Just like a robot is animated by electricity, a human is animated by breathing. In ordinary language we say that robot is not conscious whereas human is conscious. In the language of Vedanta it is just that the reflected consciousness is different when we compare robot with human and primitive robots may not appear to have much of reflected consciousness. Pure consciousness stands apart and both the robot and the human appear in it. Robot and human are just different types of instruments through which pure consciousness expresses. In times to come when the robot is programmed to show the expressions of pain, joy etc. it will become harder to notice the difference between the reflected consciousness of the robot and that of a human. In Quantum Physics when we talk of observer, it makes no difference whether the observer is conscious or not so to say, after all nobody, whether a machine or something made of flesh has consciousness of its own. It is always the borrowed consciousness from the pure consciousness field and this pure consciousness field is present everywhere.
Category Archives: Reflected Consciousness
Reflected Consciousness – An Analogy
Consider a dark room full of smoke. A few sources of thin light rays are now turned on. The light rays hit the smoke particles and are reflected*. One can see the path of light due to this phenomenon. Had there been no particles at all (vacuum), the path of light would not be visible. This reflection will still be there if in place of thin light rays, the whole room is flooded with light. The light is analogues to consciousness, the smoke particles are analogues to sentient beings. The bounced light is analogues to reflected consciousness.
Taking the discussion a step further, if in place of smoke particles suppose there is just air (nitrogen+oxygen etc.), the path of light is not visible even when light is present. This is analogues to the situation where there is consciousness and there are dead/insentient objects like stones for example. The insentient objects are not able to bounce consciousness in a way sentient objects do and hence appear to be inert. In reality every object is inert as everything is made up of atoms, it is just that sentient objects appear animated as they bounce consciousness in a certain way and the insentient objects appear inanimate as they do not bounce consciousness in similar manner. It is due to the embodied soul that consciousness is bounced in a special way in case of a sentient being. Embodied soul implies mind in ordinary language.
*Reflected word is used for the sake of simplicity. More technically correct word is scattered. This phenomenon of scattering is called Tyndall Effect.