Universitas

In Universitas lies a different view of consciousness. The author shows that what we call “consciousness” is just as much a logical extension of evolutionary processes as our physical traits and he takes us logically through the process. Finally, in the last chapter, he takes thinking on this subject on a path usually avoided by most philosophers. Instead of getting mired in the incessant arguments between materialists and idealists, he steps boldly “outside the box” for an unusually lucid and (once you’ve read it) logical and complete understanding of consciousness; the “box” in this case is the cranium. Consciousness here is seen as the overarching reality and, by offering an alternative idea, the long-standing philosophical dispute between idealists and materialists is made moot. Long believing the current theories that consciousness was a human faculty and an epiphenomenon of matter, the author had doubts creep in with studies that showed that, perhaps, less exalted organisms might lay claim to some degree of this phenomenon. This small text seeks to place human “consciousness” logically within evolution. Implicit in the book is the profound understanding that everything we see as “problems” exists only when we see ourselves as somehow separate from the entire context of Nature and, rather than expounding ways in which we are “special”, explores those myriad ways in which we are not. Obviously, if we take an objective view of Western culture, we must admit that it doesn’t “work.” It is also objectively certain that we have lost any realistic, common sense view of our place, both in Nature and in society; the Eurocentric, “caucasosentric” paradigm in which we operate does not allow any admission that some other culture may have better ways by which to function in the world, a more realistic, less materialistic context in which to make their decisions. In the Native American way, we are all, every one of us, a seventh generation. As if this exploration is not enough, the author takes a stab at answering the “eternal questions” – “Why are we here, what are we supposed to do, where are we going” – and puts humans on notice that we, all of us, are responsible for our own future.