I am delighted with the range of responses.

First, to be clear, my background in all this — assuming we are roughly dividing background between scientists and mystics — is somewhat out of the so-called mystical experience. I am not a scientist, although I secretly wish sometimes that I had the background to have been able to pursue things like quantum physics.

And so, when the trained scientist or physicist comes along to comment or counter something I’ve said, at some point I can only sit back and listen because they may be talking in a language in which I’m not familiar. So no rudeness is meant if I don’t respond point-by-point.

Second, I am very cautious about the bridge that often gets too easily built between opinion and belief. Whether we are scientists or mystics, or members of the so-called Blue Church or Red Church, beliefs can quickly become set in stone. And that’s something that ultimately ends up working against us.

Third, with resect to whether similar views of religion are appropriate, of course they are. Religion can be a positive force, but most students of the field will come to a point in their studies when they realize distortion has crept in relative to the founder’s original words and message. Again, belief can be a slippery stepping stone.

Fourth, I acknowledge that I have beliefs, but I also acknowledge that that’s what they are: beliefs. I believe, let’s say for example, that America’s the greatest country in the world. But I acknowledge I believe that because I’ve been told that since I was a child, and I’ve also never been anywhere else except to Canada. And so on.

Fifth, when it comes to consciousness, I really have no idea which rabbit hole to shove my beliefs into. So, what I try to do instead is be as observational as possible, and base my opinions on experience. I admit to sometimes getting a little put off by attacks on the so-called subjective nature of reports from people having ‘experiences.’ Having said that, I agree that at least some of those reports are immature and breathless, and it admittedly becomes very annoying when someone has an NDE or perhaps a ‘channeling from the Archangel Michael’ and suddenly, not only has their life changed (which is fine) but the rest of us are being talked at and down to with a wagging, authoritative finger.

Mostly what I’m saying about consciousness is this:

1. I believe, based on experience, that consciousness is outside the brain. That the brain functions as both an automatic controller of our body and its systems, and as some kind of step-down transformer wherein it is translating or converting from the so-called Mind. I acknowledge this as a belief. In defense of beliefs, who doesn’t have a ton of beliefs?
2. I believe, based on experience, that thought itself, even the very intention to have a thought, percolates up out of an undefinable something.
3. I am not at all convinced that consciousness is something that can be measured and defined purely based on physical observation. In part because if we assume other forms or dimensions of matter or energy beyond what we can quantify do, indeed, exist, then we haven’t yet come upon the tools to measure them. And it is for this reason, perhaps more than any, that scientific research, in my opinion, needs to be a cautious and less declarative of certainty in its approach with respect to consciousness..

In the first paragraph of my comment, I used the word ‘somewhat,’ because claiming a mystical heritage is a bit inaccurate. I am mostly out of the martial arts experience, which has been very quantified over centuries of teaching and studentship.

There is a very dense and highly advanced portion of the martial arts, not always readily available to be taught or learned, that can expose a student to a set of deeply subjective experiences, objectively.

It is as a result of having been personally trained and immersed in this advanced form of martial arts schooling, that I am commenting on matters such as consciousness. The things I’ve seen, learned and experienced are not the kinds of things that can be talked about in normal conversation. So, just as the scientist at times struggles to bring into clarity certain observations and thoughts, even despite the amount of papers he/she writes, or conferences that he/she attends and presents at, so too the mystic, so too the martial artist.

Finally, a special callout to Hoss Hoss — who has quietly left a thought-provoking set of lower-case comments.

Hoss is referring, among other things, to the space between words, the silence, the stillness. Which I sometimes refer to as the Nothingness, or which martial artists sometimes refer to as ‘mushin.’

I’ll save everyone the trouble…

consciousness is that silvery backdrop you realize when you notice the in between words backdrop or matrix inside your head, go on, say something to yourself, using words, and notice the space between the words. Focus on that space, that silence, between your mental utterances

That’s one gateway to consciousness, but consciouness is also a trans dimensional presence, the question is, how much of your consciousness can you claim for power and presence? It’s ancient news, but the eternal aspect of consciousness can be realized here and now in corporeal incarnation, while inhabiting mortality.

Is it a duality, actually no it isn’t, it’s all one thing, but the trick, the essence, is to reach, connect, inhabit your wholeness.

quantum entanglement, the absolute simultaneity of disparate events regardless of distance demands a dimensional connection above space and time. Psychics have been claiming this for centuries.