Stream of consciousness (psychology)

Stream of consciousness refers to the flow of thoughts in the conscious mind. Research studies have shown that we only experience one mental event at a time as a fast-moving mind stream.William James, often considered to be the father of American psychology, first coined the phrase “stream of consciousness". The full range of thoughts - that one can be aware of - can form the content of this stream.

The phrase "stream of consciousness" (Pali; viññāna-sota) occurs in early Buddhist scriptures. The Yogachara school of Mahayana Buddhism developed the idea into a thorough theory of mind.

The practice of mindfulness involves being aware moment-to-moment of one’s subjective conscious experience from a first-person perspective. In other words, when practising mindfulness, one becomes aware of one’s "stream of consciousness." Buddhist teachings describe six triggers that can result in the generation of different mental events. These are input from the five senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touch sensations), or a thought (relating to the past, present or the future) that happen to arise in the mind. The mental events generated as a result of these triggers are: feelings, perceptions and intentions/behavior. In Buddhist teachings, the manifestation of the "stream of consciousness” is described as being affected by physical laws, biological laws, psychological laws, volitional laws, and universal laws.

Hammalawa Saddhatissa Mahathera writes: "There is no 'self' that stands at the mentality to which characteristics and events accrue and from which they fall away, leaving it intact at death. The stream of consciousness, flowing through many lives, is as changing as a stream of water. This is the anatta doctrine of Buddhism as concerns the individual being."

In his lectures circa 1838-1839 Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet described "thought" as "a series of acts indissolubly connected"; this comes about because of what he asserted was a fourth "law of thought" known as the "law of reason and consequent":

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