Intensity of Consciousness

You are aware of your own existence - but then so is a cat or a dog. You can see that - feel that, you can intuit it clearly. But then are spiders and flies aware of their own existence? This is harder to prove. My intuition is that they are - just about. However, I wouldn't say that they are aware of being aware of their own existence, as we are.

And the next question - are we humans all equally aware of being aware - or are some of us more aware than others, in the same way that some are more intelligent than others and some are taller than others?

Difficult to say. In a deep conversation with another person, you can generally get a measure of the intensity of their consciousness, as they come to describe their outlook on life, what they see as the purpose of the Cosmos, for example.

As a child, lying in bed, aware of my heartbeat and breathing, I felt clearly that my consciousness was inhabiting a living biological organism - again. As a child I was acutely aware of being aware, and that awareness was something different that doing maths sums at school or mentally translating something from Polish into English.

This morning over coffee, my question regarding the intensity of the subjective experience of feeling conscious suddenly meshed with another question I have often asked myself over the years - how much spirituality do we need?

Are these two questions related? If so - how? 

A benchmark (for me, anyway) of human vacuity is Trump, a meat-covered zombie, a brain taken over by narcissism, unfeeling, utterly lacking in introspective faculty, driven only by ego. The fruit fly warming itself on my kitchen lampshade shows more signs of consciousness than Trump. At the other end of the spectrum is the pure consciousness experienced by a religious mystic, who has overcome the earthly blandishments of the ego. Most of us, however, inhabit the space between the two extremes.

With Lent approaching (Ash Wednesday is two weeks away), tying together the notions of experiencing consciousness and seeking out spiritual meaning will come into focus. What is the role of intuition in advancing our path of understanding? The role of ritual, religious practice - spiritual exercise, as it were, requires greater study. I can never return to Roman Catholicism, particularly in its nativist Polish version, nor can I dip into the practices of religions into which I haven't grown up with. I can certainly read about them, seeking a highest common factor, seeking those areas in which all agree. 

When it comes to practice, for me, it is my daily walk - especially on sunny days - during which I am lost in the wonder of it all, and when I feel gratitude for the experience of being alive and conscious. It is at times like that, when past and present telescope into a oneness, that the intensity of consciousness is at its greatest. But there's also the sense of not wanting to 'over-think it' - of being too intellectual about something that should just... flow.

This time last year:
I have measured out my life in coffee spoons

This time seven years ago:
Make do and mend

This time nine years ago:
The A-Z of my online world

This time 11 years ago:
Life and Death in the Shadow of the El - A short story, part I

This time 12 years ago:
Transwersalka in midwinter

This time 13 years ago:
Work starts on the S79/S2 (completed autumn 2013)

This time 15 years ago:
Crazy customised Skoda