The Argument from Consciousness

I subscribe to an email newsletter that provides a daily vocabulary word with its meaning and usage. Monday's word was pneuma, a Greek word that means, breath, wind, or spirit. The word resonated with my recent research into the definition and origin of consciousness and lead me to formulate this initial effort into a metaphysical argument for God's existence (before anyone asks, yes, I've read the book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by psychologist Julian Jaynes).

Regarding consciousness or, synonymously, self-awareness, science has no compelling theory for its origins. In fact, brain research technologies like Neuroimaging and brain scans, have recently been criticized for inflating correlations between emotions and brain regions, and, while the neocortex may be considered the seat of consciousness, yet, its physical and, even, quantum properties reveal no attribute of consciousness - not even a hint!

In other words, the biological collection of neurons, axons and dendrites that comprise our cognitive structures may provide the mechanisms for consciousness, but they don't produce it.

Yet, mainstream scientists would have us believe that consciousness, somehow, spontaneously arose through natural selection despite no compelling experimental evidence to support it. Hmmm. That smacks of faith, does it not?

And, here's another thing. Human beings are not only conscious and self-aware, we are aware that we are conscious and self-aware. We have a sense of self, an I, a me, Nothing discovered by science explains our self-identity, yet, we all have one. Even attempting to deny it leads to a self-contradiction.

The truth is this: it's not science that discovers and defines consciousness, it's consciousness that discovers and defines science!

So, if science can not explain the origin of consciousness, what does?

Since we're dealing in faith, here, I propose the origin of consciousness and, subsequently, self-awareness results from an energy force we refer to as spirit, or in the Greek - pneuma.

Consider the brain is much like a printed circuit board (or motherboard) in a personal computer. While it contains all the components and circuitry for complex operations, yet, without the flow of electrical energy - the invisible force that energizes and brings "life" to the motherboard - the entire personal computer is no more than a boat anchor; lifeless and devoid of life, incapable of a single operation.

So it is with our brains. Without spirits to energize and utilize the brains circuitry, we are incapable of a single, consciously aware act. The spirit provides the conscious energy that produces self-awareness and self-identity. That's why scientists will never create a self-aware machine. We may create machines that are intelligent, maybe more so than us, but they will never possess consciousness and self-awareness, they will never have self-identities because we, their creator, are incapable of manufacturing spirits.

Only God - the Ultimate Source of Conscious Energy - is able to fabricate, and manufacture new spirits.

The Old Testament book of Genesis puts it like this: God formed and manufactured humans from the natural elements of the Earth. In this, our bodies share with other animals a common natural source. It wasn't until God - the Source of Spirits - breathed/pneuma (Hebrew: nshamah) into humans that we received our spirits and became living souls (see addendum below).

In summary, there's no indication the complex, physical mechanisms that make up our brain can produce a personality like Martin Luther King Jr. or Mother Teresa. In fact, looking at it strictly from a natural perspective, it's seems foolhardy to do expect such. It's only when we allow the existence of a Spirit-Giver that consciousness and self-awareness make rational sense.

I invite your comments and rebuttals.

Addendum. The word soul is often used interchangeably with the word spirit. This hasn't always been the case. In ancient cultures, humans were considered to be composed of three distinct, but intimately connected parts: the physical (body), the soul (emotions, will and intellect) and spirit (life force).

Interestingly, demonic possession is the influence malevolent spirits exert on the soul and body, but not the spirit. This, however, is more properly the topic of another Filosophy Friday.