Our primary evidence, our only certainty is consciousness. Consciousness is the basic stuff our experience consists of. In that sense we can certainly say that the world arises “in consciousness”. Yet in our experience consciousness always appears to be embodied, appears to be “in the world”. So consciousness and world seem to be in a peculiar container/contained circular dance. Would the world exist without consciousness? Would consciousness exist without the world?
The consciousness/world circle is well represented in the ancient symbol of the ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail, or in Escher's drawing of two hands drawing each other. In this conversation we explore this paradoxical reality from the perspective of quantum physics and Dao, and trace the path from one-sided materialism or idealism to an integral view engaging both polarities in a circular dance.
