What is consciousness?

[austintorn@aol.com]

’Veni, Vidi, Velcro’

I came, I saw, and I stuck around.

[chazzysaw]

Is consciousness a personal thing or is it a shared thing that connects everything to everything? Is it a inner thing that exist in each individual personally with no connection to anything outside of it's self or is it an outward thing that somehow keeps all that is and was consciously connected within this sphere of existence?

[labelwench]

Is consciousness a personal thing or is it a shared thing that connects everything to everything? Is it a inner thing that exist in each individual personally with no connection to anything outside of it's self or is it an outward thing that somehow keeps all that is and was consciously connected within this sphere of existence?

What an interesting question.

My mind responded with images of babies, both human and animal, that I have had the opportunity to observe from birth.

First responses to surroundings were more learned than instinctual.

Yet what allows any newborn to learn, repeat and expand upon any single experience or a succession of same. Observing a toddler or animal seeing themself for the first time in a mirror or on a large screen is fascinating.

At what moment do we become knowingly aware of ourselves as someone/something separate from the flow of life?

Does the experience of life change because of this "I SEE ME" awareness, now discovered?

I do apologise for answering a question with more questions, yet this was the wandering of my thoughts when I read your post.

Regards,

Labelwench

[chazzysaw]

Was consciousness' genesis at the time of the Big Bang or was consciousness the cause of the bang? Which came first consciousness or the Bang? If the Big Bang is responsible for consciousness then it is it's creator and consciousness is a personal possession in life with no outward connections. On the other hand if consciousness is the cause of the Bang then it spreads its self through out the universe penetrating everything within and without.

[PoPpAScience]

Is consciousness a personal thing or is it a shared thing that connects everything to everything? Is it a inner thing that exist in each individual personally with no connection to anything outside of it's self or is it an outward thing that somehow keeps all that is and was consciously connected within this sphere of existence?

There is a primitive form of Awareness that flows with all Motion. Our Consciousness is a complex form of this primitive Awareness. Thanks to Evolution and the complexity of the Human mind we can express this complex Awareness we call consciousness.