Part VII - Mechanics of Perception
Process of Cognition
Let us look more closely the mechanics of perception
as we now understand them. Although, according to tradition,
the senses along with the mind go out and 'grasp' the
attributes of the object, science now knows that it
is the reflected light from the objects that contains
the information about forms and colors, and that the
sound and the smells etc reach the respective sense
organs in the body. These data are evaluated by the
senses (depending on their capability) and the corresponding
information is fed in on a ‘first come, first
served’ basis to the mind. Since light travels
faster than sound, the colors and forms are recognized
before the sounds, etc. In the case of the sense of
touch, physical contact with the object is required.
The mind integrates all the information that comes
in and forms an image on its 'mental screen' with all
the attributes gathered up to that point. Thus we have
an image with composite attributes which gets updated
as more information is fed in by the senses. This corresponds
to the vRRitti or thought of the object. The moment
the thought forms, it gets illumined by the consciousness
that is ever present. The ever-present consciousness
is called sAkShi chaitanya or witnessing consciousness
and what gets illumined in its brilliance is sAkShyam
or witnessed. In this case, the sAkShyam is the vRRitti
or the thought whose contents are the attributes of
the object. The illuminated consciousness forms (as
though) a reflection in, or by, the vRRitti or thought.
Formation of a vRRitti in the mind may be likened to
the mind ‘enveloping’ the object presented
to it by senses. Hence, it is representative of the
object outside. Its ‘truthfulness’ to the
object actually depends on the truthfulness of the attributes
that the senses have gathered.
As the vRRitti forms, it is immediately illuminated
by the witnessing consciousness just as, when an actor
enters onto the stage, the actor is seen by the ever
present illumination of the stage lights. When the light
is shed onto the object, the object is illumined and
the reflected illumination from the object is seen by
the eyes. In the same way, the vRRitti is illumined
in the presence of the ever brilliant sAkShi or witnessing
consciousness and the illuminated light is then reflected
by the vRRitti and seen by the subject (we will address
who that subject is slowly).
The consciousness that is reflected from the vRRitti
is the knowledge itself since I become conscious of
the vRRitti. That reflected, limiting consciousness
(limited by the vRRitti, which in turn is limited by
the attributes of the object outside) is the knowledge
of the object perceived. Just as the reflected light
(sun light or room light) from an object enables me
to see the object, the reflected consciousness from
the vRRitti makes me conscious of the vRRitti and this
is the same as knowledge of the vRRitti. Just as the
sun light is as though 'loaned' to the object in order
that the object may become visible, the consciousness
from the sAkShi or witnessing consciousness is as though
'loaned' to the vRRitti for it to become witnessed or
known. This is the process of cognition. The information
up to this point is simply that there is an object out
there with the gathered attributes. We have knowledge
of the existence of the object and also its attributes,
since the object is defined only through its attributes.
The events up to this point are immediate and direct – this
process takes place faster than the speed of communication
by the nervous system. Sometimes we see before we hear,
as in the case of lightning and thunder. Once the object
is cognized, it is stored in the memory immediately.
Process of Recognition
The process of recognition involves memory. This is
not necessarily immediate. All though we now know that
mind processes the information using a parallel processing
mode, it is not necessarily immediate. As a person ages,
cognition may occur immediately but recognition takes
its own time, sometimes forever! When we are seeing
an object for the first time (such as when a mother
is teaching a child by pointing to various objects),
the vRRitti-s related to the objects are cognized and
stored in the memory along with a name tag - this is
an ‘apple’, that is a ‘cow’,
etc. When the child sees the same or similar objects,
he re-cognizes them. The mother may reinforce that stored
knowledge as the child recognizes the object. In the
process of acquisition of knowledge, the child's mind
also sorts out the generic characters of similar objects
as well as special characteristics of particular objects.
A cow is recognized as a cow and not as a horse based
on the generic characteristics (called jAti in Sanskrit)
while still differentiating its specific characteristics
(vyakti), such as red cow or small cow as opposed to
the previously seen white, black, brown, big cows, etc.
Error in cognition and Error in recognition
When the information that was fed in by the senses
is not accurate, due to various other factors that are
involved in the cognitive process (such as proper illumination),
the cognized vRRitti may or may not represent the object
in question. Based on incomplete or inaccurate sense
data, cognition and recognition may be erroneous. In
such a case, we say that there has been an error in
cognition and that the knowledge gained is erroneous
knowledge - bhrama instead of pramA. If the perceiver
is aware of the possibility of error, then there will
be doubt about the cognition and further experimentation
may be required to establish the validity or invalidity
of the previous knowledge of the object. Thus, if a
perceiver sees a snake where there is a rope, if he
has a doubt about his perception, he would express the
doubtful knowledge as 'I do not know if it is a rope
or a snake' or ‘it looks like a
snake but I am not sure’ etc. If the perceiver
has no doubt about the perception, even though the perception
is erroneous from the standpoint of an independent referee,
he would consider it as a valid knowledge and not erroneous
knowledge. This would continue until such time as he
encounters a contradictory experience related to the
object, which would then bring about a doubt in his
prior cognition. Many have no doubts about their knowledge,
even though others see that there is a problem. Philosophies
based on Vedanta are no exceptions to this.
Proceed to the next
essay. |
