This is my second to last TedxTalk Tuesdays post, and I’m in shock at how quickly the summer has flown by. With that said, a TedxTalk about consciousness seemed appropriate (had I been more present in every moment, perhaps the summer wouldn’t have whizzed by…)
In this “Smart TedxTalk”, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio examines the incredible phenomenon of consciousness. The fact that we wake up each morning and regain consciousness, picking up where we left off, is a miracle in and of itself.
“We all woke up this morning, and we had with it, the amazing return of our conscious mind. We recovered minds with a complete sense of self and a complete sense of our own existence… Because without having this possibility of conscious minds, we would have no knowledge whatsoever about our humanity, we would have no knowledge whatsoever about the world. We would have no pains, but also no joys… We would have no access to love or the ability to create.”
Antonio goes on to answer what a conscious mind is, by first explaining the complexity of defining it. Simply put, it’s what we lose when we are asleep or put under anesthesia, and what we gain when we wake up. But what exactly is it that we lose or gain? A part of it is the self.
“A conscious mind is a mind with a self in it. A self introduces a subjective perspective in the mind. We are only fully conscious when self comes to mind.”
He goes on to describe consciousness and the self through fascinating imagery and real science. I was never a science or math person, but this TedxTalk is so thought provoking, even to a right-brained person like me. It’s definitely a must watch.
Think people should hear about this?