What is Consciousness?

“There’s no coming to consciousness without pain. No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.” – C.G. Jung (Memories, Dreams, Reflections)

The Mystery of Consciousness 

What is consciousness?  

Neuroscientists are stumped. 

There is no consensus about how consciousness is generated, although there is strong evidence that consciousness comes about from the actions of the brain. 

How do you make the intellectual leap from neurons firing in the brain and awareness?   

Where is our sense of knowing?  

What does it mean? In the head? In the heart? Somewhere else? 

Definite Consciousness 

There is a famous definition by the philosopher Thomas Nagel about consciousness. He says that it is the experience of an organism being aware of itself as itself.  It is fair to say that consciousness is a highly subjective experience of oneself.   “What does it feel like to be me and what are the things that are connected to my experiences in life (childhood experiences,  trauma, cultural background,  and other experiences)?  

All of these things contribute to how we experience the world around us.  

How alive do we feel? 

Why don’t we feel alive?  

What is important to us?  

How can we be more conscious? 

To be conscious, we must first be aware of being aware. We must give ourselves the gift of time for reflection and contemplation.  

Asking ourselves questions is the first step in the quest for consciousness.  What is it like to be me?  Who am I that this is happening to me?  

The reflections on these questions require us to look at what drives our actions. What is the engine of our behaviour?  We must understand our emotional, thought, and physical processes and how these processes influence how we approach life.  So many of us are influenced by childhood decisions and interpretations of life that no longer serve us.  Yet we are reluctant to let them go.   

We must also be aware of the things that put us asleep:  distractions, alcohol, drugs, the internet, and scrolling on social media. It is so easy to shut down and go unconscious from being overwhelmed with new information and stimulation.   Taken too far, we go unconscious and move through life on autopilot, minimizing the impact that life’s difficulties and challenges have on us.  

Embrace Daily Consciousness Challenge

Being more conscious every day means taking time. We can’t be conscious if we don’t put in the effort.  That means meditating, journaling or expressing gratitude for the abundance surrounding us.  We need to stop and give ourselves the gift of taking time out of our busy day.  

Christina Becker
February 2024

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