Consciousness 3: Who am "I"? (Psychological and Eastern philosophical perspectives) (v1.0)
Lightly edited with Copilot's help on 6/7/2026
These summaries are orientation-level, not authoritative; they simply map the conceptual landscape.
I have written about physics, the universe, and aspects of
creation. In science, there is a clear separation between the observer
and the observed. I have written about the observed, but not about the
observer. We perceive the universe through our senses, and distinct from our
senses is an “I.” Who is this “I”?
Psychology offers many concepts related to the self: self‑concept,
self‑image, self‑esteem, self‑control, self‑regulation, and more recently,
mindfulness. For anyone who wants to explore what psychology says about the
self, here are three references:
A summary of Western and Eastern notions of self can be
found here:
The notions of “consciousness,” “self‑consciousness,”
“personal identity,” and “self” overlap but differ in important ways. Western
and Eastern philosophies diverge sharply. Western thought contains many
definitions of the self. Eastern traditions — Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism,
Hinduism — offer very different perspectives. Hindu views, in particular, do
not harmonize with Western philosophy, neurology, psychology, or evolution.
To get a sense of Eastern philosophy, I recommend a two‑part
lecture series by Swami Sarvapriyananda at my alma mater, IIT Kanpur. It
is based on the Mandukya Upanishad, one of the 11 Upanishads that form
Vedanta. It is the shortest (12 verses) and considered the most difficult. The
most profound is the 7th verse.
The core idea is that experience is subjective:
- In the
waking state, you experience the waking world.
- In the
dreaming state, you experience the dream world.
- In
deep sleep, you experience nothing.
None of these is the real you.
There is a fourth state, Turiya, which
illuminates all three. The mind is ever‑changing in what it experiences. Consciousness
is unchanging, illuminating all states but untouched by them. In deep
sleep, the illumination is present, but there is nothing to illuminate.
A common analogy: the reality is not the bangle, necklace,
or ring — it is the gold. The forms change; the substance does not.
The talks are best experienced firsthand:
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