The nature of consciousness, how it arises, and how it relates to the physical world, has been a major philosophical and scientific topic of debate throughout humankind's thinking. Are the mind and body separate? Some believe yes, others believe no, but the third camp expresses a middle and more radical idea: everything in the universe has consciousness, and this includes the sun.
This view of the universe is known as Holistic spirituality. The idea that consciousness arises from the physical world is known as physicalism, although we are still not sure why animals are conscious. Instead, the idea of mind and matter as separate entities is covered by the dualistic view of the world. Panpsychism is created as a bridge between the two. Consciousness arises in us because consciousness exists in everything.
Concepts similar to this have been seen around the world and over thousands of years in religions and philosophies. The concept has seen a resurgence in analytic philosophy recently, and there is a particularly unorthodox paper discussing the possible consciousness of the sun written by biologist Rupert Sheldrake, known for his work in morpho-resonance – the belief that similar organisms somehow share telepathic connections and telepathic connections. These species share collective memories.
in paper Published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies in 2021, Sheldrake discusses the consciousness of the Sun and all other stars. “Consciousness, consciousness, or experience may exist in self-organizing systems at many levels of complexity,” the biologist explains. Sheldrake says this moves us away from physics' interest in how consciousness emerges from a simple system, and instead brings consciousness into stars, solar systems, galaxies, and the universe as a whole.
“Consciousness need not be limited to minds,” Sheldrake said. Popular Mechanics. “The link between minds and physical systems appears to be through rhythmic electromagnetic fields, which of course are present in our brains. They are also present in and around the Sun, and could serve as the interface between the solar mind and the solar body.”
Now, there are many philosophical and scientific arguments that challenge universal psychological theory, but in this paper, we were particularly intrigued by what the consequences would be for a conscious Sun and the 100 billion other conscious stars that make up the Milky Way. One proposed result, for example, is that stars could move by emitting directional jets that put them where you want them.
According to Sheldrake's study, some suggest that stars do not move under the influence of dark matter's gravity, but instead orient themselves to their appropriate positions. As always, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Although stellar jets exist in many objects, they are never a means for stars to propel themselves.
There's also a stunning map of the Milky Way thanks to the European Space Agency's Gaia Observatory. It not only details the location of nearly two billion stars, but also their motion. This data allows us to turn back the clock on the Milky Way and see how the stars have moved over billions of years.
If there were stellar motions that did not obey the laws of gravity in the universe in which dark matter was supposed to exist, scientists would surely scream about it. The motion of stars as if there were a lot more matter than we can see is how dark matter was proposed in the first place.
Many of the arguments in this paper rely on the Sun's magnetic field and its complex nature. But if we want to look at something more complex, we should look at Uranus' magnetic field. Unlike the solar dynamo or Earth's magnetosphere, Uranus' magnetic field is off-center, may open and close daily, and fluctuate. Significantly more complex than the Sun, but perhaps “Is Uranus conscious?” It doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
[H/T: Popular Mechanics]
