Mai Xiong - Week 2

            Pereira and Reddy (2016) offer the idea that our consciousness is made up of two consciousnesses, “bodily consciousness” and “functional consciousness.” Bodily consciousness is associated with the physical form of our body, while the functional consciousness is a disembodied version of ourselves that detaches during a specific time, for example, a near-death experience (NDE) (Pereira and Reddy 2016). Functional consciousness is similar to the idea of a soul or spirit—an entity that is capable of continuously living, possibly, infinitely living, that can exist beyond our physical body and across multiple dimensions. This idea is reflected in the recommended Netflix series, The OA, where Brit Marling stars as a blind woman named, Prairie Johnson, and comes back home after she went missing for seven years.

            In season one, upon returning home, Prairie had regained her vision, possibly from a NDE or getting physically hit in the head by Hap, the researcher who kidnapped her for seven years played by Jason Isaacs, when she tried to escape. Prairie and four others who were locked in Hap’s basement for his NDE study developed a ritual and spiritual belief in keeping each other alive. However, in this series, like our current reality, science often dismiss the spiritual field. Knowing that many people would not believe her story, Prairie chooses to only disclose her story to five people. Speaking of NDE and other unexplained experiences, with the possibility that they may be related to spirituality, is often shunned upon. I think this is possible because our current equipment in science has not yet developed a large enough range of tools to measure experiences (in the body, brain, mind, environment, etc) related to spirituality. Or perhaps, these experiences are sacred and they are not meant to be measured, but only be experienced?

            The equation from Paul, Devanath and Islam’s reading, is difficult to understand. If possible, more explanation about the equations during the lecture can be helpful to better understand the significance of the equations.

Visual: Bracelet is commonly worn by young Hmong girls and women for spiritual protection.