A World appears

A World appears,
Michael Pollan
Arbeiderspers 2026

What is consciousness?

This simple question has baffled generations of scientists and philosophers alike. Michael Pollan recently wrote an excellent book on this subject. He interviewed many top specialists in the field in an attempt to increase his understanding. Why should a spiritually interested person, you for instance, read this book? Your spiritual experiences do not change or become higher quality if you know more about your consciousness, which is the receiver of these experiences. A radio does not become more informative or entertaining when you know how it works. And yet it matters. Pollan reports on developments in the field. He shows that the frequently used comparison of our brain to a computer is not sustainable and tends to obscure any understanding of consciousness we may develop. Unlike computers, sentient beings have to battle against changes in their environment that threaten homeostasis. Blood pressure, changes in nutrient availability, breathing frequency, internal temperature, the need to get rid of waste products. It all depends on timely integration of information from the outside world, and reacting appropriately. If not, it results in death of the system. A computer, being most literally built of hardware, has none of these threats to counter. Therefore it is unlikely that it will ever develop real consciousness, although it may be programmed to simulate it to an astonishing degree.

When we define consciousness along these lines, humans are not the only living beings that possess it. Science has shown that animals have it, plants have it. Some maintain that even materials have some. This concept is called panpsychism. It has gained some acceptance in science, but has been around for ages in spiritual teachings. The Indian mystic Inayat Khan states in one of his Aphorisms: “… all beings including trees and plants, rocks and mountains, oceans and rivers, are prayerful; and all attain to that spiritual summit which is the real longing of every soul”.

So spiritually speaking, it is a common concept that we share awareness with all living beings. When we can actually experience this connectedness with all the universe, we can forget about ourselves. We consistently find this in reports of visions, near death experiences or moments of pure bliss.

Pollan also reports on the use of psychedelic compounds to attain altered states of consciousness. Their use reveals that our standard waking reality is just one constructed version of being. The awareness disruptions caused by psychedelics offer a direct glimpse into a vast, interconnected reality where the isolated self dissolves into something universal.

At the end of his quest, Pollan is much more knowledgeable than before, and yet the concept of consciousness still eludes him. But when he has a zen retreat in a cave and looks at the night sky, he feels suddenly submerged by a wave of connectedness. And then he realizes that consciousness is not a problem to be solved, but a practice to be lived. And that shows that an old saying is still valid today: “The truth can not be found by seeking, but only seekers will find it”.

Read this book. The mystery of consciousness will not and cannot be resolved, but the book contains lots of revelations.

Martin van der Graaff