Consciousness doesn't exist as a thing.

Consciousness is a non material result of living organisms forming pathways for information to flow. The information exists. The conduit exists. But the consciousness doesn't really have an existence. It is a hole in the mind that all experience falls in to and leads to nowhere. When people say, "there is no self", this is why.

But consciousness is all that is real. It seems counter intuitive. A thing that doesn't exist is more real than things that do. The universe has laws of physics and mathematics and that leads us to believe that since it is so predictable and calculable, it is real. But it is real only in the context of itself. It is a closed system.

The beingness of consciousness is the realness of the word, "real". Consciousness leads material to say, "I am", even though the material is not. The material refers to consciousness when it says, "I am", because it thinks that it is the material, but the material isn't what makes the am in "I am". Consciousness, the ground of being, does. And its not even here. You can't see it or observe it. You can only infer its existence.

The consciousness is one non-existent realness that presides over all that is conscious. It sees all. It enables all. But its not manifest in anything in any other way than its presence within it all and the effect it has.

What good does this information do anyone? It doesn't pay bills, but its feels good to put the universe into perspective.

Conciousness is whats behind your eyes..................

a reply to: smithjustinb

It does exist as a thing and it does pay the bills, you just don't see it.

It provides me the opportunity to be anti-fragile. This anti-fragility, in turn, provides me the opportunity to determine a best course for self preservation, whether that be personal or professional. That, I can well assure you, pays the bills.

Consciousness is like air, I cannot see air, but if I see a breeze moving the tree tops I understand there is a presence of air. Similarly, when I have a thought or an idea I understand there is a presence of consciousness.

The where and the how, well those questions my friend are a completely different kettle of ball game altogether.

If you really want to know what I'm banging on about I suggest you read This Book

Kind Regards
Myselfaswell

a reply to: smithjustinb

Right here is were it get's wacky, so yeah I no this is going to sound as top hatter from alice in wonderland but many years ago I had an experience, I was suffering paranormal activity, a being said to another being "Let's Turn Him Off", suddenly i was void with no sense of sight, sound, or feeling but I was consciouse though I would say my mind was shocked off line or not even there when something somehow gathered me and I was suddenly able to see, there was an ash grey void with no feeling of depth or limitation and there in the middle was a sphere so dark grey it seemed almost black.
Whatever had gathered me said "Main Aggressor" and the sphere was ringed by four pyramids of a colour I can not describe other than to say a prime colour but not red or blue or green or yellow or orange or violet.
Suddenly no sooner had the voice made this pronouncement toward the grey sphere than I found myself back in my body were it had collapsed and the same voice whom had said "lets turn him off" was laughing in fear and receading almost like they were fleeing from me.
I had the feeling the memory was not part of my physical brain I had to copy the memory of what had happend from my conscious awareness into my brain and then when recalling it I of course reference my brain memory so it is not the same thing but let's just say consciouse awareness is nothing to do with the neural pathway's of the brain and even when asleep you are still conscious but in a different way, this experience though was non corporeal consciousness outside the normal time and space of the body so though you may not believe me and I have not way of expressing it I assure you it was absolutely real and I would say more than the physical universe though were I was is a question, it was not heaven or hell and I got the impression I was outside the universe.
Oh and I had no form or body and no sense of self only awareness and a feeling of beginning to awaken out there before I was brought back here, I am not sure if I would have preferred to stay and find out what I was becoming or coalescing into but if the universe is that small to me out there then why would I want to come back except I was not in control of what happened.

originally posted by: smithjustinb
What good does this information do anyone?

To 1 it can be used as a memory / genetic data manager of the Soul/Spirit/Internal Energy information.

In short as many experience the phases of Life and Death within EXISTENCE and change forms/environment suits as the ascend/descend process occurs your consciousness is like your provider of data from past experienced events. So you may not remember for example your past life but your consciousness may keep a log to subconsciously access to prevent you from making mistakes of the past repeatedly and to encourage certain behaviors that it detected as healthy or beneficial...

Made mistakes fall into abyss remember why you fell, don't do it again once ascended beyond it "IF / WHEN GRANTED, somewhat like.

In simplest terms is consciousness not simply just self awareness?

a reply to: smithjustinb

Consciousness is a word,
Words exist as things,
Therefor, consciousness exists as a thing.

a reply to: coldlikecustard

That's exactly what it is. There's some bizarre circular reasoning in the OP. Consciousness is the opposite of unconsciousness. The moment we wake up the moment we start self referencing to reorient ourselves in reality. Nothing mystical about it and no reason to project it onto objects in the universe. A rock does not self reference. It has no consciousness.

Going further with these thoughts, lower lifeforms have less consciousness. They have less self-reference, and executive control over their actions. They operate more on instinct. An elephant would have more consciousness than a cat, for an elephant can use it's trunk to paint a self-portrait, where as a cat will chase it's own shadow, and not make itself out in front of a mirror.

There are neural correlates to consciousness, and yet we don't have it exactly pinned out. So what? There's enough known to demystify the term.

originally posted by: coldlikecustard
In simplest terms is consciousness not simply just self awareness?

Animals that don't have self awareness are still conscious. They just don't recognize themselves as themselves. But they are aware and conscious of things outside of them. When they look in a mirror, they are aware that there is something there, but they aren't aware that that is their own body.

No. A dog is conscious but not self aware. there are different levels of consciousness. all life is conscious on a certain level and I believe all matter as well.

a reply to: coldlikecustard

-Alien

Smithjustinb , some scientists share your perspective. You may be right.

This seems the ultimate of letting go of the ego.

Do you remember reading my thread 'The Birth Of The Creator' ? In it I surmise that consciousness came before matter.

Couldn't it be consciousness from which matter arises?


-Alien

Their are two courts in general. Consciousness created reality, in which case consciousness created matter.

Consciousness is a By-product of a random event that resulted in consciousness.

In retrospect this is another frame in the matter of if God exists or does not.

Any thoughts?

originally posted by: Kashai
Their are two courts in general. Consciousness created reality, in which case consciousness created matter.

Consciousness is a By-product of a random event that resulted in consciousness.

In retrospect this is another frame in the matter of if God exists or does not.

Any thoughts?

I pretty much agree.

a reply to: smithjustinb

Consciousness leads to feeling

And feeling is consciousness.

I call it the masculine side of consciousness where consiousness itself is the feminine aspect of the divine.

DIVNE
MASCULINE=FEELING
FEMINIE= CONSCIOSNESS

Existence is the feeling of reality. What is reality?
I call it God but I define God as everything minus the developmental fact of involution
(Creation)

Reality is consciousness and feeling.

There has to be a variable of 2. Oddly 2 is the divine number in a sense. There always has to be that fact of 2 and not necessarily as a duality such as yin yang

The seer and the sought
The lover and the loved
The felt and the feeler
Or that which perceives and the thing perceived.

What makes one conscious is that they can feel. They can feel because they are conscious and have something to feel or interact with—that is what we call world.

Imagine being conscious of nothing. Impossibility. Why?

Because if there was nothing to feel then there would be no reason for existence.

So the conscious entity or holon has to be in a world where it can feel or it can’t exist.

Consciousness I would say is a wave or impulse of feeling.
But you have to have something to feel or experience or you wouldn’t exist.

That’s the fundamental duality, not yin yang, which relates to the energy of creation but the duality of what the Sufis call love

The lover and the beloved is the common detonator of being.

I'd have to disagree that animals are not self-aware. Just as someone states there is differing degrees of consciousness, there are differing degrees of self-awareness. It's simply not possible for a living entity to entirely lack self-awareness, as their prime drive of survival requires a sense of self as distinct from other.

Now, the complexities which arise in higher lifeforms, like longer attention spans, and in depth introspection, is what allows what some may refer to as self-awareness. In reality it's merely self-awareness surpassing an arbitrary threshold to be considered valid.

Animals are indeed self aware. They are more aware of the anima self to such a degree that they are animals.

Humans also have an anima self but have higher “selves” they are in contact with that animals are less conscious of.

a reply to: smithjustinb


The offer as to if consciousness can be defined as relevant to the existence of the Universe. Could in Perspective be related to if or not Consciousness created reality.

It's impossible for non-existence to be existent, because if it were then it wouldn't be non-existence. Consciousnes is 'something'. It is an 'word/sound' about an 'experience' called 'self-awareness'.

Existence is everything (existent).
Non-existence is nothing (non-existent).