Abstinence is the practice of self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure . Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence , but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol , drugs , food , or other comforts.
124-468: Because the regimen is intended to be a conscious act , freely chosen to enhance life, abstinence is sometimes distinguished from the psychological mechanism of repression . The latter is an unconscious state , having unhealthy consequences. Abstinence may arise from an ascetic over indulgent, hasidic point of view in natural ways of procreation, present in most faiths, or from a subjective need for spiritual discipline. In its religious context, abstinence
248-570: A Friday)". Catholics distinguish between fasting and abstinence ; the former referring to the discipline of diminishing intake of bodily pleasures, and the latter signifying the discipline of completely restraining from bodily pleasures, most notably meats on Fridays (for example, there is the Traditional Catholic practice of fasting from food and liquids from midnight until the reception of Holy Communion). Some Protestants , especially Methodists and Baptists , abstain from drinking alcohol and
372-410: A Jain monk is spent in ensuring that he observes his vow of ahimsa through mind, body and speech faultlessly. This seemingly extreme behaviour of the monks comes from a sense that every action, no matter however subtle, has a karmic effect which can bind soul and inhibit liberation, especially those that result in hiṃsā (injury). A Jain layman, on account of his household and occupational compulsions,
496-454: A concept of consciousness. He does not use any single word or terminology that is clearly similar to the phenomenon or concept defined by John Locke . Victor Caston contends that Aristotle did have a concept more clearly similar to perception . Modern dictionary definitions of the word consciousness evolved over several centuries and reflect a range of seemingly related meanings, with some differences that have been controversial, such as
620-446: A curiosity about whether the right questions are being asked. Examples of the range of descriptions, definitions or explanations are: ordered distinction between self and environment, simple wakefulness , one's sense of selfhood or soul explored by " looking within "; being a metaphorical " stream " of contents, or being a mental state , mental event , or mental process of the brain. The words "conscious" and "consciousness" in
744-400: A distinct type of substance not governed by the laws of physics), and property dualism (which holds that the laws of physics are universally valid but cannot be used to explain the mind). The three main types of monism are physicalism (which holds that the mind consists of matter organized in a particular way), idealism (which holds that only thought or experience truly exists, and matter
868-436: A grasp of what consciousness means. Many fall into the trap of equating consciousness with self-consciousness —to be conscious it is only necessary to be aware of the external world. Consciousness is a fascinating but elusive phenomenon: it is impossible to specify what it is, what it does, or why it has evolved. Nothing worth reading has been written on it. Using 'awareness', however, as a definition or synonym of consciousness
992-569: A householder is forbidden to kill, or destroy, intentionally, all except the lowest (the one sensed, such as vegetables , herbs, cereals, etc., which are endowed with only the sense of touch). But, the ascetic is required to avoid even injuring the one-sensed form of life to the best of his ability. Hence Jainism enjoins its adherents to completely avoid violence to higher-sensed beings and as far as possible minimise violence to lower-sensed and single-sensed beings. Jains agree with Hindus that violence in self-defence can be justified, and they agree that
1116-399: A humanitarian sentiment of kinship amongst all life forms. The motto of Jainism – Parasparopagraho jīvānām , translated as: all life is inter-related and it is the duty of souls to assist each other - also provides a rational approach of Jains towards Ahimsa. In conclusion, the insistence of ahimsa is both about non-injury to others as it is about non-injury and spiritual welfare of
1240-452: A more specialized question is how to square the subjective notion that we are in control of our decisions (at least in some small measure) with the customary view of causality that subsequent events are caused by prior events. The topic of free will is the philosophical and scientific examination of this conundrum. Many philosophers consider experience to be the essence of consciousness, and believe that experience can only fully be known from
1364-399: A moving sentient being, when it is innocent. Tying up, injuring, mutilating, burdening with heavy load and depriving from food and drinks any animal or human being, with one's mind polluted by anger and other passions are the five aticāra or transgressions of the vow of ahimsa. However, it is to be understood that ultimately, there is limited spiritual progress and no emancipation unless
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#17328523759021488-420: A rationale to the avoidance of hiṃsā is that, any acts of himsā results in himsā to self. Any act of violence though outwardly is seen to harm others, harms the soul of the person indulging in the act. Thus by an act of violence, a soul may or may not injure the material vitalities known as dravya praṇa of someone else, but always causes injury to its own bhāva praṇa or the psychic vitalities by binding
1612-408: A rigorous set of rules of conduct, where they must eat, sleep and even walk with full diligence and with an awareness that even walking kills several hundreds of minute beings. Jain ascetics sweep the ground before them to avoid injuring the most minuscule forms of life. They generally brush the ground clear of insects before they tread. Digambara monks do not wear any clothes and eat food only when it
1736-416: A soldier who kills enemies in combat is performing a legitimate duty. Jain communities accepted the use of military power for their defence, there were Jain monarchs, military commanders, and soldiers. In Jainism , both ascetics and householders ( śrāvaka ) have to follow five major vows ( vratas ). Ascetics observe these fives vows more strictly and therefore observe complete abstinence. 1. Ahimsa
1860-493: A strong intuition for the existence of what they refer to as consciousness, skeptics argue that this intuition is too narrow, either because the concept of consciousness is embedded in our intuitions, or because we all are illusions. Gilbert Ryle , for example, argued that traditional understanding of consciousness depends on a Cartesian dualist outlook that improperly distinguishes between mind and body, or between mind and world. He proposed that we speak not of minds, bodies, and
1984-421: Is a common synonym for all forms of awareness, or simply ' experience ', without differentiating between inner and outer, or between higher and lower types. With advances in brain research, "the presence or absence of experienced phenomena " of any kind underlies the work of those neuroscientists who seek "to analyze the precise relation of conscious phenomenology to its associated information processing" in
2108-535: Is a learned behavior, and comes slowly over time - time spent listening and sharing in NA and AA meetings, behavioral health psychology group or individualized therapies, and hanging out with people in the recovery support community. In the context of drug use, individuals may, at some point, decide to abstain from taking the drug following chronic use. Addicts engage in chronic drug use, followed by periods of abstinence, then in many cases relapse. Addicts decide to abstain due to
2232-415: Is abstinence of all food and liquids except for water. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes meat (including game , marine mammals and slaughter by-products), poultry , fowl, fish , shellfish and other sea creatures. There are several variants of the diet, some of which also exclude eggs or products produced from animal labour such as dairy products and honey . Smoking cessation
2356-450: Is access conscious; when we introspect , information about our thoughts is access conscious; when we remember , information about the past is access conscious, and so on. Although some philosophers, such as Daniel Dennett , have disputed the validity of this distinction, others have broadly accepted it. David Chalmers has argued that A-consciousness can in principle be understood in mechanistic terms, but that understanding P-consciousness
2480-616: Is also debate over whether or not A-consciousness and P-consciousness always coexist or if they can exist separately. Although P-consciousness without A-consciousness is more widely accepted, there have been some hypothetical examples of A without P. Block, for instance, suggests the case of a " zombie " that is computationally identical to a person but without any subjectivity. However, he remains somewhat skeptical concluding "I don't know whether there are any actual cases of A-consciousness without P-consciousness, but I hope I have illustrated their conceptual possibility". Sam Harris observes: "At
2604-681: Is central to the animal rights movement , because it includes the ability to experience pain and suffering. For many decades, consciousness as a research topic was avoided by the majority of mainstream scientists, because of a general feeling that a phenomenon defined in subjective terms could not properly be studied using objective experimental methods. In 1975 George Mandler published an influential psychological study which distinguished between slow, serial, and limited conscious processes and fast, parallel and extensive unconscious ones. The Science and Religion Forum 1984 annual conference, ' From Artificial Intelligence to Human Consciousness ' identified
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#17328523759022728-662: Is conducive to general welfare of the state or the community. While it is true that in Jainism, the moral and religious injunctions were laid down as law by Arhats who have achieved perfection through their supreme moral efforts, their adherence is just not to please a God, but the life of the Arhats has demonstrated that such commandments were conductive to Arhat's own welfare, helping him to reach spiritual victory. Just as Arhats achieved spiritual victory by observing non-violence, so can anyone who follows this path. Another aspect that provides
2852-496: Is defined roughly like English "consciousness" in the 1753 volume of Diderot and d'Alembert 's Encyclopédie as "the opinion or internal feeling that we ourselves have from what we do". About forty meanings attributed to the term consciousness can be identified and categorized based on functions and experiences . The prospects for reaching any single, agreed-upon, theory-independent definition of consciousness appear remote. Scholars are divided as to whether Aristotle had
2976-418: Is formalised into Jain doctrine as the first and foremost vow. The votary must not to hurt any living being by actions, words or thoughts. The Jain text Puruşārthasiddhyupāya deals with the conduct required of the householder ( śrāvaka ) and therefore discusses the fundamental vow of Ahimsa in detail. There are two types of Ahimsa – Bhaav Ahimsa and Karm Ahimsa. Bhaav Ahimsa is thinking to not hurt someone in
3100-481: Is generally taken to be the first philosopher to use conscientia in a way less like the traditional meaning and more like the way modern English speakers would use "conscience", his meaning is nowhere defined. In Search after Truth ( Regulæ ad directionem ingenii ut et inquisitio veritatis per lumen naturale , Amsterdam 1701) he wrote the word with a gloss : conscientiâ, vel interno testimonio (translatable as "conscience, or internal testimony"). It might mean
3224-532: Is hiṃsā 4. Brahmacharya – It means chastity for householders and celibacy in action, words & thoughts for ascetics. Unchastity ( abrahma ) is copulation arising from sexual desire. There is all-round injury to the living in copulation and, therefore, it is hiṃsā . Just as a hot rod of iron inserted into a tube filled with sesame seeds burns them up, in the same way, many beings get killed during sexual intercourse 5. Aparigraha ( Non-possession ) – According to Jain texts, attachment to possessions ( parigraha )
3348-613: Is intrinsically incapable of explaining the holistic aspects of consciousness, but that quantum theory may provide the missing ingredients. Several theorists have therefore proposed quantum mind (QM) theories of consciousness. Notable theories falling into this category include the holonomic brain theory of Karl Pribram and David Bohm , and the Orch-OR theory formulated by Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose . Some of these QM theories offer descriptions of phenomenal consciousness, as well as QM interpretations of access consciousness. None of
3472-493: Is kept to a minimum and must in any event be from naturally dead animals. Food is usually eaten during the day unless unavoidable, since there is too much danger of injuring insects in cooking at night. The Jain will not use an open light nor leave a container of liquid uncovered lest a stray insect be destroyed; even with this precaution, liquids are always strained before use. Through the ages Jains have sought to avoid occupations that unavoidably entail injury, and this accounts for
3596-470: Is linked to some kind of "selfhood", for example to certain pragmatic issues such as the feeling of agency and the effects of regret and action on experience of one's own body or social identity. Similarly Daniel Kahneman , who focused on systematic errors in perception, memory and decision-making, has differentiated between two kinds of mental processes, or cognitive "systems": the "fast" activities that are primary, automatic and "cannot be turned off", and
3720-462: Is meant to elevate the believer beyond the normal life of desire, to a chosen ideal, by following a path of renunciation. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, amongst others, pre-marital sex is prohibited. For Jews , the principal day of fast is Yom Kippur , the Day of Atonement. In Western Christianity , Roman Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays except solemnities . During
3844-454: Is merely an illusion), and neutral monism (which holds that both mind and matter are aspects of a distinct essence that is itself identical to neither of them). There are also, however, a large number of idiosyncratic theories that cannot cleanly be assigned to any of these schools of thought. Since the dawn of Newtonian science with its vision of simple mechanical principles governing the entire universe, some philosophers have been tempted by
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3968-585: Is much more challenging: he calls this the hard problem of consciousness . Some philosophers believe that Block's two types of consciousness are not the end of the story. William Lycan , for example, argued in his book Consciousness and Experience that at least eight clearly distinct types of consciousness can be identified (organism consciousness; control consciousness; consciousness of ; state/event consciousness; reportability; introspective consciousness; subjective consciousness; self-consciousness)—and that even this list omits several more obscure forms. There
4092-422: Is noble and what is evil? The knowledge is also considered necessary to destroy Karmas . Samaṇ Suttaṁ declared: The ignorant cannot destroy their Karmas by their actions while the wise can do it by their inaction i.e. by controlling their activities because they are free from greed and lustful passions and do not commit any sin as they remain contented Anekantavada is the principle of relativity of truth or
4216-446: Is non-absolutist and stands firmly against all dogmatisms, even including any assertion that only Jainism is the right religious path. While the Jain ascetics observe absolute nonviolence, so far as a Jain householder is concerned, the violence is categorised as follows: It would be wrong, however, to conclude that Ahimsa only prohibits physical violence. An early Jain text says: "With
4340-601: Is non-living to practice Ahimsa faultlessly. A person who is confused between Living and non-living can never observe non-violence. Daśavaikālika Sūtra declared: First knowledge, then compassion. Thus does one remain in full control. How can an ignorant person be compassionate, when he cannot distinguish between the good and the evil? It further declares: Knowledge of living and non-living alone will enable one to become compassionate towards all living creatures. Knowing this all aspirants, proceed from knowledge to eternal virtues. What can an ignorant do? How does he know what
4464-457: Is not a simple matter: If awareness of the environment . . . is the criterion of consciousness, then even the protozoans are conscious. If awareness of awareness is required, then it is doubtful whether the great apes and human infants are conscious. Many philosophers have argued that consciousness is a unitary concept that is understood by the majority of people despite the difficulty philosophers have had defining it. Max Velmans proposed that
4588-454: Is not necessary to explain what we observe. Some philosophers, such as Daniel Dennett in a research paper titled "The Unimagined Preposterousness of Zombies", argue that people who give this explanation do not really understand what they are saying. More broadly, philosophers who do not accept the possibility of zombies generally believe that consciousness is reflected in behavior (including verbal behavior), and that we attribute consciousness on
4712-427: Is not prepared for themselves. Ascetics of the Śvētāmbara tradition wear a small mask to avoid taking in tiny insects. The observation of three guptis or the controls of mind, speech and body and five samiti are designed to help the monks in observing the vow of Ahimsa faultlessly. A monk is required to cultivate the habit of carefulness ( samti ), in respect of the following five particulars: The entire day of
4836-444: Is now the dominant position among contemporary philosophers of mind. For an overview of the field, approaches often include both historical perspectives (e.g., Descartes, Locke, Kant ) and organization by key issues in contemporary debates. An alternative is to focus primarily on current philosophical stances and empirical Philosophers differ from non-philosophers in their intuitions about what consciousness is. While most people have
4960-588: Is of two kinds: attachment to internal possessions ( ābhyantara parigraha ), and attachment to external possessions ( bāhya parigraha ). The fourteen internal possessions are: Wrong belief, the three sex-passions (male sex-passion, female sex-passion, and neuter sex-passion), also the six defects (laughter, liking, disliking, sorrow, fear, and disgust), and four passions (anger, pride, deceitfulness, and greed). According to Jain texts, "internal possessions are proved to be hiṃsā as these are just another name for himsā ". External possessions are divided into two sub-classes,
5084-444: Is passion and therefore, it is said to cause hiṃsā (injury). According to Jain text Sarvārthasiddhi , translates S.A. Jain, "that which causes pain and suffering to the living is not commendable, whether it refers to actual facts or not is immaterial". 3. Asteya (Non-thieving) – According to Puruşārthasiddhyupāya : Driven by passions, taking anything that has not been given be termed as theft and since theft causes injury, it
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5208-518: Is physically indistinguishable from a human being and behaves like a human being in every way but nevertheless lacks consciousness. Related issues have also been studied extensively by Greg Littmann of the University of Illinois, and by Colin Allen (a professor at the University of Pittsburgh) regarding the literature and research studying artificial intelligence in androids. The most commonly given answer
5332-411: Is possible to observe complete nonviolence with right knowledge, even when some outward violence occurs to living beings in the course of performing religious duties by observing carefulness and pure mental disposition without any attachment. According to Jainism, a monk who is careless in his activities is guilty of violence irrespective of whether a living being remains alive or dies; on the other hand,
5456-445: Is raw experience: it is moving, colored forms, sounds, sensations, emotions and feelings with our bodies and responses at the center. These experiences, considered independently of any impact on behavior, are called qualia . A-consciousness, on the other hand, is the phenomenon whereby information in our minds is accessible for verbal report, reasoning, and the control of behavior. So, when we perceive , information about what we perceive
5580-417: Is removed from the drug environment. This makes them unable to have access to the drug. An example of forced abstinence is in-patient rehabilitation treatment, or incarceration. There are three main triggers of relapse: stress, drug re-exposure and drug associated cues. An individual may relapse if they are presented with a stressful situation that compels them to re-administer the drug that they used to take. If
5704-465: Is subject to individual choices and not authorized by scriptures. The Jain concept of ahimsa is very different from the concept of nonviolence found in other philosophies. Violence is usually associated with causing harm to others. But according to the Jain philosophy , violence refers primarily to injuring one's own self – behaviour which inhibits the soul's own ability to attain moksha (liberation from
5828-470: Is synonymous with the mind , and at other times, an aspect of it. In the past, it was one's "inner life", the world of introspection , of private thought , imagination , and volition . Today, it often includes any kind of cognition , experience , feeling , or perception . It may be awareness, awareness of awareness, metacognition , or self-awareness , either continuously changing or not. The disparate range of research, notions and speculations raises
5952-428: Is that we attribute consciousness to other people because we see that they resemble us in appearance and behavior; we reason that if they look like us and act like us, they must be like us in other ways, including having experiences of the sort that we do. There are, however, a variety of problems with that explanation. For one thing, it seems to violate the principle of parsimony , by postulating an invisible entity that
6076-412: Is the deciding factor, not the external act which is inconclusive. Thus pure intention along with carefulness was considered necessary to practice Ahimsa as Jains admitted that even if intention may be pure, careless activities often resulted in violence unknowingly. The Jains also considered right knowledge as a prerequisite for practising Ahimsa . It is necessary to know what is living and what
6200-1006: Is the discontinuation of a smoked or vaporized substance, such as tobacco or anything containing nicotine . Teetotalism is the practice and promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages . Some common reasons for choosing teetotalism are religious , health , family , philosophical or social reasons, and, sometimes, as simply a matter of taste preference. When at drinking establishments , they either abstain from drinking or consume non-alcoholic beverages such as tea, coffee, water, juice, and soft drinks . Contemporary and colloquial usage has somewhat expanded teetotalism to include strict abstinence from most "recreational" intoxicants (legal and illegal, see controlled substances ). Most teetotaller organizations also demand from their members that they do not promote or produce alcoholic intoxicants. A general abstinence from pleasures or leisure , either partial or full, may be motivated by ambition, career or general self-respect (excluding
6324-456: Is the doctrine and Syadvada is its expression. According to Jaina philosophers all important philosophical statements should be expressed in this sevenfold way in order to remove the danger of dogmatism ( ekanta ) in philosophy. The concept of syadvada allows the Jains to accept the truth in other philosophies from their perspectives, thus inculcating a tolerance for other viewpoints. Anekantvada
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#17328523759026448-409: Is the fact that consciousness of some sort goes on. 'States of mind' succeed each other in him . [...] But everyone knows what the terms mean [only] in a rough way; [...] When I say every 'state' or 'thought' is part of a personal consciousness , 'personal consciousness' is one of the terms in question. Its meaning we know so long as no one asks us to define it, but to give an accurate account of it
6572-438: Is the most difficult of philosophic tasks. [...] The only states of consciousness that we naturally deal with are found in personal consciousnesses, minds, selves, concrete particular I's and you's. Prior to the 20th century, philosophers treated the phenomenon of consciousness as the "inner world [of] one's own mind", and introspection was the mind "attending to" itself, an activity seemingly distinct from that of perceiving
6696-437: Is the sum total of all different viewpoints that make up the universe. Because it is rooted in these doctrines, Jainism cannot exclusively uphold the views of any individual, community, nation, or species. It recognises inherently that other views are valid for other peoples, and for other life-forms. This perception leads to the doctrine of syadvada or sevenfold predication stating the truth from different viewpoints. Anekantvada
6820-426: Is unable to adhere to the five major vows of ascetic. Hence he observes aṇuvrata or minor vows which although are similar to the major vows of the ascetics are observed with a lesser severity. It is difficult to avoid some violence by a lay person to single-sensed immobile beings in the process of occupation, cooking, self-defense etc. That is why he vows not to kill without a necessary purpose and determined intention,
6944-486: The unconscious processes of cognition such as perception , reactive awareness and attention , and automatic forms of learning , problem-solving , and decision-making . The cognitive science point of view—with an inter-disciplinary perspective involving fields such as psychology , linguistics and anthropology —requires no agreed definition of "consciousness" but studies the interaction of many processes besides perception. For some researchers, consciousness
7068-684: The Journal of Consciousness Studies , along with regular conferences organized by groups such as the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness and the Society for Consciousness Studies . Ahimsa in Jainism In Jainism , ahiṃsā ( Ahimsā , alternatively spelled 'ahinsā', Sanskrit : अहिंसा IAST : ahinsā , Pāli : avihinsā ) is a fundamental principle forming
7192-575: The Zhuangzi. This bird's name is Of a Flock ( peng 鵬 ), yet its back is countless thousands of miles across and its wings are like clouds arcing across the heavens. "Like Of a Flock, whose wings arc across the heavens, the wings of your consciousness span to the horizon. At the same time, the wings of every other being's consciousness span to the horizon. You are of a flock, one bird among kin." Mental processes (such as consciousness) and physical processes (such as brain events) seem to be correlated, however
7316-559: The Daniel Fast during the whole season of Lent, in which believers practice abstinence from meat, lacticina and alcohol for the entire forty days of the liturgical season. Orthodox Christians abstain from food and drink from midnight on the day they receive Holy Communion, and abstain from meat and dairy on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, as well as during Great Lent. During Great Lent, Orthodox Christians practice sexual abstinence . The Seventh-day Adventist Church encourages
7440-627: The English language date to the 17th century, and the first recorded use of "conscious" as a simple adjective was applied figuratively to inanimate objects ( "the conscious Groves" , 1643). It derived from the Latin conscius ( con- "together" and scio "to know") which meant "knowing with" or "having joint or common knowledge with another", especially as in sharing a secret. Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan (1651) wrote: "Where two, or more men, know of one and
7564-619: The "contents of conscious experience by introspection and experiment ". Another popular metaphor was James's doctrine of the stream of consciousness , with continuity, fringes, and transitions. James discussed the difficulties of describing and studying psychological phenomena, recognizing that commonly-used terminology was a necessary and acceptable starting point towards more precise, scientifically justified language. Prime examples were phrases like inner experience and personal consciousness : The first and foremost concrete fact which every one will affirm to belong to his inner experience
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#17328523759027688-439: The "everyday understanding of consciousness" uncontroversially "refers to experience itself rather than any particular thing that we observe or experience" and he added that consciousness "is [therefore] exemplified by all the things that we observe or experience", whether thoughts, feelings, or perceptions. Velmans noted however, as of 2009, that there was a deep level of "confusion and internal division" among experts about
7812-485: The "slow", deliberate, effortful activities of a secondary system "often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration". Kahneman's two systems have been described as "roughly corresponding to unconscious and conscious processes". The two systems can interact, for example in sharing the control of attention. While System 1 can be impulsive, "System 2 is in charge of self-control", and "When we think of ourselves, we identify with System 2,
7936-464: The "structure" of the mind by analyzing its "elements". The abstract idea of states of consciousness mirrored the concept of states of matter . In 1892, William James noted that the "ambiguous word 'content' has been recently invented instead of 'object'" and that the metaphor of mind as a container seemed to minimize the dualistic problem of how "states of consciousness can know " things, or objects; by 1899 psychologists were busily studying
8060-456: The 'outer world' and its physical phenomena. In 1892 William James noted the distinction along with doubts about the inward character of the mind: 'Things' have been doubted, but thoughts and feelings have never been doubted. The outer world, but never the inner world, has been denied. Everyone assumes that we have direct introspective acquaintance with our thinking activity as such, with our consciousness as something inward and contrasted with
8184-473: The Basic Text of Narcotics Anonymous, a large fellowship following the 12-steps outlined by AA, NA is outlined to be "a program of complete abstinence from all mood or mind-altering substances." This description includes alcohol and is widely known to include any kind of prescription narcotics, like pain-killers (opiates), anti-anxiety medicine (benzodiazepines) or diet pills (stimulants). The practice of abstinence
8308-693: The Christian season of repentance, Lent , many Lutheran Christians abstain from alcohol and meat on Fridays. In the Anglican Communion , the Book of Common Prayer prescribes certain days as days for fasting and abstinence, "consisting of the 40 days of Lent, the ember days, the three rogation days (the Monday to Wednesday following the Sunday after Ascension Day), and all Fridays in the year (except Christmas Day, if it falls on
8432-514: The Jain conception of ahimsa is quite different from what is commonly understood by violence. The violence is defined more by the motives and the consequences to the self rather than by the act itself. Furthermore, according to Jain Scriptures, destruction of less developed organism brings about lesser karmas than destruction of developed animals and karmas generated in observance of religious duties faultlessly disappears almost immediately. Hence, it
8556-494: The Jain ethics makes that goal attainable only through consideration for others. Furthermore, according to the Jain karmic theory, each and every soul, including self, has reincarnated as an animal, plant or microorganism innumerable number of times besides re-incarnated as humans. The concept of Ahimsa is more meaningful when understood in conjunction with the concept of karmas. As the doctrine of transmigration of souls includes rebirth in animal as well as human form, it creates
8680-422: The afternoon, and cannot accept money. Jains abstain from violence in any form, and will not consume living creatures or kill bugs or insects. Lord Ayappa devotees who visit the shrine, observe 41 days of fasting which includes abstinence. In medicine, abstinence is the discontinuation of a drug, often an addictive one. This might, in addition to craving after the drug, be expressed as withdrawal syndromes . In
8804-410: The ages. Ahimsa being central to the Jain philosophy , Jain Ācāryas have produced, through ages, quite elaborate and detailed doctrinal materials concerning its various aspects. Paul Dundas quotes Ācārya Jinabhadra (7th century), who shows that the omnipresence of life-forms in the universe need not totally inhibit normal behaviour of the ascetics: It is the intention that ultimately matters. From
8928-543: The ascetics, it is often argued that the man is constantly obliged to engage in destructive activities of eating, drinking, breathing and surviving in order to support his body. According to Jainism, life is omnipresent with infinite beings including microorganisms pervading each and every part of the universe. Hence it may still be possible to avoid killing of gross animals, but it is impossible to avoid killing of subtle microorganisms in air and water, plant life and various types of insects that may be crushed by walking. However,
9052-448: The basis of behavior. A more straightforward way of saying this is that we attribute experiences to people because of what they can do , including the fact that they can tell us about their experiences. The term " qualia " was introduced in philosophical literature by C. I. Lewis . The word is derived from Latin and means "of what sort". It is basically a quantity or property of something as perceived or experienced by an individual, like
9176-591: The body surface" invites another criticism, that most consciousness research since the 1990s, perhaps because of bias, has focused on processes of external perception . From a history of psychology perspective, Julian Jaynes rejected popular but "superficial views of consciousness" especially those which equate it with "that vaguest of terms, experience ". In 1976 he insisted that if not for introspection , which for decades had been ignored or taken for granted rather than explained, there could be no "conception of what consciousness is" and in 1990, he reaffirmed
9300-408: The brain. This neuroscientific goal is to find the "neural correlates of consciousness" (NCC). One criticism of this goal is that it begins with a theoretical commitment to the neurological origin of all "experienced phenomena" whether inner or outer. Also, the fact that the easiest 'content of consciousness' to be so analyzed is "the experienced three-dimensional world (the phenomenal world) beyond
9424-436: The brain. Many other neuroscientists, such as Christof Koch , have explored the neural basis of consciousness without attempting to frame all-encompassing global theories. At the same time, computer scientists working in the field of artificial intelligence have pursued the goal of creating digital computer programs that can simulate or embody consciousness . A few theoretical physicists have argued that classical physics
9548-637: The conscious, reasoning self that has beliefs, makes choices, and decides what to think about and what to do". Some have argued that we should eliminate the concept from our understanding of the mind, a position known as consciousness semanticism. In medicine , a "level of consciousness" terminology is used to describe a patient's arousal and responsiveness, which can be seen as a continuum of states ranging from full alertness and comprehension , through disorientation, delirium , loss of meaningful communication, and finally loss of movement in response to painful stimuli . Issues of practical concern include how
9672-460: The consumption of only clean meats as specified in Leviticus and forbids the consumption of alcohol, smoking, and the use of narcotics . Latter-Day Saints abstain from certain foods and drinks by combining spiritual discipline with health concerns. Mormons also fast one day a month, for both spiritual and charitable reasons (the money saved by skipping meals is donated to the needy). For Muslims ,
9796-456: The cornerstone of its ethics and doctrine. The term ahiṃsā means nonviolence , non-injury, and absence of desire to harm any life forms. Veganism , vegetarianism and other nonviolent practices and rituals of Jains flow from the principle of ahimsa. There are five specific transgressions of Ahimsa principle in Jain scriptures – binding of animals, beating, mutilating limbs, overloading, and withholding food and drink. Any other interpretation
9920-467: The cycle of births and deaths). At the same time it also implies violence to others because it is this tendency to harm others that ultimately harms one's own soul. Furthermore, the Jains extend the concept of ahimsa not only to humans but to all animals, plants, micro-organisms and all beings having life or life potential. All life is sacred and everything has a right to live fearlessly to its maximum potential. Living beings need not fear those who have taken
10044-422: The difficulty of producing a definition that does not involve circularity or fuzziness. In The Macmillan Dictionary of Psychology (1989 edition), Stuart Sutherland emphasized external awareness, and expressed a skeptical attitude more than a definition: Consciousness —The having of perceptions, thoughts, and feelings ; awareness. The term is impossible to define except in terms that are unintelligible without
10168-427: The disproportionate number who have entered banking, commerce and other mercantile trades. Jain texts list down five transgressions of the vow of ahimsa: A king who fights in defending his empire, however, does not violate the vow of ahimsa, for his motive is to protect his subjects. The same is the case with the judge who punishes to maintain law and order. While Jainism enjoins observance of total nonviolence by
10292-724: The distinction between inward awareness and perception of the physical world, or the distinction between conscious and unconscious , or the notion of a mental entity or mental activity that is not physical. The common-usage definitions of consciousness in Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1966) are as follows: The Cambridge English Dictionary defines consciousness as "the state of understanding and realizing something". The Oxford Living Dictionary defines consciousness as "[t]he state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings", "[a] person's awareness or perception of something", and "[t]he fact of awareness by
10416-510: The doctrine of multiple aspects. Jains hold that truth is multifaceted and has multiple sides that cannot be completely comprehended by anyone. Anekantavada describes the world as a multifaceted, ever-changing reality with an infinity of viewpoints relative to the time, place, nature and state of one who is the viewer and that which is viewed. What is true from one point of view is open to question from another. Absolute truth cannot be grasped from any particular viewpoint alone, because absolute truth
10540-403: The five senses, energy, respiration, life-duration, the organ of speech, and the mind. Living beings are classified on the basis of their sensory organs ( indriya ) and life essentials ( praṇa ) they possess. According to Jain texts: According to Tattvarthasutra , one of the most important Jainism scriptures, "the severance of vitalities out of passion is injury". Therefore, the higher
10664-492: The following negative emotions motivate the violence. In Jainism, "non-manifestation of passions like attachment is non-injury ( Ahimsa ), and manifestation of such passions is injury ( himsa )." This is termed as the essence of the Jaina Scriptures. According to Jainism, the purpose of nonviolence is not because it is a commandment of a God or any other supreme being. Its purpose is also not simply because its observance
10788-467: The following example: It is difficult for modern Western man to grasp that the Greeks really had no concept of consciousness in that they did not class together phenomena as varied as problem solving, remembering, imagining, perceiving, feeling pain, dreaming, and acting on the grounds that all these are manifestations of being aware or being conscious. Many philosophers and scientists have been unhappy about
10912-470: The highest standard, even at the cost of their own life. The other four major vows – truthfulness, non-stealing, non-possession and celibacy – are in fact extension of the first vow of complete nonviolence. The ascetic practices of total renunciation of worldly affairs and possessions, refusal to stay in a single place for a long time, continuous practice of austerities like fasting etc. are geared towards observance of Ahimsa . The Jain mendicants abide by
11036-581: The idea that consciousness could be explained in purely physical terms. The first influential writer to propose such an idea explicitly was Julien Offray de La Mettrie , in his book Man a Machine ( L'homme machine ). His arguments, however, were very abstract. The most influential modern physical theories of consciousness are based on psychology and neuroscience . Theories proposed by neuroscientists such as Gerald Edelman and Antonio Damasio , and by philosophers such as Daniel Dennett, seek to explain consciousness in terms of neural events occurring within
11160-438: The individual is in an environment where they are in contact with the drug, they may feel compelled to engage in drug-taking behaviour (for example, someone who is practicing sobriety that finds themselves in a bar and re-engages in drinking alcohol). Finally, drug associated cues can be the environment in which the person used to administer the drug, or the smell of a cigarette. Individuals report that when engaging in abstinence,
11284-437: The inside, subjectively. The problem of other minds is a philosophical problem traditionally stated as the following epistemological question: Given that I can only observe the behavior of others, how can I know that others have minds? The problem of other minds is particularly acute for people who believe in the possibility of philosophical zombies , that is, people who think it is possible in principle to have an entity that
11408-590: The interaction between these two domains occurs inside the brain, perhaps in a small midline structure called the pineal gland . Although it is widely accepted that Descartes explained the problem cogently, few later philosophers have been happy with his solution, and his ideas about the pineal gland have especially been ridiculed. However, no alternative solution has gained general acceptance. Proposed solutions can be divided broadly into two categories: dualist solutions that maintain Descartes's rigid distinction between
11532-525: The knowledge of the value of one's own thoughts. The origin of the modern concept of consciousness is often attributed to John Locke who defined the word in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding , published in 1690, as "the perception of what passes in a man's own mind". The essay strongly influenced 18th-century British philosophy , and Locke's definition appeared in Samuel Johnson 's celebrated Dictionary (1755). The French term conscience
11656-472: The level of consciousness can be assessed in severely ill, comatose, or anesthetized people, and how to treat conditions in which consciousness is impaired or disrupted. The degree or level of consciousness is measured by standardized behavior observation scales such as the Glasgow Coma Scale . While historically philosophers have defended various views on consciousness, surveys indicate that physicalism
11780-456: The level of your experience, you are not a body of cells, organelles, and atoms; you are consciousness and its ever-changing contents". Seen in this way, consciousness is a subjectively experienced, ever-present field in which things (the contents of consciousness) come and go. Christopher Tricker argues that this field of consciousness is symbolized by the mythical bird that opens the Daoist classic
11904-554: The longer they are not taking the drug, the more they crave it. Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink , or both, for a period of time. A fast may be total or partial concerning that from which one fasts, and may be prolonged or intermittent as to the period of fasting. Fasting practices may preclude sexual activity as well as food, in addition to refraining from eating certain types or groups of foods; for example, one might refrain from eating meat . A complete fast in its traditional definition
12028-540: The major vows are adhered to. Jainism is perhaps the only religion in the world that requires all its adherents to follow a strict vegetarian diet. Vegetarian food that also involves more harm to the living beings such as roots, bulbs, multi seeded vegetables etc. are avoided by strict Jains. The importance of ahimsa manifests in many other ways in the daily life of Jains. For a layperson it means participating in business that results in least amount of violence to living beings. No furs, plumes or silk are worn. Use of leather
12152-522: The mind of itself and the world". Philosophers have attempted to clarify technical distinctions by using a jargon of their own. The corresponding entry in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998) reads: During the early 19th century, the emerging field of geology inspired a popular metaphor that the mind likewise had hidden layers "which recorded the past of the individual". By 1875, most psychologists believed that "consciousness
12276-488: The nature of consciousness as a matter for investigation; Donald Michie was a keynote speaker. Starting in the 1980s, an expanding community of neuroscientists and psychologists have associated themselves with a field called Consciousness Studies , giving rise to a stream of experimental work published in books, journals such as Consciousness and Cognition , Frontiers in Consciousness Research , Psyche , and
12400-408: The negative consequences that are often associated with the drug. Depending on the individual, abstinence time may vary. In many cases, individuals relapse, and the cycle begins anew. There are several forms of abstinence that exist. Two common ones are forced and voluntary. Voluntary abstinence refers to an individual actively choosing to stop taking the drug. Forced abstinence occurs when an individual
12524-400: The non-living, and the living. "External possessions, due to the passion of attachment in them, result into himsā ." These five vows are called Mahāvratas (major vows) when observed by an ascetic. Ahimsa is the first and foremost of all vows. Jain monks and nuns must rank among the most "nonviolent" people in the world. A Jain ascetic is expected to uphold the vow of Ahimsa to
12648-409: The notion of quantum consciousness, an experiment about wave function collapse led by Catalina Curceanu in 2022 suggests that quantum consciousness, as suggested by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff , is highly implausible. Apart from the general question of the "hard problem" of consciousness (which is, roughly speaking, the question of how mental experience can arise from a physical basis ),
12772-423: The number of senses and vitalities a being has, the more is its capacity to suffer and feel pain. Hence according to Jainism, violence to higher-sensed beings like man, cow, tiger and those who have five senses and the capacity to think and feel pain attracts more karma than violence to lesser-sensed beings like insects , or single-sensed beings like microbes and plants . Out of the five types of living beings,
12896-414: The outer objects which it knows. Yet I must confess that for my part I cannot feel sure of this conclusion. [...] It seems as if consciousness as an inner activity were rather a postulate than a sensibly given fact... By the 1960s, for many philosophers and psychologists who talked about consciousness, the word no longer meant the 'inner world' but an indefinite, large category called awareness , as in
13020-578: The period of fasting lasts during the whole month of Ramadan , from dawn to dusk. In India , Buddhists , Jains , Sikhs and Hindus abstain from eating meat and fish (basically, all living animals) on the grounds both of health and of reverence for all sentient forms of life. Total abstinence from feeding on the flesh of cows is a hallmark of Hinduism . In addition, lay and monastic Buddhists refrain from killing any living creature and from consuming intoxicants, and bhikkhus keep vows of celibacy. In Theravada Buddhism, bhikkhus also refrain from eating in
13144-701: The person who is ever vigilant and careful in observing the samitis experiences no karmic bondage simply because some violence may have taken place in connection with his activities. Carefulness came to be seen as a defence for the monks against violence in Jainism. Tattvārthasūtra defines hiṃsā or violence simply as removal of life by careless activity of mind, body and speech. Thus action in Jainism came to be regarded as truly violent only when accompanied by carelessness. Ahimsa does not merely indicate absence of physical violence, but also indicates absence of desire to indulge in any sort of violence. Jains have strongly advocated vegetarianism and nonviolence throughout
13268-403: The phenomenon of consciousness, because researchers lacked "a sufficiently well-specified use of the term...to agree that they are investigating the same thing". He argued additionally that "pre-existing theoretical commitments" to competing explanations of consciousness might be a source of bias. Within the "modern consciousness studies" community the technical phrase 'phenomenal consciousness'
13392-556: The point of view that even the latter examples may be regarded as sources of pleasure). This systematic review highlights the effectiveness of caffeine abstinence for improving sleep quality. Conscious mind Consciousness , at its simplest, is awareness of internal and external existence . However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate by philosophers , scientists , and theologians . Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied or even considered consciousness. In some explanations, it
13516-409: The quantum mechanical theories have been confirmed by experiment. Recent publications by G. Guerreshi, J. Cia, S. Popescu, and H. Briegel could falsify proposals such as those of Hameroff, which rely on quantum entanglement in protein. At the present time many scientists and philosophers consider the arguments for an important role of quantum phenomena to be unconvincing. Empirical evidence is against
13640-413: The real point of view, a man does not become a killer only because he has killed or because the world is crowded with souls, or remain innocent only because he has not killed physically. Even if a person does not actually kill, he becomes a killer if he has the intention to kill; while a doctor has to cause pain but is still non-violent and innocent because his intention is pure, for it is the intention which
13764-411: The realm of consciousness and the realm of matter but give different answers for how the two realms relate to each other; and monist solutions that maintain that there is really only one realm of being, of which consciousness and matter are both aspects. Each of these categories itself contains numerous variants. The two main types of dualism are substance dualism (which holds that the mind is formed of
13888-454: The same fact, they are said to be Conscious of it one to another". There were also many occurrences in Latin writings of the phrase conscius sibi , which translates literally as "knowing with oneself", or in other words "sharing knowledge with oneself about something". This phrase has the figurative sense of "knowing that one knows", which is something like the modern English word "conscious", but it
14012-663: The scent of rose, the taste of wine, or the pain of a headache. They are difficult to articulate or describe. The philosopher and scientist Daniel Dennett describes them as "the way things seem to us", while philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers expanded on qualia as the " hard problem of consciousness " in the 1990s. When qualia is experienced, activity is simulated in the brain, and these processes are called neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs). Many scientific studies have been done to attempt to link particular brain regions with emotions or experiences. Species which experience qualia are said to have sentience , which
14136-448: The self. The ultimate rationale of ahimsa is fundamentally about karmic results of the hiṃsā on self and the society and not just a dogmatic principle or commandment. The Jain vegetarian diet is practised by the followers of Jain culture and philosophy. It is considered one of the most rigorous forms of a spiritually motivated diet on the Indian subcontinent and beyond. The Jain cuisine
14260-401: The soul with karmas . It would be entirely wrong to see Ahimsa in Jainism in any sentimental light. The Jain doctrine of non-injury is based on rational consciousness, not emotional compassion; on responsibility to self, not on a social fellow feeling. The motive of Ahimsa is totally self-centered and for the benefit of the individual. And yet, though the emphasis is on personal liberation,
14384-444: The specific nature of the connection is unknown. The first influential philosopher to discuss this question specifically was Descartes , and the answer he gave is known as mind–body dualism . Descartes proposed that consciousness resides within an immaterial domain he called res cogitans (the realm of thought), in contrast to the domain of material things, which he called res extensa (the realm of extension). He suggested that
14508-444: The thoughts and intentions whereas Karm Ahimsa is not hurting someone through some actions or words. The text expounds that "all these subdivisions (injury, falsehood, stealing, unchastity, and attachment) are hiṃsā as indulgence in these sullies the pure nature of the soul. Falsehood etc. have been mentioned separately only to make the disciple understand through illustrations." 2. Satya (Truth) – The underlying cause of falsehood
14632-405: The three means of punishment – thoughts, words, deeds – ye shall not injure living beings." In fact, violence can be committed by combination of the following four factors: 1. The instrumentality of our actions. We can commit violence through 2. The process of committing violence. This includes whether 3. The modality of our action, whether 4. The motivation for action. This includes which of
14756-407: The traditional idea of the phenomenon called 'consciousness', writing that "its denotative definition is, as it was for Descartes , Locke , and Hume , what is introspectable". Jaynes saw consciousness as an important but small part of human mentality, and he asserted: "there can be no progress in the science of consciousness until ... what is introspectable [is] sharply distinguished" from
14880-599: The use of tobacco; additionally, all Fridays of the year are days of fasting and abstinence from meat in Methodist Christianity (except Christmas Day, if it falls on a Friday). In Western Christianity, abstinence from meat on Fridays is done as a sacrifice because on Good Friday , Jesus sacrificed his flesh for humanity. In many Western Christian Churches , including those of the Catholic, Methodist and Baptist traditions, certain congregations have committed to undertaking
15004-441: The vow of ahimsa . According to Jainism, protection of life, also known as abhayadānam , is the supreme charity that a person can make. Ahimsa does not merely indicate absence of physical violence, but also indicates absence of desire to indulge in any sort of violence. Jains have strongly advocated veganism and nonviolence throughout the ages. Jain texts expound that there are ten life essentials or life-principles; these are:
15128-488: The world, but of entities, or identities, acting in the world. Thus, by speaking of "consciousness" we end up leading ourselves by thinking that there is any sort of thing as consciousness separated from behavioral and linguistic understandings. Ned Block argued that discussions on consciousness often failed to properly distinguish phenomenal (P-consciousness) from access (A-consciousness), though these terms had been used before Block. P-consciousness, according to Block,
15252-440: Was but a small part of mental life", and this idea underlies the goal of Freudian therapy , to expose the unconscious layer of the mind. Other metaphors from various sciences inspired other analyses of the mind, for example: Johann Friedrich Herbart described ideas as being attracted and repulsed like magnets; John Stuart Mill developed the idea of "mental chemistry" and "mental compounds", and Edward B. Titchener sought
15376-533: Was rendered into English as "conscious to oneself" or "conscious unto oneself". For example, Archbishop Ussher wrote in 1613 of "being so conscious unto myself of my great weakness". The Latin conscientia , literally 'knowledge-with', first appears in Roman juridical texts by writers such as Cicero . It means a kind of shared knowledge with moral value, specifically what a witness knows of someone else's deeds. Although René Descartes (1596–1650), writing in Latin,
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