The Archetype of Reality
Book Details
Author(s)
Michael William Bennett
Publisher
BookSurge Publishing
ISBN / ASIN
1439236666
ISBN-13
9781439236666
Availability
Usually ships in 24 hours
Sales Rank
#4,460,958
Marketplace
United States 🇺🇸
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Description
What is consciousness? Pose the question to yourself right now. In the moment that immediately follows the formulation of the question, you catch a glimpse of consciousness. That glimpse, that taste or flavor, is simply a sense of being present. Afterwards, thoughts occur to classify it and to reflect upon it.
That simple sense of being present is your elementary consciousness. Your thoughts that crowd immediately afterwards constitute another facet of your consciousness, a further definition of consciousness. Your emotional response, if any, constitutes yet another facet, and your sensory impressions themselves constitute still another facet.
Our initial observations reveal a multi-faceted consciousness, one whose constituent components are easily slurred together. A measure of careful consideration is required to distinguish one facet of consciousness from another, to recognize whether one aspect of consciousness depends from another or upholds it. We have not distinguished consciousness from its content. We have only begun to collect observations on the topic.
One of our aims in constructing a model of consciousness is to distinguish the various components of consciousness, how they relate to each other, and whether or not there exists a causal relationship between them. The model assigns a specific word or term to each component.
Consciousness as we know it consists of a number of components already in place and operating. We begin our investigation rather like someone entering a conversation that is already in progress. We find ourselves in the awkward position of having to catch up, to figure out what we are and what we're doing. To use the paradigm of a detective story, the initial components of consciousness are spread out before us like a crime scene. We examine the crime scene and gather clues so that we, the detectives in this mystery, can formulate a profile of our prime suspect, who we are.
Our first observation, when we asked ourselves directly what consciousness is, revealed a sense of being present. Let this be our first clue. This sense of being present is what I refer to as bodily awareness. It is our rudimentary sense of self, prior to thought.
That simple sense of being present is your elementary consciousness. Your thoughts that crowd immediately afterwards constitute another facet of your consciousness, a further definition of consciousness. Your emotional response, if any, constitutes yet another facet, and your sensory impressions themselves constitute still another facet.
Our initial observations reveal a multi-faceted consciousness, one whose constituent components are easily slurred together. A measure of careful consideration is required to distinguish one facet of consciousness from another, to recognize whether one aspect of consciousness depends from another or upholds it. We have not distinguished consciousness from its content. We have only begun to collect observations on the topic.
One of our aims in constructing a model of consciousness is to distinguish the various components of consciousness, how they relate to each other, and whether or not there exists a causal relationship between them. The model assigns a specific word or term to each component.
Consciousness as we know it consists of a number of components already in place and operating. We begin our investigation rather like someone entering a conversation that is already in progress. We find ourselves in the awkward position of having to catch up, to figure out what we are and what we're doing. To use the paradigm of a detective story, the initial components of consciousness are spread out before us like a crime scene. We examine the crime scene and gather clues so that we, the detectives in this mystery, can formulate a profile of our prime suspect, who we are.
Our first observation, when we asked ourselves directly what consciousness is, revealed a sense of being present. Let this be our first clue. This sense of being present is what I refer to as bodily awareness. It is our rudimentary sense of self, prior to thought.
