Consciousness in Flesh: An Unapologetic Phenomenological Study

Description

This book offers an uncompromising and unapologetic phenomenological study of altered states of consciousness in an attempt to understand the structure of human consciousness. Drawing on the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, it sets out to decipher the inextricable link between consciousness, body, and world. This link will be established through the presentation of in-depth phenomenological research conducted with former prisoners of war (POWs) and senior meditators. Focusing on two such disparate groups improves our understanding of the nature of the subjective experience in extreme situations – when our sense of boundary is rigid and we are disconnected both from the body and the world (POWs); and when our sense of boundary is fluid and we feel unified with the world (meditators). Based on empirical-phenomenological research, this book will explain how the body that is from the outset thrown into the intersubjective world shapes the structure of consciousness.  Abstract Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures Introduction Bibliography 1: Phenomenology of the Body 1.1 The Phenomenology of the Body According to Merleau-Ponty 1.1.1 Return to the Primary Meeting with the World 1.1.2 Theory of Perception is Theory of the Body 1.1.3 Elimination of the Subject-object Dichotomy 1.1.4 The Bodily Space 1.1.5 The Phenomenological Field 1.1.6 The Lived-body as a Work of Art 1.1.7 The Dual Structure of the Body 1.2 Perceiving the World through Movement 1.2.1 Movement and Perception 1.2.2 Exploring the World 1.2.3 Knowing How 1.2.4 To See the Whole World 1.3 Embodied Cognition 1.3.1 The Body as a Tool and a Technology 1.3.2 The World is Our Best Model 1.3.3 Metaphors 1.3.4 Opening Your Mind 1.4 Concluding Remarks Bibliography 2: The Subjective Experience During Altered States of Consciousness 2.1 Extended Isolation as a Prisoner of War: How It Feels 2.1.1 The State of Consciousness in Prison 2.1.2 The Sense of the Body in Captivity: Collapse of the Simultaneous Subject-Object Dual Structure 2.1.3 The Sense of Time in Captivity 2.1.3.1 The Sense of Time and the Bodily Dimension 2.1.3.2 The Creation of a New Dimension of Time Detached from the Bodily Dimension 2.1.4 Vacuum 2.1.5 What (and Why) Does the Captive Try to Control? 2.2 The Experience of Meditation 2.2.1 The Sense of Body Ownership 2.2.2 The Relationship Between the Sense of Boundary and Specific Senses 2.2.3 The Sense of Self 2.2.4 Dissolution of the Dual Structure (I) 2.2.5 Disintegration of the Dual Structure II 2.2.6 Inner Talk as a Process of Perception 2.2.7 Meaningless Stimuli 2.2.8 The Bodily Dimension of Thought and the Relationship to the Sense of Self 2.2.9 Feelings 2.2.10 On the Character of Memory 2.3 Conclusions Bibliography 3: Embodied Consciousness 3.1 The Structure of Consciousness 3.1.1 The Basic (Pre-Noetic) Structure 3.1.1.1 The Embodied Experience of Being-in-the-World 3.1.1.2 Emotions 3.1.1.3 Duration 3.1.1.4 The Emotional-Temporal Field (ETF) 3.1.2 A World of Meaningful Objects 3.1.2.1 Feelings 3.1.2.2 Past-Present-Future (Autobiographical Field) The Fundamental Structure of the Self-as-Subject (I) and Self-as-Object (ME) The Self-as-Subject in the Present Moment in Relation to the Self-as-Object on the Timeline The Emotional Dimension and Its Impact on the Autobiographical Field 3.1.2.3 Introspection 3.1.3 Interim Conclusion 3.2 The Internal Horizon 3.2.1 The Internal Horizon—The Main Argument 3.2.2 The Nature of the Experience and the Dependence on the External Horizon 3.2.3 Altered States of Consciousness 3.2.4 The Stream of Consciousness, the Emotional Dimension, the Corporal Level, and the Sense of Self 3.2.5 The Internal Horizon Disconnected from a Sense of Self—The Absence of the Emotional Dimension 3.2.6 The “Stream” in the “Stream of Consciousness” Is an Illusion 3.2.7 Interim Conclusion Bibliography 4: Concluding Essay: The Knowing-Body and a World of Meaning Bibliography Epilogue Appendix: Phenomenology as a Method The Phenomenological Reflection Phenomenology as a Methodological Approach The Protocol Bibliography Index