Our Unconscious Soul: A Re-look at Aristotle Descartes & the Upanishads

Abstract

This paper presents an original interpretation of the Upanishads that the inner self is located in the embryo brain region of the brain. This is the part of the brain already present in the embryo and consists of the brainstem, hypothalamus, thalamus, and midbrain. It is also the part of the brain that operates during dreaming and deep sleep and causes the transition from sleeping to waking states and the Upanishads state unequivocally that the self is responsible for these mental states. With the self-located in the embryo brain region, an entirely new interpretation of Aristotle's De Anima is presented which parallels the Upanishads in every respect; the inner self and Aristotle's 'soul' have identical functions and attributes. An Aristotelian First Principle is presented: Biology is the source of Consciousness; DNA is the source of Biology; Ergo DNA is the source of Consciousness. It has recently been discovered that our long-term memories are stored in the putamen during deep sleep. The putamen is located in the embryo brain region along with the pineal gland that secretes melatonin during deep sleep. Descartes famously located the soul in the pineal gland, and there is a high probability that the secretion of melatonin from the pineal gland during deep sleep is an unconscious operation of our soul involved in storing our long-term memories in the embryo brain region.