Sexy new theory of consciousness with feelings

Jason Kehe (wired.com); Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A sexy new theory of consciousness gets all up in our feelings

Where is the source of "consciousness"?

Neuroscience is bad at explaining what it’s like to be alive. One scientist thinks he can change that — with help from psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud of all people.

In his new book neuroscientist Mark Solms doesn’t just talk about anatomy and electrochemistry, he puts forth an entire new theory of consciousness.

Neuroscience should be the sexiest of the sciences. To study it is to study the very stuff that studies stuff in the first place. Then take a look at one fMRI scan and realize it’s all, actually, boring.

This bit lights up when that happens — so what? A functional map of the brain tells us almost nothing about what it feels like to be alive.

Even certain neuroscientists have an axon to grind with this “objective,” “cognitivist” way of thinking.

Mark Solms in his new book The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness doesn’t just talk about anatomy and electrochemistry — though there is some of that. He puts forth an entire new theory of consciousness, sexed up with input from the original sexpert himself, father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud. More

A Journey to the Source of Consciousness

The Hidden Spring: A Journey (Mark Solms)

This is a revelatory new theory of consciousness that returns emotions to the center of mental life. For Mark Solms, one of the boldest thinkers in contemporary neuroscience, discovering how consciousness comes about has been his life’s quest.

Scientists consider it the "hard problem" because it seems to be an impossible task to understand why we feel a subjective sense of "self" and how it arises in the brain or consciousness.

• BUDDHISM ON CONSCIOUSNESS

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  Buddhism is all about discerning consciousness.

  [The Buddha spoke of consciousness in terms of mind moments or what are apparently neuronal pulses millennia ago, but he had direct access to mystical states and a prodigy's ability to explain the intricacies of mentality and materiality, something only a supremely enlightened buddha can do. What is mind in the ultimate sense of the Abhidharma? Where is the real seat of consciousness if not in the brain? What are the functions of consciousness? What are its supports? Do people know that the heart and gut lining are full of neurons? A new 3-D map illuminates the "little brain" within the heart (Science News). Let your heart talk to your brain (HuffPost Life). Think twice: How the gut's "second brain" influences mood and well-being (Scientific American).]

Venturing into the elementary physics of life, Solms has now arrived at an astonishing answer. In The Hidden Spring, he brings forward his discovery in accessible language and graspable analogies.

Solms is a frank and fearless guide on an extraordinary voyage from the dawn of neuropsychology and psychoanalysis to the cutting edge of contemporary neuroscience, adhering to the medically provable.

But he goes beyond other neuroscientists by paying close attention to the subjective experiences of hundreds of neurological patients, many of whom he treated, whose uncanny conversations expose much about the brain’s obscure reaches.

Hey, we can feel and think. It's like magic!

Most importantly, readers will be able to recognize the workings of their own mind for what they really are, including every stray thought, pulse of emotion, and shift of attention.

The Hidden Spring will profoundly alter our understanding of our own subjective experience. The book contains 19 illustrations. More + AUDIO