Universal mind or universal consciousness is a metaphysical concept suggesting an underlying essence of all being and becoming in the universe. It includes the being and becoming that occurred in the universe prior to the arising of the concept of "Mind", a term that more appropriately refers to the organic, human, aspect of universal consciousness. It addresses inorganic being and becoming and the interactions that occur in that process without specific reference to the physical and chemical laws that try to describe those interactions. Those interactions have occurred, do occur, and continue to occur. Universal consciousness is the source, ground, basis, that underlies those interactions and the awareness and knowledge they imply.
Introduction
The concept of universal mind was presented by Anaxagoras, a Pre-Socratic philosopher who arrived in Athens some time after 480 BC. He taught that the growth of living things depends on the power of mind within the organisms that enables them to extract nourishment from surrounding substances. For this concept of mind, Anaxagoras was commended by Aristotle. Both Plato and Aristotle, however, objected that his notion of mind did not include a view that mind acts ethically, i.e. acts for the “best interests” of the universe. The most original aspect of Anaxagoras's system was his doctrine of nous. A different Greekword, gnó̱si̱, better reflects what is observed in the wider world of organic and inorganic being than just the human world. A worm, an amoeba, a bacteria, a raindrop, appears to act with "awareness" rather than "reason". Also, these actions would not commonly be referred to as being "reasonable" or "ethical". In "The Huang Po Doctrine of Universal Mind", originated in around 857 CE, the idea of mind was disconnected from soul in this Buddhist school of thought. Chu Ch’an says, “Universal mind, therefore, is something to which nothing can be attributed. Being absolute, it is beyond attributes. If for example, it were to be described as infinite, that would exclude from it whatever is finite, but the whole argument of the book is that universal mind is the only reality and that everything we apprehend through our senses, is nothing else but this mind. Even to think of it in terms of existence or non-existence is to misapprehend it entirely.” pp. 8–9 The term surfaced again in later philosophy, as in the writings of Hegel. - Hegel writes:
Universal mind may be viewed from a scientific perspective as :wikt:nonlocal|non-local consciousness. Michael Persinger wrote on non-local consciousness: The atemporal nature of consciousness is explored by Mansoor Malik and Maria Hipolito. They summarise key theorists on the subject from different ontological perspectives: A research team in Australia conducted more than 20,000 experiments of universal mind and concluded: "Overwhelming evidence is pointing to the existence of 'supernatural' reality and a universal subconscious mind : Many religious concepts are essentially a science of mind."
