What is Deus Ex Machina?
The original meaning of Deus Ex Machina is the god in the machine, or god from the machine. It refers to the machine, or crane, that was used to lower an actor depicting a god onto the stage in a Greek drama.
Frequently the god would appear suddenly and provide a resolution to the dramatic crises that were the subject of the play, although not always…
Deus Ex Machina as Divine Intervention
Over the time, deus ex machina came to mean “unexpected salvation”, that could be as a result of divine intervention or at least a solution that appears out of nowhere to resolve a problem.
In this article we are redefining deus ex machina, the god in our machine, as consciousness.
This content of this article is written from personal experience and to that extent I am qualified to say what I say, but I am not trained in science or mathematics nor am I fluent in metaphysical discourse.
The sole purpose of this article is firstly to offer a personal, experience-based perspective on consciousness and secondly, to offer some potential ways of exploring, living with and developing your connection and relationship with consciousness.
Finding Consciousness via Enquiry or Experience?
What are the most appropriate tools for understanding consciousness?
1. Thought based understanding about consciousness
Knowledge based on enquiry about consciousness – using reason and logic, scientific method i.e. systems of acquiring knowledge that use observation, experimentation, and replication to describe and explain natural phenomena.
2. Experience based understanding about consciousness
Knowledge based on experience of consciousness – using noetic understanding from the Greek noÄ“sis/ noÄ“tikos, meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding…
“… states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule they carry with them a curious sense of authority… ” [William James, philosopher]
Observations:
The traditional scientific and metaphysical approach to understanding consciousness is via Method One, it is thought based and uses intellect, rationality and logic etc.
But, what if consciousness can’t be fully known or understood using the faculties involved in scientific method?
Thought experiment:
Imagine if you were invited to attend a concert by a world famous performing artist in a genre you are unfamiliar with – let’s suggest a performance of the ballet “Swan Lake” by the (Russian) Royal Bolshoi Ballet company performing at the Royal Opera House, in Covent Garden, London.
For the purposes of this experiment you are deprived of all your senses except touch. You can hear nothing, see nothing, smell nothing – all you have is the sense of touch.
I meet you after the event and ask you to describe the experience…
What are you going to tell me..?
Consider the following:
# Conscious thinking is limited.
Human intelligence has serious limitations
# Our educated obsession with words ensures we confuse being informed about with having experience of.
We confuse the world as-it-is with the world as-it-is-thought-about and described.
We’re like a person eating the menu instead of the meal.
# The double bind of language and articulation.
For everything we gain by being able to verbalize and articulate a direct experience, we lose an equal if not greater amount of the full meaning of that experience by the very process of articulation.
This lost meaning becomes exacerbated as the words we use to describe something are always heard or read within a context, a framing, a belief and a language.
# The erroneous view that thought can encapsulate reality or truth.
Dogmas – religious, political and scientific, all beliefs – arise out of the erroneous belief that thought alone can encapsulate reality or the truth.
# If we shift our focus to the meaning that lies behind or beyond the words:
The meaning that transcends the words.
The meaning that can only be fully grasped by experiencing it… then everything changes and divisions and barriers evaporate as we move beyond belief.
What if Method Two is the only way we can access knowledge of consciousness? What if we can can only know consciousness by experiencing it?
Closing observations on finding consciousness:
# Science and Experience are not mutually exclusive.
# Rationality and scientific method – can be applied to the experience of consciousness.
# Is there a Method Three – a way of combining both methods in a sequence that is most appropriate to the situation being researched?
In the same way that the social sciences use qualitative research methods as well as the “hard science” quantitative methods, can there be a modality of research into consciousness using noetic insights based on experience?
Thus a “multi-modality” methodology could be applied to research into consciousness in this sequence:
- Noetic insights based on experience of consciousness.
- Qualitative research into these insights and experiences.
- Quantitative research into aspects of the qualitative findings, where this method can be applied.
Taking this one stage further, does this “multi-modality” approach to consciousness offer us, as non-specialist lay-people, a practical and balanced approach to expanding our experience and understanding of consciousness?
Building Relationship With Consciousness
As a way forward, I propose the following guidelines:
- You accept that the true nature of consciousness is unprovable both in terms of objective reality “out there” and subjective reality “inside you”.
- Accept that we will never categorically get a definitive handle on the truth about consciousness and reality – so if you can accept this, then approach this in an experimental frame of mind.
- Adopt the middle path and try to maintain a balanced approach between rationality and spirituality in understanding and engaging with consciousness.
- By middle path, I mean not being drawn into extreme positions on the reductionist/hard science perspectives on the one side and the “woo woo”/”new age”/ magical thinking perspectives on the other side.
- Wear your beliefs lightly, view them as guides and broad terms of reference to be revised and upgraded when your life experience suggests that this is required, rather than regarding your beliefs as immutable certainties that you have to defend at all costs.
- Move forward in a spirit of enquiry, adventure and learning, taking note of your experiences with consciousness and not rushing to judgements and early conclusions.
- Share and discuss your experiences with others, ask questions, listen and learn, and expand this process to include reading as widely as you can about other people’s experiences from the past as well as the present.
- Pay attention to people’s experiences in traditions and belief systems that are different or alien to yours. For example, you may not believe in God, you may not pray, but pay attention to the astonishing life stories of people within the Christian belief system who have walked very close with consciousness and who have seen and done amazing things. The same equally applies to other belief systems.
- Pay attention to the experience of people from no particular belief tradition who may struggle to articulate their experiences because they do not have the language, models of understanding and the framing to be able to express themselves clearly.
- Adopt an experimental approach and test and observe clearly your experiences with consciousness.
How do you engage with consciousness?
Firstly you have got to want to.
How do you get started?
Through the heart not the head.
The gateway to engaging with consciousness is not through the conscious mind, it does not involve your ego. It all starts with some form of inner prompting. This is felt in your heart not your head.
Personally I have found that the regular practice of meditation and a continual practice of mindfulness has created the space to allow this to happen. For some people there is sudden and amazing flash of insight such as that experienced and shared by Dr Edgar Wallace the astronaut and founder of the Institute of Noetic Science.
For others of us this is a more gradual and developing awareness.
I have written in some detail about my personal entry point to all this, when I really started to take consciousness seriously in: Deus Ex Machina