A New Look at Qualia

If you google the word "QUALIA" you will get links to a bunch of articles which, after the first paragraph, turn into gobbledygook. The reason these articles are so hard to read is that qualia is hard to understand. Even the simplest definitions are confusing, such as: "qualia is a property considered apart from things having the property." Yes, ahem. Well, let's have a new look at qualia.

The reason qualia is so elusive is that can't be measured. Scientists have sliced matter into smaller and smaller pieces, from molecules, to atoms, to electrons, until, well, they can't measure what they think they're seeing. Electrons (and the other subatomic particles) are famous for their resistance to measurement. Here, however, is where qualia comes in – qualia is all that is left when matter is broken down to its smallest pieces.

You see, the basic significance of qualia is that it attracts matter. Something, for instance, in water molecules which are freezing, attracts them into a six-sided pattern. That something, a hexagon, is qualia. It doesn't seem to exist until something forms a relationship with it. Color is also qualia – it exists because of a relationship between, say, a flower and the bees which are attracted to it. The color didn't really exist until these two organisms evolve together; the bees evolve to sense the color better and the flower evolves a stronger color to attract more bees.

Qualia is all about relationships – qualiadelic relationships!

All matter, living or "dead," has a subtle perception for qualia. Molecules and some "half-living" organisms like viruses, are attracted to forms, shapes, patterns and the like. Other living creatures are attracted to colors, textures, smells, tastes, etc. Humans are attracted to ideas. In developing relationships around qualia, we evolve, and the world we live in evolves, too.

You see, matter and qualia have existed side by side since the beginning, like the chicken and the egg. Cosmic space dust sensed some primordial space qualia and moved toward it, and the first laws of physics were born. Out of these cosmic dust balls planets and "gravity" (or curved space) evolved. On some planets amino acids arose, and in ritualing with the qualia in their environment they brought carbon-based life into being. Certain ancient bacteria, the predecessors of mitochondria, somehow became incorporated into the cytoplasm of more complex creatures, and our cells' incredibly efficient power plants came to life. At some point, a hundred thousand years ago or so, people began to be attracted to their inner thoughts and feelings, and human consciousness as we know it today came to be.

This is daily life in the universe. Qualia attracts us, whether it be simple qualia like color or complex qualia such as ideas. If we learn to consciously ritual with it, we evolve, and so does our environment. Human civilization is the latest chapter in this dance, but obviously it has gone slightly awry.


Tony Brussat has a Master's degree in Rhetoric and Communication, and he lives in the Mythical State of Jefferson. Purchase WELCOME TO THE QUALIASPHERE to learn more about conscious ritualing and the qualiadelic experience. Visit qualiadelic.com