The Enigma of Conscious Awareness: Why the Brain Doesn’t Always Tell Us Everything

Have you ever wondered why our brains, serving as the central control center for our bodies, don’t always give us explicit information about our physiology on a conscious level? The short answer is that we don't know exactly why not; however, the longer answer reveals an intriguing complexity. If the brain is capable of controlling and managing our body's functions, why doesn’t it make this knowledge available to us in a more accessible form?

Logical and Complicated Explanations

From a logical standpoint, the brain surely knows all the functions and processes taking place within our body. However, the fact remains that not everything that the brain controls is directly accessible to our conscious awareness. This is due to several factors, one of which is that the brain communicates with us through means other than words. Instead of providing us with detailed verbal explanations, the brain conveys information through subconscious mechanisms. As humans, we tend to not take conscious responsibility for subconscious actions, which means that knowledge that resides in the subconscious remains beyond our conscious perception.

Subconscious vs. Conscious Awareness

A good example of this is our breathing. We can go about our day and forget about our breathing, but it continues to happen. It's only when we choose to pay attention that we become consciously aware of this process. Similarly, other physiological processes like body temperature and heart rate can become conscious phenomena, but they usually remain subconscious.

Research has shown that humans can learn to take conscious control over certain aspects of themselves. For instance, my wife can consciously increase her heart rate, which is a fascinating demonstration of how our bodies can be influenced from a conscious perspective. Such examples underscore the idea that our brains do inform us of our physiological states, but these messages often bypass our conscious awareness until we choose to pay attention to them.

Evolutionary Perspective on Consciousness

The development of conscious awareness is a relatively recent evolutionary innovation. From an evolutionary standpoint, it isn’t advantageous for all functions to be deliberative or conscious. The resources required for deep conscious processing are considerable, and being able to automate common and repeated behaviors can be more efficient. This means that many of our bodily functions operate on an automatic level, even if not necessarily required by reaction time advantages.

The Distinction Between Body and Mind

It's important to recognize that you are not your brain. You exist as a field in which your brain, body, and consciousness coexist. The brain itself is an organ of the body with no inherent volition or consciousness. It is the underlying intelligence that exists beyond the physical realm which controls the brain and, by extension, our bodies.

The brain plays a crucial role in processing and interpreting signals from the body. However, it is not the primary controller. There are spiritual analogies that suggest the existence of psychic centers or chakras, which are part of a complete system of all levels of consciousness. The speed of these functions often outstrips the level of awareness an ordinary mind can achieve.

Consciousness and Health

Understanding and managing these processes is not without its challenges. In many cases, only those with expanded consciousness, often developed through spiritual or religious practices, can achieve a complete awareness. Doctors and scientists who study physiology often contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying human anatomy and health.

Our bodies are dynamic systems, and true health and optimal function may require a deep, conscious awareness of both the body and mind. This calls for a journey through levels of consciousness, which often involves cleansing the body and mind of negative or hindering influences.

Only those who have achieved a high level of awareness can truly harness the full potential of their brain and nervous system. This involves the development of interconnections between organ systems to function optimally at the conscious level. Achieving this state is often seen as a form of perfection, as it represents a comprehensive awareness and capacity to use one's bodily functions to their fullest advantage.

Understanding the relationship between the brain, consciousness, and the body is a key to unlocking our full potential. The more we can become aware of our subconscious processes, the more we can optimize our health and well-being.