Consciousness is Not Explainable in Mechanistic Terms

Conscious life cannot be explained in physical and chemical terms. These sciences merely deal with the symptoms of consciousness, unable to explain consciousness and its origin. Conscious life is not mechanical. There is no substantial possibility for personal development without appreciating this obvious fact.

Let's use an example to illustrate this point…

We have a modern computer, software suitable for our purpose, some device that will react to different colours of light and a programm that allows the computer to speak. Now we will switch on a torch, radiating blue light. If arranged appropriately, the computer voice will state: "I see a blue light."

So, now the question is: "Does the machine really see a blue light?" What does the word "see" mean in  this connection? Of course, one could argue that the computer definitely "sees" a blue light. The proove lies in his statement "I see a blue light."

Is a Computer Able to See?

But what exactly does "see" mean in this regard? Is it definitely the same than our seeing? If we see a red light, will our seeing be just a mechanical, material reaction as with the computer?

No, definitely not. Though it includes mesurable material reactions, our seeing is far, far different. While seeing a red light, we are conscious of seeing a red light, but the machine is not. Our seeing is accompanied by different emotions, associatons, remembrances and the like.

The mechanic part of our seeing, the brain processing the light passing through our eyes is but a tiny aspect of the whole process. It actually is the least important, because without us being conscious, we would not neither be aware of the blue light nor of our statement that "I see a blue light". The difference is as fundamental as the difference between the life and its symptoms. A living body is breathing. But to induce a dead corpse to breath artificially by some machine does not bring it back to life.

More about real life and fake life...