theaspirationalmind.com
What is Consciousness?
Consciousness is that part of our mind that manages our mind as a whole to solve problems and to maximise our living benefit.
I won’t deepen this first attempt at a definition other than to point out that it is simple, it does not yet describe any internal workings of consciousness, it requires a better description of the rest of our mind, and that it does not yet explain anything like the full range of experiences available to us.
But, these outstanding points can now be addressed.
Core Consciousness
The definition of consciousness given above is actually a simpler and smaller part of our mind than the traditional approach. I call it our Core Consciousness. In experiential terms it is perhaps easier to understand as that place where our conscious thinking happens.
Focuses
From evolutionary principles we can deduce that our mind must contain characteristics that enable us to survive well. Simplistically this means getting on with the family that we are born into, being able to learn how to survive with that family, being able to grow to adulthood amongst a population of individuals beyond our family, and being able to make sense of our life in general in order to not just survive but to have the chance to prosper.
Working from these simplistic steps, we can conceive of parts of the mind, which I call Focuses, which are at least semi-conscious and for which we can define internal characteristics.
The exploration of focuses and their characteristics, including possible relationships to the brain, is described in The Hi Mind Model which is described more deeply elsewhere. I shall include a few example characteristics shortly.
Subconscious
The nonconscious part of our mind, which I simply call our Subconscious, can be described as that part of our mind that processes raw sensory data into forms that can be used by the Focuses and the Core Consciousness. The Subconscious can be regarded as complex but basically automatic. It handles non-conscious processes such as habits, routines, some forms of memory (perhaps all other than Working Memory), interactions with our body, compulsions, and basic emotions.
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