Does everything have an interior nature?

Scientists study the appearance of things- their physical nature.  It can't directly study mind/consciousness because consciousness can't be observed through the 5 senses, only its effect on matter can be observed.  Throughout history science has denied attributing consciousness to most living things, with the exception of some or all humans.  In recent time philosophers and scientists have come forward to say that not only do humans and animals have consciousness but that all things may have an interior nature (consciousness).

Without an interior nature there is nothing present to experience anything.  It is consciousness that makes experience possible.  Without it there is "no-one home" and we are just complicated machines as many scientists and materialists believe.

The materialist view of life is that there really is no internal nature and that consciousness, itself, is a delusion, formed as a result of the various bodily inputs being handled by the brain.  But if we are just complicated robots as some believe would we be aware of this fact or would our life be carried out in an unconscious manner with nobody present to register it as occurring at all?

Another view which is in contrast to the materialist one is the spiritualist* view.  In this view the mind is seen as primary and matter is seen as secondary.  Matter is seen as a creation of mind, an appearance in mind, and a form that mind takes when it extends itself into 3 dimensional (physical) reality.  In this view the being, itself, is seen as multidimensional and primarily of a mental nature.  One dimension of that being may be present in physical reality, in  which case an element of the mind is given the role of focusing entirely on that reality and responding to it.  Other dimensions of the being are seen as being focused elsewhere and existing independently of the physical world.  This view sees the mind as being like an iceberg, with only a small portion observable to be taking part in this physical dimension, and the rest focused elsewhere.

In this spiritualist view the mind is seen as being able to connect with other minds, physically focused or otherwise, and is able to input information from these minds and to these minds.  This equates to what is called "non-locality" in physics where the term is used to refer to the relationship between subatomic particles influencing each other at a distance.  The spiritualist view also the supports the holographic view of the universe that says that space and time are effectively illusions held within the mind of the observer.

Sharka Todd

*Called by philosophers the idealist perspective.