The Supernatural Nature Of Consciousness

Suppose that a hypothetical person named Simon suffers periodic hallucinations of angelic or demonic figures.  Psychiatric consultants and the common layperson would likely declare that these perceptions do not involve anything that is actually supernatural, as the images are simply projections of his mind that have no correspondence to external spiritual entities.  Furthermore, it might be difficult to find anyone who would dispute this contrast between hallucinations and supernatural phenomena.

However, distinguishing the two in the sense of treating hallucinations as if they are not supernatural in any way is ultimately erroneous.  This might sound very bizarre to those who have not contemplated the fact that consciousness and the body are not identical.  Nevertheless, it becomes apparent upon rationalistic analysis that consciousness, if it is nonphysical, cannot be a part of the natural world, even if it is caused and sustained by physical processes.  Rationalistic analysis also makes it clear that consciousness--the ability to perceive and all of the thoughts, emotions, and perceptions therein--is indeed strictly immaterial.

A neuron is not a thought; a brain is not the ability to perceive; an external object is not a sensory perception.  Intangible and nonphysical, consciousness (and its contents) transcends nature, even if it is ultimately the product of nothing but a certain arrangement of matter.  If something is not made of matter, it is by definition immaterial--but anything that is not a part of nature is also by definition supernatural, even if that thing is not a divine, angelic, or demonic being.  Nonetheless, when pressed, many people seem to define something as supernatural only if it is explicitly theological.

It is this ignorance of what actually qualifies as supernatural that keeps many people from acknowledging that anything immaterial cannot be part of nature.  The popularity of phenomenology among philosophers and scientists in the present day has not encouraged the general public to openly reflect on the immaterial--and therefore supernatural--nature of consciousness, no matter how basic that consciousness is.  One of the largest misconceptions in modern phenomenology is the idea that human consciousness is not a supernatural thing, although it is not uncommon for people to admit that consciousness is irreducible to the physical brain and extended nervous system.

The supernatural remains far more readily demonstrable than most realize in spite of this.  Recognition that one's own conscious mind exists is all that is necessary to establish the existence of something supernatural, even though that mind is contained within a physical shell.  No one needs to witness divine miracles or a disembodied spirit to know that the supernatural is logically verifiable.  Even when the immaterial (and therefore supernatural) natures of logic, space, and time are set aside, reflection on one's own consciousness is all that is needed to prove this.