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.

Buddhism

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.

Stream of consciousness

Stream of consciousness may refer to:

Stream of consciousness may also refer to:

Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)

In literary criticism, stream of consciousness, also known as interior monologue, is a narrative mode or device that depicts the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind. The term was coined by William James in 1890 in his The Principles of Psychology, and in 1918 May Sinclair first applied the term stream of consciousness, in a literary context, when discussing Dorothy Richardson's novels.

Definition

Stream of consciousness is a narrative device that attempts to give the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue (see below), or in connection to his or her actions. Stream-of-consciousness writing is usually regarded as a special form of interior monologue and is characterized by associative leaps in thought and lack of some or all punctuation. Stream of consciousness and interior monologue are distinguished from dramatic monologue and soliloquy, where the speaker is addressing an audience or a third person, which are chiefly used in poetry or drama. In stream of consciousness the speaker's thought processes are more often depicted as overheard in the mind (or addressed to oneself); it is primarily a fictional device.

Stream of Consciousness (instrumental)

"Stream of Consciousness" is a progressive metal song by Dream Theater, appearing on their 2003 album Train of Thought. The song lasts for 11 minutes and 16 seconds. The song appears as the sixth song on the album, as a direct continuation of Vacant.

The song gets its name from an early working title for the album Falling into Infinity, and the parallel between the concepts of "stream of consciousness" and "train of thought". The song Lines in the Sand (from Falling into Infinity) contains the lyrics "In the stream of consciousness, there is a river crying."

The song is a popular inclusion in Dream Theater's live shows and appears on the live album and DVD Live at Budokan.

Songwriting contest

While Dream Theater were in the studio in 2003, recording what would become Train of Thought, they wondered what an outsider would make of their descriptions for how certain sections of the unfinished songs sounded. These descriptions were used on arrangement charts to help with structuring the song before it was recorded. "Stream of Consciousness" had sections described as "Crimson Setup", "UK Rise", "Straight Groove x2", etc. They wondered what would happen if someone were given just these descriptions and had to come up with what they believed the finished song would sound like, so they issued a challenge to Dream Theater fans through their websites and message boards to do just that.