What is consciousness itself, very consciousness?

Answer 1

Imagination.

Answer 2

That's a good question, about which there remains a good deal of philosophical debate. According to the more scientific minded philosophers, like Derek Parfit, consciousness is just an epiphenomenon of brain activity. That is, it's not anything real, it is just something that occurs when brains function in certain ways. (Some say that consciousness "supervenes on" brain activity)

According to more behaviouralist philosophers, like WIttgenstein, consciousness isn't really the mysterious "inner" phenomenon that it seems to be. Consciousness is found in behaviours like talking, reading, driving (most of the time), and writing. It seems like an inner state to us, but really, the activity IS consciousness.

Other philosophers of a more Cartesian bent think of consciousness as an ontologically independent thing. Look for some discussions of the problem of "qualia" in philosophy.

One reason it's difficult to sort all of these different views out is that there seems to be a difference between how things look when we consider our own consciousness (from the "first person perspective") and when we consider other conscious beings (from the "third person perspective"). Is this apparent difference just an illusion?

Answer 3

First ,we need to define 'conciousness'.
There's a lot of confusion about this , but I define it as thought recognising itself . Awareness on the other hand I define as the quality of pereception.
What this quality of awareness exactly is, is the greatest mystery of existance in my opinion .
Does it precede material existance ,is it an energetic quality that is inseperable from exiatance, or is it a product of a physical brain ?
Many will have already made up their minds as those same minds seek security from the unknown in beliefs and assumptions - scientific and religious.

Sekida wrote that thought is a series of seperate 'thought moments' or 'nen' . An initial nen will perceive something , a following nen will recognise this perception ( at which point ,debatably conciousness is born). Further nen recognise the previous recognising as a being ,or self ( self-conciousness ?) ,and after a series of these another nen will form the idea of that self persisting through time .
Thus both initial awareness and later conciousness are essentially the same ,but the later is only reflecting on other thoughts and therefore vulnerable to delusion, particularly that there is a real self persisting in time that 'has' conciousness.

Well, all these are I feel useful and interesting ideas for losening up our assumptions ,but many would say that the real answer to this question lies in the dedicated investigation of one's own 'mind' and conciousness. Certainly, when one practices watching the mind for long enough ,the fog of thoughts and assumptions can fade or fall away and the remainder is a kind of answer .
An answer ,but not the end of the question ,neccesarily.

Answer 4

Consciousness is living in the present...neither in the past nor in the future ... the very present. A strange thing is you can never know what consciousness is.

You try to know about something (say, consciousness) when you feel 'you do not know it at the very moment'. So, you are desiring for something that you will have in 'Future'. And, in thinking so about consciousness, you are just living in the future and not in the present. consequently, you are wasting this moment and not LIVING it.

Consciousness, awareness and Life are all mutually dependent. One cannot exist without the other.

Consciousness is living in the present, very present. Unconsciousness is living in the past/future.

Answer 5

Consciousness itself is a void - a void filled with everything. Check out Eastern religious thought esp Zen Buddhism for more on the plenum void. Good question. Good luck!

Answer 6

Awareness

Answer 7

Consciousness is simpy awareness.

Answer 8

To have physical awareness.

Answer 9

Reality.
:)

Answer 10

ask www.johnderuiter.com
www.satyananda.org