PERCEIVING A WORLD OUT THERE

PERCEIVING A WORLD OUT THERE -- NEUROSCIENCE AND ADVAITA:

PERCEIVING A WORLD OUT THERE -- NEUROSCIENCE AND ADVAITA DR. VEMURI RAMESAM

Visual Illusions:

Visual Illusions A heap of cleverly arranged garbage with suitable lighting appears to the eye as two people! These effects challenge our hard-earned perception of the world around us. They also reveal that our brains construct the feeling of a global percept, by sewing together multiple local percepts. As long as the local relation between surfaces and objects follow the rules of nature, our brains don’t seem to mind the impossibility of global percept . (Artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster, 2002 )

Color Vision - 1:

Color Vision - 1 (afer Beau Lotto, 2010) The reality before you! Watch the four blue tiles on the left and seven yellow tiles on the right. What color are they really?

Color Vision - 2:

Color Vision - 2 (afer Beau Lotto, 2010) Nothing is changed but for the wavelength of the light that impinges! Sensory Information has no inherent meaning. The meaning is only what you attribute.

Slide 5:

The ultraviolet image creates three rings of colour to guide insects to a happy landing. (after M. Hanlon, 2007) We base our color combinations on red, blue, and green. Bees base all their colors on UV, blue , and green. Color Vision - 3 How it appears to Humans How it appears to Bees Do Colors really exist in Nature? Spring crocus (Crocus vernus):

Perception – Reality Disconnect:

Perception – Reality Disconnect 6 We do not really see what exactly is ‘out there.’ It is a fact of neuroscience that everything we experience is actually a figment of our imagination. ..Our sensations …do not necessarily reproduce the physical reality of the outside. -- S.L. Macknik and S. Martinez- Conde , 2008.

Tricks of the brain:

Tricks of the brain Brain evolved many energy saving shortcuts to assess a cognized object in terms of survival value for the body organism. Such shortcuts are the reason for the bewildering variety of illusions – optical, auditory, cognitive etc. – in the present day environment.

Your Brain Sees a Threat Even Before You Can:

Your Brain Sees a Threat Even Before You Can Your brain tells you whether an item is a threat even before you know you saw it. Bush bends but the Iraqi PM tries only to stop the shoe! (Report in the June 11th (2009) issue of the journal Current Biology ).

Embodiment :

Embodiment 9 Multiple sensory perception gives embodiment. Just seeing the chair over there does not make it part of your body – (M. Botvinick and J. Cohen, 1998; L.D. Roenblum , 2010) Latest Research shows: Not merely Ears, your Eyes and even Skin helps in Hearing! – (A. Damasio et al, 2010, B.Gick, 2009) Not only Tongue, Nose and Ears (and even Lungs) help in tasting! Not only Nose, eyes and tongue help in smelling! Eyes help in satiety!

“NAsato vidyate bhAvah” (The unreal never is) - B.G. II - 16:

“ NAsato vidyate bhAvah ” (The unreal never is) - B.G. II - 16 10 Seeing is Believing!!! N O T

Cognition of Objects –Neuroscience (A reflected Photon from the object is processed in the brain, combined with inputs from other senses, compared with stored information to identify as a meaningful object):

Cognition of Objects –Neuroscience (A reflected Photon from the object is processed in the brain, combined with inputs from other senses, compared with stored information to identify as a meaningful object) 11 Cognition (PFC) Memory Sensory cortex One ray to amygdala Sense organ Reflected light Saccades Other senses

Cognition of Objects -- Advaita – 1 (Objects don’t exist. All is Brahman. What exists is an ineffable ISness):

Cognition of Objects -- Advaita – 1 (Objects don’t exist. All is Brahman. What exists is an ineffable ISness) 12 Brahman = Awareness Consciousness = Knowingness A Throb Manas (Tejas) Impressions Sense organs

Cognition of Objects -- Advaita – 2 (The stored ‘impressions’ as mind project an ‘object’ out there with the first thought of “I” . A ‘me’ and a’ world’ are cocreated. If there is no “I” thought, there is no world.):

Cognition of Objects -- Advaita – 2 ( The stored ‘impressions’ as mind project an ‘object’ out there with the first thought of “I” . A ‘me’ and a’ world’ are cocreated. If there is no “I” thought, there is no world.) 13 Brahman = Awareness Consciousness = Knowingness A Throb Manas (Tejas) Impressions Sense organs

Mind refracts Oneness to Multiplicity:

Mind refracts Oneness to Multiplicity Label Taste Touch ‘Something ‘ Is. Senses impart their own qualities on to That something. Mind gives a Name and Form It Is. Self-illuminating. Infinite. Filters Recognition Attributes Imaginary Objects Cognized and located within imagined space-time. Pine tree and Hills at a distance. Mind C (Visualization based on R. Spira’ s explanation)

Cognition of Objects -- Neuroscience and Advaita:

Cognition of Objects -- Neuroscience and Advaita 15 Brahman = Awareness Consciousness = Knowingness A Throb Manas (Tejas) Impressions Sense organs Cognition (PFC) Memory Sensory cortex One ray to amygdala Sense organ Reflected light Saccades Other senses Comparison of Pathways:

Slide 16:

Our brain makes a “map” of the perceptions received from the senses after an interpretation is made by the sensory cortex to give a meaning to the sensory signals. We are actually aware of only the “map” formed in our head. But we don't have a clue about what "exactly" is ‘out there’. This “map” in our head is obviously made up of ‘thoughts’ (generated by neuronal electrical pulses as waves), or thought-stuff - whether it is a beautiful girl or an ugly duck or a river or a table. So the constituent of all the so called perceived ‘objects’ is thought-stuff. No solid substance! It’s only an imaginary virtual world out there

Science is an Upanishad in Development:

Science is an Upanishad in Development People (Minds) are uncomfortable staying with or in a state of fuzzy “Unknowability. “ They seek definitive end answers. So Mind tends to reify or deify. Mind reifies by creating symbols/beliefs to hang on to Or deifies by creating presiding deities to surrender to. The Unknown becomes a presiding deity in religion. For science it is a “Black box “. Science continues to unravel the unknown through self-correcting, verifiable open systems and falsifiable hypotheses retaining a Spirit of Inquiry. Scientific reports are at the present are like a ‘Breaking story.’ The final word of the Upanishad of Science is yet to be written.

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THANK YOU for your Kind Attention ‘kalpayati AtmanA AtmanAm AtmA devah ………. Iti vedAntaniscayah II (Brahman imagines (the world) in Himself by Himself . Thus declares Vedanta) - Mand. Up. Karika, II – 12 18