but also have perception or cognition. First of all, we have a mind, which is a grosser or lower level of consciousness. If I compare the mind to ice, then our consciousness can be compared to space, which is both one with and independent of the mind. However, consciousness is so subtle that it seems that there is no such independent entity. And the same thing applies to the min.
For science, mind or consciousness is an activity of the brain, while for the mystic or advanced meditator, the brain is activated because there is consciousness. The pineal gland is the centre from where the mind activates the brain. Some mystics believe that the soul is seated at the pineal gland because it is from there that the major communication of the brain is issued. However, this is far from being the truth as the soul, which is a deeper state of the mind and is of the nature of pure energy and pure consciousness, is seated elsewhere.
Descartes believed that the soul was clearly and specifically identified with consciousness and could affect the body by interacting with the brain's pineal gland. I have explained the process of consciousness in detail in my book 'Spiritual Experiences" (see chapter 'The Seat of the Mind').
Neuroscience and cognitive science are closely linked because cognition is, according to scientists, a brain affair. The amount of consciousness that reaches the brain through the pineal gland is so tiny that we hardly feel it and this is why we are identified more with our head, neck and shoulders than other parts of the body. All the known human conflicts and crises are created by this delusion.
As analogy, cognitive science can be compared to a software and its process in a computer, while neuroscience can be compared to the hard disc and its complexities. However, a human being is very far from being a machine; this is why from one angle this analogy is unfair. The meditative consciousness is beyond description due to its subtle nature. It is the same consciousness that leads to cognition and neuronal process. Without it, neither cognition nor neuronal activities can take place. Neurones become active only after receiving messages from the mind.
In meditative consciousness, the tiny consciousness that we actually are is increased to such an extent that we realise and experience that not only we are essentially consciousness, but even matter is fundamentally consciousness. With an increase in consciousness, the barrier between our conscious and unconscious states is broken and man becomes a wave of consciousness extending and merging with the cosmos. The optical delusion created by a fragmented consciousness is torn apart and the true nature of life stands revealed in all its beauty, splendour and grandeur.
At present, the meditative consciousness is only a potential in the individual, while the neuro-cognitive process seems to be the motor of human life. Without the meditative process, which is the science of meditation, it will never be possible to know that man is not like the particle located in time and space but transcends all limitations and is absolutely free.
Science talks about neuroscience and cognitive science, but I talk about the meditative science. Like science, it has a systematic approach, which is not based on doctrine, tradition and orthodoxy. The basis of cognitive science and neuroscience is no doubt consciousness, the same consciousness that you are right here and now. Just a little practice, which costs nothing, just some forty minutes to one hour per day can reveal the meditative state. If there is any paradise that has been lost, it is the meditative state. If there is any God or Kingdom of Heaven, it is the meditative state.
Ultimately, both cognitive science and neuroscience are like tips of the iceberg. The unconscious mind and the meditative state are like the extended part and the deep ocean beneath respectively. Who is willing to embark on this adventure - the greatest that can be undertaken by a human being?
