“Knowledge of the Knower is Never Absent”
Rene Descartes, The Father of Modern Philosophy: “I Think, Therefore I am.”
The “Knowledge of the Knower” points directly to the fundamental nature of “Pure Consciousness,” which can never be absent because it is the very “Light” by which absence itself is recognized. In various schools of non-duality (Advaita Vedanta, Zen, and the teachings of sages like Nisargadatta Maharaj), a core distinction is made between passing thoughts and the permanent awareness witnessing them.
While thoughts, emotions, and objects come and go, the ultimate Knower (the Self, or Atman, or ‘The Knowing-Self’) remains as an unbroken presence.
Understanding the Three Facets of Experience
To break down this philosophical insight, non-dual traditions often divide experience into three components (collectively known as Triputi):
The Known: Objects, thoughts, feelings, and sensations that appear and disappear.
The Knowing: The temporary act or mechanism of perception. I describe this function as Cortical Awareness, the information relayed to the different parts of Cerebral Cortex.
The Knower: The foundational, unchanging consciousness that illuminates it all. I describe “The Knower” as ‘The Knowing-Self’ and its anatomical location is The Reticular Formation of the Brain Stem.
Why the Knower is Never Absent
Unlike ordinary knowledge (which you can forget or lose), the fundamental awareness of being can never be turned off.
| Concept | The Known (Mind/Objects) | The Knower (Pure Consciousness) |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Temporary; comes and goes. | Continuous; always present. |
| State Fluctuations | Absent in deep sleep or under anesthesia. | Mindfully present as the “blank slate” beneath all states. |
| Nature | Dependent on a subject to be perceived. | Self-luminous; does not need another light to see it. |
As Nisargadatta Maharaj frequently noted, you cannot deny your own existence or awareness, because the very act of denial requires the presence of a “Knower”(or ‘The Knowing-Self’) to do the denying.
The Gatekeeper of Consciousness as a Mental Experience:
The Reticular Activating System (RAS) of Reticular Formation protects you from information overload by acting as a gatekeeper for your brain. It filters out millions of bits of useless sensory data every second so your conscious mind can focus on what matters.
🧠 The Brain’s Filter
Your body constantly receives massive amounts of information from your surroundings. The RAS prevents your conscious mind from drowning in this data through specific biological mechanisms.
Sensory Filtering: It blocks repetitive background noises, sights, and feelings.
Volume Control: It turns down the volume on predictable, non-threatening stimuli.
Focus Directing: It passes only critical data up to the cerebral cortex.
Conscious Awareness: It decides what enters your immediate, waking thoughts or Cortical Awareness which most of the Psychologists and other Neuroscience Scientists often describe as “Consciousness.”
🔍 How the Filter Works
The RAS uses specific criteria to determine what information breaks through the “Gate” and what gets ignored.
Physical Survival: It instantly flags signs of danger, like a sudden loud bang.
Novelty: It alerts you to unexpected changes, like a sudden drop in room temperature.
Personal Relevance: It triggers when you hear highly specific data, like your own name.
Current Focus: It highlights things you actively think about, like seeing a specific car everywhere after buying it.
🛑 Impact of RAS Failure
Without a functioning RAS, daily life would become completely overwhelming and impossible to manage.
Sensory Flooding: You would feel your clothes against your skin every single second.
Auditory Chaos: Background traffic would sound just as loud as a person speaking to you.
Mental Exhaustion: Your brain would quickly run out of energy trying to process everything.
Man enjoys an existence characterized by Peace, Harmony, and Tranquility, as the Soul, or the Life Principle operates the vital functions of the complex organism without relaying all the information to the cortical areas avoiding information overload. Thereby, Man is protected from a huge information overload that is not compatible with mental peace and equilibrium. In this context of defending existence from the threat of Information overload, it may be said, “Ignorance is Bliss.” The Creator is the Source of Great Knowledge (Sanskrit. Prajnanam) and the access to the realities of the Inner World and the Outer World are selectively restricted to defend the wellbeing of the living creatures.
“I am Consciousness, Therefore I am”
This is a proposition to gain knowledge, and to understand Truth and Reality. Consciousness is awareness of one’s own state, condition, and the fact of existence in a given environment. The Subject who exists because of the living functions of trillions cells has to be identified. The term ‘Soul’ describes the functional unity of these trillions of living cells each of which is aware of its own existence in a given environment. My Soul is the manifestation of trillions of units of awareness or consciousness of the individual living cells that comprise my human body.
To exist in the natural world, my consciousness or awareness establishes what I describe as ‘God Connection’; the connection between the energy-seeker and the energy-provider.
The biological function called Consciousness gives the ability to acquire energy from the given environment in which the living entity is present. To perform mental functions such as thinking, and having feelings, the human being has to maintain physical existence and sustain vital metabolic functions acquiring energy from external environment.
The Theory of Total Consciousness explores the total contents of conscious experience and determines its significance in relation to the act, state, or condition called Living.
Dr. Rudranarasimham, Rebbapragada, B.Sc., M.B.B.S.,
Father’s Name: R. Suryanarayana Murty
Sri Venkateswara University, M.B.B.S. Class of April, 1970
Andhra Pradesh Medical Council Medical Registration Number: AMC5282; Date of Registration: September 16, 1971
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