Conscious Experience
The Reality of Consciousness and the Experience of Being
by
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Conscious experience is manifest as the experience of the intrafusal muscle spindles. The reality is confirmed by the experience. Part 1 discusses the development of the theory and makes specific reference to the critical phases. The critical phases are twofold. (1) The experience of being conscious and (2) The realization that a second set of receptors, the spindle receptors, are the experiencing structures.
The experience of consciousness, differentiated from conscious experience, is the experience of the energies of the environment; sights, sounds, smells and so forth; the sensations of the world around us. The nature of consciousness is the detection of the energies by sensory receptors. The experience of the energies occurs as the second set of receptors, the spindle receptors in the intrafusal muscle system, detect and transduce the energies of innervation to nerve impulse activity. Given the necessary physiological conditions, the impulse activity transduced by sensory receptors innervates the neuromuscular system. Consciousness is the disposition of the system to respond to the detected energies.
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About the Book
The fundamental principles that explain the heretofore mysterious phenomena of consciousness are: (1) Consciousness is energies of the environment, and energies developed in intrafusal muscle spindles are conscious experience, and (2) the experience occurring as the developed energies, depending on purpose and intensity, are detected by muscle receptors. The conscious experience occurs as perception (the experience of the environment), imagery (imagination, memory, and dreams), feelings (emotion), or, when agreed to, the meanings of language.
Consciousness and conscious experience are not subject to the interpretations of scientific and religious knowledge because consciousness is the individual experience of each and every person. In Conscious Experience, author W.H. Sparks presents a discussion of the relationship of consciousness and experience based on his extensive research and his personal experiences.
Along with a review of the development of the theory of consciousness, Sparks offers a plethora of facts and thoughts about conscious experience, including:
• An explanation of the nature and experience of consciousness • How the experience of energies detected by receptors constitutes conscious experience • The idea that conscious experience is detected as the energies developed in the intrafusal spindles by muscle receptors • How consciousness is experienced by the muscle system • The structures of experience are the intrafusal muscle spindles • The impulse activity transduced from the detected energies innervates the muscle system • The recognition of the part the muscle receptors play in conscious experience is the process that finally answers the question of consciousness and conscious experienceIn the Conscious Experience, Sparks provides information that shows conscious experience includes perception, imagery, feelings, and the meanings of language—all qualities unique to each individual.
About the Author
W.H. Sparks graduated from the University of Colorado. His primary field of study was philosophy. After graduation, Sparks continued his interest in studies of consciousness. Sparks is the author of Language and Conscious Experience and The Nature of Experience. He and his wife live in Southern California.