“I don’t believe consciousness is generated in the brain any more than television programs are made inside my TV. The box is too small” – Terence McKenna
A common definition of consciousness is often something like this: ‘an organism’s awareness or perception of themselves, and their environment’. At first glance, this appears to be a fairly simplistic, and straightforward concept, yet upon closer inspection, there is much more to consciousness.
In the words of Rumi:
“The world exists as you perceive it. It is not what you see, it is how you see it. It is not what you hear, but how you hear it. It is not what you feel, but how you feel it.”
When considering this general definition of consciousness the words awareness, perception, themselves, and environment require further inspection. The use of these words suggests that the experience of consciousness is subjective, as perception, the concept of self, as well as the environment may differ between individuals.
This however does not necessarily imply that consciousness itself changes, but that the experience thereof may differ between individuals and different organisms.
“My brain is only a receiver. In the universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists” – Nikola Tesla
The experience of consciousness is also greatly affected by the senses, as the senses broaden the spectrum of what is perceivable.
“The world which we perceive is a tiny fraction of the world which we can perceive, which is a tiny fraction of the perceivable world” – Terence McKenna
Awareness is commonly described as knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. This implies that awareness can influence perception, and perception can influence awareness.
Awareness is also not limited to conscious awareness. After all, we are not consciously aware of our breathing, circulating our blood, beating our heart, or digesting our food, yet, we are consciously aware that it does in fact happen based on observable results of these processes taking place.
We can conclude therefore that awareness may be a conscious, subconscious, or even unconscious experience. This implies that the subconscious and unconscious aspects of awareness form part of consciousness. The latter, in turn, suggests that conscious awareness is not necessary to constitute consciousness in an organism. In other words, an organism can be unconscious of its consciousness, and still be defined as conscious, or possessing consciousness.
All of this, of course, takes place in a particular context or environment, this may also differ between organisms, and the concept of self or I may also be a subjective experience. In turn, this gives credence to the idea that consciousness may in fact not be generated in the brain, or at the very least clearly illustrates that the concept of consciousness is not as straightforward as it sounds, and just as the experience thereof may be a subjective experience, the understanding thereof may be as well.
A possible logical conclusion is that we are consciousness itself, and therefore extremely difficult to define, and explain because to explain consciousness is to explain yourself, and life itself.
"I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and experiences. I am not the content of my life. I am life, I am the space in which all things happen. I am consciousness. I am the now. I am" - Eckhart Tolle -