How does consciousness arise?

Question

Where does self-awareness come from?

Answer 1

Consciousness... self awareness whatever we call it... stems from the presence of a soul atman that resides in our heart! The spirit... our soul atman within is a potential source of energy existing within us. In absence of the consciousness... our soul atman within... the body would decay and die.

We cannot see our soul atman yet always feel its presence within our heart. The sweet small inner voice of our soul atman that seems to come from within always guides us on the right path. It is through this voice our soul atman keeps a taboo on the body. Whenever we tend to go wrong... the voice of our soul atman always prompts from within. To follow or not to follow the dictates of our soul atman is the prerogative of every human being.

Mounted with the power of ego... in the present Kali Yuga most human beings neglect this voice! As the dross mounts further... the voice becomes feeble and feeble. One finally reaches a stage when promptings of voice from within altogether stop! Engrossed in wanton desires and materialistic riches... human beings ultimately loose self-awareness!

To realize that it is our soul atman within that has manifested the body and not vice versa... is becoming aware of the real self... the truth of our soul atman! Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed realized this ultimate truth early in life... and reached the stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana) and finally salvation (moksha). More on Consciousness - http://www.vijaykumar.com/spiritual_consciousness.html

Answer 2

Consciousness arises in response to need. When the complexity of organization reaches a level where an action must be timed or delayed for proper gratification of value.

Answer 3

Outline of Hegel's Phenomenology
INTRODUCTION
1. Our ordinary Knowing has before itself only the object which it knows, but does not at first make an object of itself, i.e., of the Knowing. But the whole which is extant in the act of knowing is not the object alone, but also the Ego that knows, and the relation of the Ego and the object to each other, i.e. Consciousness.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/ol/ol_phen.htm

Immanent in nature is order for system and process. Consciousness is an expression of that order, its self expression is self consciousness.

Answer 4

We have it when we arrive OR rather we arrive because we have it. Then, most of us promptly forget it because we are overwhelmed by the genetic survival system operating and evolving during brain/body development in childhood. We develop our defensive ego and depending on how evolved our soul is and what challenges we are exposed to, we regain self-awareness or not.

Answer 5

Different questions glean different results. We can ask the same question in a variety of ways.

For example,

How do I make myself aware of X?
How do I make myself conscious?
How do I make myself conscious of Y?

Or, Where do I experience consciousness?
What part of myself is conscious?
What part of myself is aware?

How we formulate questions is also indicative of the answers that we will find.

Answer 6

From the idea that you are a body.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 7

from deep within