RE: Anyone want to read and discuss "The Origin of Consc in the Breakdown of the ...
October 11, 2016 at 4:45 pm
My copy of the book arrived but I've been delinquent in getting into it.
Just this morning I finished off chapter one, "Consciousness of Consciousness" which ticks off a great number of things which consciousness is not. I've started to read the next one but it occurs to me that I should probably say directly for myself what it is which I think consciousness might be. As Blake more or less said, "I must create a system or risk being enslaved by that of another."
Funny the first thing I do is stand back and wait for it, whatever it is consciousness might be, to announce itself. In so doing I imagine a stage or a clearing where things appear and stuff happens. My first hunch is that consciousness is the audience to that which appears and what happens. But then immediately I have the doubt it may be more the clearing itself. Maybe it's both. It doesn't seem as likely that it is what appears on the stage or what it does there, that is what consciousness is of or about.
One thing seems clear: how one feels or thinks about what goes on on that stage is still more of what consciousness is of/about - not consciousness itself. Part of what it is we become conscious of is our inner response to events. Consciousness seems more to do with the noticing/witnessing of both what happens in the world and how that affects us inwardly. We notice the emotions elicited, the agreeability (or not) of that experience, and possibly our level of concern (or not) about it. Maybe consciousness is in the awareness of what we perceive and how that affects us .. whatever to hell that means.
Pretty murky stuff. Very hard to say what exactly Consciousness is. Guess I'll go see what this guy does with it.
Just this morning I finished off chapter one, "Consciousness of Consciousness" which ticks off a great number of things which consciousness is not. I've started to read the next one but it occurs to me that I should probably say directly for myself what it is which I think consciousness might be. As Blake more or less said, "I must create a system or risk being enslaved by that of another."
Funny the first thing I do is stand back and wait for it, whatever it is consciousness might be, to announce itself. In so doing I imagine a stage or a clearing where things appear and stuff happens. My first hunch is that consciousness is the audience to that which appears and what happens. But then immediately I have the doubt it may be more the clearing itself. Maybe it's both. It doesn't seem as likely that it is what appears on the stage or what it does there, that is what consciousness is of or about.
One thing seems clear: how one feels or thinks about what goes on on that stage is still more of what consciousness is of/about - not consciousness itself. Part of what it is we become conscious of is our inner response to events. Consciousness seems more to do with the noticing/witnessing of both what happens in the world and how that affects us inwardly. We notice the emotions elicited, the agreeability (or not) of that experience, and possibly our level of concern (or not) about it. Maybe consciousness is in the awareness of what we perceive and how that affects us .. whatever to hell that means.
Pretty murky stuff. Very hard to say what exactly Consciousness is. Guess I'll go see what this guy does with it.
