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structured. This spectrum is akin to Hilary Putnam s theory of a continuous spectrum of
subjective/objective statements and perceptions of reality. Toward one end of this
spectrum would be experiences that are purely fabricated by one s expectations and
beliefs; at the other end would be experience that is utterly free of such subjective
influences. Indeed, utterly pure consciousness may be uninfluenced even by one s
physical senses, which are specifically human in nature.
Scientists and contemplatives alike are challenged to distinguish between their
conceptual superimpositions upon experience and the actual evidence that is being
presented to their senses, including the sense of mental perception. But as long as
scientists are focusing their attention outward, there may be little possibility of their
entering a state approaching pure consciousness; and this is even less likely as long as
they are viewing the objective world through the subjective filters of their scientific
concepts. Many contemplatives, on the other hand, seek to disengage from their
conceptually structured experiences derived from both sensory and mental perception and
to enter a state free of all subjective constructs. The earlier discussion of Buddhist
techniques for withdrawing the attention into the nature of consciousness itself illustrates
prime examples of this pursuit. However, many Buddhist contemplatives have been quite
aware of the common error of mistaking such a conscious state for one that is utterly
unstructured by language and concepts. With this recognition, contemplatives such as
Padmasambhava have devised further contemplative methods for breaking through all
conceptual mediation to a state of primordial awareness that transcends specifically
human consciousness itself.54 But in transcending the pole of human subjectivity, they
simultaneously transcend the pole of human objectivity in a state that is simply nondual.
Within the spectrum of consciousness structured to varying degrees by one s
beliefs, desires, and expectations, delusional modes of experience tend to be toward the
highly structured end of the spectrum, and they are commonly accompanied by intense
misery. They are said to be out of touch with reality, and individuals suffering from such
delusions are commonly given psychological therapy to enable them to distinguish their
conceptual fabrications from reality. In the midrange of the spectrum are located our
common everyday experiences of the world of subjects and objects, as well as the entire
range of empirical and theoretical scientific research; and these are commonly
accompanied by transient joys and sorrows. Within this spectrum of experience, if one
attends primarily to objective phenomena, those phenomena seem more real; whereas if
one attends primarily to subjective phenomena, those phenomena seem more real. This is
simply a matter of one s beliefs and interests.
Many contemplatives claim that at the far end of the spectrum of
consciousness furthest removed from states of pathological delusion there is a state of
awareness that utterly transcends all conceptual constructs, including the dualities of
subject/object, existence/nonexistence, self/other, and mind/matter; and this state is
widely reported by contemplatives to be imbued with an unprecedented, enduring, great
bliss. Countless contemplatives in diverse cultures claim to have realized such a state,
and they declare that the state itself, together with its lasting, residual effects, brings with
it the highest knowledge and the greatest value. For in this state of genuinely pure
consciousness, which is inconceivable and ineffable, one realizes that which is truly
ultimate. Whether or not such extraordinary claims are valid is a question that may
forever elude conceptual analysis or argumentation, but it may possibly be answered
through one s own experience.
The range of contemplative experiences may be highly significant not only for
religious people but for the scientific exploration of consciousness. As physicist and
Nobel laureate Brian Josephson comments,
in the case of conscious experience . . . simply specifiable states of consciousness exist.
Typically, these states consist of what may be called pure ideas or emotions. Most
basic of all is the state known as pure consciousness or samadhi, which has no
identifiable content other than being conscious . . . Pure consciousness is that limiting
state of consciousness which is completely undisturbed by other entities; in other words it
consists only of the phenomenon of consciousness interacting with itself. 55
Physicist Evan Squires responds to this assertion as follows.
In principle, it appears likely that the study of consciousness through these types of
activity could help us in understanding its true nature. ... If, or when, we ever have a
science of conscious mind, there is little doubt that states of contemplation and of
dreaming, etc., will play a big part in the experiments we do. Maybe then we will
understand them better than we do at present. 56
Is it possible that contemplative experiences that transcend our ordinary reified concepts
of subject and object and so on may have a strong bearing on the insights drawn from
modern physics itself? Physicist Nick Herbert comments that the source of all quantum
paradoxes appears to lie in the fact that human perceptions create a world of unique
actualities our experience is inevitably classical while quantum reality is simply not
that way at all. And he asks, Since physics assures us that our lives are embedded in a
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