A Two-Agent Model of Consciousness Explains Nonduality

Frank Heile, modified 4 Years ago at 11/14/19 4:39 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 11/14/19 4:31 PM

A Two-Agent Model of Consciousness Explains Nonduality

Posts: 29 Join Date: 11/20/14 Recent Posts
I am writing a book tentatively titled, Consciousness and Spirituality Explained. The first half of the book is Part 1: An Explanation of Consciousness and this posting is announcing an improved version of my model of consciousness compared to the previous post I had on this forum.

I think this new model of consciousness is more compelling and convincing than the previous version. For example, this new model proposes a solution to the Hard Problem of Consciousness, which I expect to be somewhat controversial. All three of the options listed below contain this solution. In addition, the 2-hour video and the PDF present a proposed technique that might allow the detection of the Neural Correlates of Phenomenal Consciousness.
 
If you are familiar with my previous work, which had a three-agent model of consciousness, this new version has two agents. When I talked to Stanford Professor Jay McClelland (Psychology) last February, he was skeptical of Dual Process Theory. So, I decided to see what I could say about consciousness without relying on Dual Process Theory; the result is this two-agent model where my previous Thinker and Doer become the Controller, and the Experiencer becomes the Modeler.

I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this new version of my model of consciousness. If you have the time to watch the short video, watch the long video, or read the PDF file, thank you very much for your time and effort. Please let me know your positive thoughts, your questions, your suggestions, and/or your disagreements. All criticism gives me the opportunity to improve the model.
 
Part 1: An Explanation of Consciousness

I’m providing three ways to learn about the new model of consciousness:

  • The summary and an abridged version of the main results from this model are in this 26-minute video:

         • 26-Minute Video 

    This short video contains multiple note boxes that talk about the long website video, which provides more explanations and details about the model.
      
  • The long website video (2-Hour Video, link below) covers everything I currently expect to have in the first half of the book. 

          • 2-Hour Video

  • If you don't like watching videos, you can read a 62-page PDF file. Clicking the following link opens the PDF file in a Google Drive window; click the Download button in the upper right corner to download the file to your computer.

         • Part 1 An Explanation of Consciousness.PDF

    This document is an edited version of the audio track for the 2-hour video. Please read the first page of the PDF for more information about its contents.  In combination with the PDF, you may want to download a copy of the PowerPoint file that was used to produce the 2-hour video. Clicking the following link opens the PowerPoint file in a Google Drive window; click the Download button in the upper right corner to download the file to your computer:

         • The PowerPoint file 
Part 2: An Explanation of Spirituality: 

There is no new material here, but if you are curious about and interested in the explanation of spirituality, feel free to watch these older videos. This part of the book will use Dual Process Theory to expand the two-agent model into the three-agent model that is needed to explain spirituality. This 43-minute video was recorded in November of 2017, and gives an overview of the model of spirituality:

     • Spirituality Explained Scientifically

That video does not talk about the very rare and fascinating neurological syndrome called Auto Activation Deficit. This syndrome provides compelling additional evidence for the Thinker. 
 
If you skip the first 39 minutes and watch just the last 37 minutes of the following video, you will see how this model explains Auto Activation Deficit syndrome. During the last 9-minutes, you will also get another shorter explanation of Spirituality:

     Multiple Forms of Consciousness Explained

This video was recorded in December 2018 when I talked to the Stanford University Complexity Group.

Again, positive or negative feedback about this explanation of spirituality is also greatly appreciated!
 
Thanks for your time,
Frank Heile
thumbnail
Dream Walker, modified 4 Years ago at 11/15/19 6:04 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 11/15/19 6:04 AM

RE: A Two-Agent Model of Consciousness Explains Nonduality

Posts: 1770 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Try reading this-
Pointing Out the Great Way: The Stages of Meditation in the Mahamudra TraditionPaperback– September 28, 2006
by
Daniel P. Brown

He did the work, but you could make it simple
Frank Heile, modified 4 Years ago at 11/15/19 12:00 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 11/15/19 11:39 AM

RE: A Two-Agent Model of Consciousness Explains Nonduality

Posts: 29 Join Date: 11/20/14 Recent Posts
Dream Walker:
Try reading this-
Pointing Out the Great Way: The Stages of Meditation in the Mahamudra Tradition
Paperback– September 28, 2006
by Daniel P. Brown

Thanks for the pointer, that book looks like the definitive source for Mahamudra meditation!

Dream Walker:

He did the work, but you could make it simple

I'll take that as a great compliment, thanks!

However, I am afraid I already have a whole book to write, so that project might have to wait to become my second book!

A little more seriously, all the different stages of meditation that I have read about in various sources including, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, would be very difficult to predict or explain using this kind of a model of consciousness. This model is just at a very high level of description, and those stages are at a much lower level of description--it would be hard to get them to match.

Thanks again. Frank
JP, modified 4 Years ago at 11/15/19 1:52 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 11/15/19 1:52 PM

RE: A Two-Agent Model of Consciousness Explains Nonduality

Posts: 175 Join Date: 3/31/17 Recent Posts
Are you familiar with the predictive processing framework? I'm pretty sure that the perceptual effects of the different jhanas can be explained within it as the side effects of the brain trying to reconcile top-down and bottom-up predictions.  I wrote a bit more about that here.
Frank Heile, modified 4 Years ago at 11/15/19 10:55 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 11/15/19 10:03 PM

RE: A Two-Agent Model of Consciousness Explains Nonduality

Posts: 29 Join Date: 11/20/14 Recent Posts
JP:
Are you familiar with the predictive processing framework?

Yes, I've read Scott's post and I think Predictive Processing is the same as my model of consciousness. The World Model in my mode is the top-down prediction and the sensory data produces the bottom-up prediction. In my model when there is a lot of "surprisal" is when bottom-up attention will be generated.
JP:
I'm pretty sure that the perceptual effects of the different jhanas can be explained within it as the side effects of
the brain trying to reconcile top-down and bottom-up predictions.  I wrote a bit more about that here.

Maybe you are right, I'm not sure.

About nonduality or no-self, did you look at my model?

In my model, the Controller always has a "self" and the Modeler always has "no-self", so the Human becomes enlighted when they realize that they are really the Modeler and not the Controller.

Breadcrumb