On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 07:46:55AM +1000, Kim Jones wrote: > > > > >> On 23 Sep 2014, at 10:00 am, Russell Standish <[email protected]> > >> wrote: > >> > >> On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 05:07:07PM +1000, Kim Jones wrote: > >> > >> Are we not conflating slightly (to be) conscious - the fact of being aware > >> and sensate; experiencing "being" as it were.....with "consciousness" that > >> woolly philosophical football? I think even in comman usage we don't do > >> that. I am conscious of this or that. My consciousness is kind of my whole > >> psyche (whatever that is - could be the whole universe or a lotus blossum > >> or whatever). > > > > Hi Kim, I was wondering if you could elaborate on what you think the > > distinction is? I, of course, conflate consciousness with the > > experience of "being" all the time. I was just wondering why you think > > there is a distinction? > > The distinction is perhaps slightly more than semantic. Consciousness is a > common referent to something structured about our minds (the "psyche") > whereas "to be conscious" is the simple fact of being in the "on" state. You > cannot however be conscious of your liver function under normal circumstances > or of the enzymatic processes going on in your pancreas although it might be > argued that such things may have an impact on consciousness which has a > history and even memories, some of which belong to you, some of which belong > to the collective memory of the entire human race ("archetypes") concerning > which you may never be strictly conscious. > > Consciousness is more the name of a process than the simple base state of awareness of being. Consciousness involves things like becoming and implies the possibility of change over time.
I think that pure awareness entails a temporal dimension in which to process the awareness. Bruno's salvia experiments notwithstanding. So ISTM that consciousnessness is the noun, and aware is the adverb, but they both refer to the same thing. But maybe I'm missing your point. Consciousness is "raised" or "altered" by things experienced. It includes the unconscious, which is affecting our conscious minds continually and over which we have little power to effect change. I think this is perhaps an expanded version of what you are saying; they can exist side by side. > > Kim > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au Latest project: The Amoeba's Secret (http://www.hpcoders.com.au/AmoebasSecret.html) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
