Consciousness Trilemma

[Whateverist]

Wow this certainly has gone on a long time.

Have to say I don't see how one can be directly aware of being aware. If anyone thinks otherwise, perhaps they can provide a 'blow by blow' description of what that would be like.

Even when one becomes self-conscious in the not desirable way, really what is going on is imagining how one appears to another. One could stare at his hand or focus on ones breathing or the pressure of ones weight. But exactly what is it one would focus on to be aware directly of being aware? If it is the thought that one is aware, then is it the language one is focused on or the idea? Lets be generous and say it is the idea. Even so the idea too is a construction and if that is your focus then it isn't your consciousness itself which you are aware of but that construction.

Trying to apprehend one's awareness directly is like trying to bite one's tooth or peer directly into ones eye. With what would you do it?

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We can't say that consciousness lags behind brain function and also that it IS brain function, since a thing cannot lag behind itself.

What's hard about that? Consciousness and brain function aren't an identity. The latter gives rise to the former, so of course it lags behind. There is preconscious processing to be done before consciousness of anything can arise. You can sit there humming your "be here now" or "I am awareness" mantra if you like but the decision to do so will be the result of prior processing too.

In a monist view, the consciousness must be exactly synchonized with the brain function since they are said to be one and the same, n'est-ce pas?

I think you mean that the things we experience are in the past, not that the consciousness which experiences them is.

A monist's problems aren't my problems. Why do you say they are one and the same?