What Is Consciousness?

[Debil]

Guess this is not the first time it was asked, I've searched, but couldn't find such topic.

After many hours of self inquiry, I've started doubting that there's a perceiver in the first place. 

How can I tell if consciousness exists, or is it just an illusion created by the brain's processing abilities and memory?

[Debil]

Being aware of something is just noticing it, I have trained myself to notice my senses more, but it's nothing more than a virtual timer letting reminding me to notice my senses. With training, the time interval between noticing becomes shorter. But I don't see how it requires a special abilities that, let's say, a machine can't have.

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 you find any limits to that awareness? 

I think I am limited to the input from my senses... 

What makes our body different than a machine with complex analysis capabilities?

[zazed]

3 hours ago, Debil said:

I have trained myself to notice my senses more, but it's nothing more than a virtual timer letting reminding me to notice my senses.

Who trained what, and who was aware of the training?
If you are not training, do you dissapear? If you are not feeling anything do you dissapear? When you dream, do you not wake up and remember these dreams, you were aware while dreaming, but not "in control".

3 hours ago, Debil said:

What makes our body different than a machine with complex analysis capabilities?

Consciousness makes it different from a machine, nothing else. You can look at it like this, if you like machine analogies:

Your brain and body are like an antenna, a receiver and a transmitter at the same time. The brain and body and thoughts are not you at all, they are a machine as you say. YES, even your thoughts are not really you, and just a function of the machine.
Then what you are, is that which is "connected" to the machine from the outside. You are the one that is experiencing the machine. Sadly, somehow you have come to identify as the machine, and so there is only the machine and its needs/desires.

You will realize, that no matter what the machine does. You are aware of it. When the machine thinks about the past, you are aware of the thoughts. When it thinks of the future, you are aware of the thoughts. But in reality, you do not visit past or future. You never exist outside of your current experience. If you look inside, and go "searching" for "me", you will find nothing. Thoughts may popup, various feelings, sights, sounds, and then there is this presence, or space, where it all is "known" by consciousness.

It can be "felt", by letting go. Letting go means no effort. It means to stop caring about your thoughts, not to fight them.
Its easier to let go, if you realize they are not your thoughts you are aware of, but created based on some trigger inside the machine.
If you let yourself slide into this acceptance, you will see what awareness really is, perhaps only for a few seconds.

You will realize, you can just be. You don't need to do anything really.
What is now, is what is now, it exists. You exist as consciousness, whatever state the body is in at that point, you are aware of it.

[Stoica Doru]

Counciousness is like love. Cannot be explained, only be felt. Feel it fully, and your philosophical question will vanish into consciousness itself. 

[Shin]

5 hours ago, Debil said:

Guess this is not the first time it was asked, I've searched, but couldn't find such topic.

After many hours of self inquiry, I've started doubting that there's a perceiver in the first place. 

How can I tell if consciousness exists, or is it just an illusion created by the brain's processing abilities and memory?

Do you realize this is the mind creating this excuse/rationalization ?

The only way to know is to experience it for yourself, just don't follow the good excuses that your mind gives you.
Don't listen to it, and just force a samadhi/no-self experience, and you won't believe your mind anymore when it tells you such negative bullshit  

Don't believe this fucker !

Edited June 1, 2017 by Shin

[Dodo]

5 hours ago, Debil said:

Guess this is not the first time it was asked, I've searched, but couldn't find such topic.

After many hours of self inquiry, I've started doubting that there's a perceiver in the first place. 

How can I tell if consciousness exists, or is it just an illusion created by the brain's processing abilities and memory?

Idk, for me it's not about writing a dissertation and proving stuff about consciousness. The only thing that matters is whether you are free from mind or not. Whether you can live in continuous unbroken peace of (from) mind.

I think we regularly ask the wrong questions. We're way too scientific sometimes, want to explain everything hehe, we don't want to be "dumb".

Edited June 1, 2017 by Dodo

[Debil]

40 minutes ago, zazed said:

Who trained what, and who was aware of the training?
If you are not training, do you dissapear? If you are not feeling anything do you dissapear? When you dream, do you not wake up and remember these dreams, you were aware while dreaming, but not "in control".

The sense of self and awareness does not mean that there's really something (external or special) that perceives, just like a computer can be aware that it contains a virus or that there are many processes (thoughts) running.

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Your brain and body are like an antenna, a receiver and a transmitter at the same time.

That's what I believed for some time now, but only assuming that there's such thing as consciousness in the first place. The sense of existence doesn't mean there's really someone there... 

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Counciousness is like love. Cannot be explained, only be felt.

Sexual attraction also cannot be explained, we know it's only a feature of our body. Love too is caused by hormones (Oxytocin), that may only be a survival tool.

How can we know that the sense of existence indicates this connection to a "field of consciousness" and is not just an illusion?

[Debil]

The realization that there may be no "me" behind the scenes and this is just a body, without something special behind the scenes, a bit bummed me and took the wind out of the sails. Which is surprising, because all these years I was a common materialist, believing there's no such thing as soul and when we die game is over and I was perfectly fine with that. Guess the last year when I started believing in something beyond this body, built some expectations and now caused disappointment.

I guess that in terms of actualization it doesn't really matter, even if there's nothing beyond this body, life is still just a game and learning to accept what comes is a good thing to learn in any case.

[AstralProjection]

On 6/1/2017 at 6:13 AM, Debil said:

Guess this is not the first time it was asked, I've searched, but couldn't find such topic.

After many hours of self inquiry, I've started doubting that there's a perceiver in the first place. 

How can I tell if consciousness exists, or is it just an illusion created by the brain's processing abilities and memory?

If you want the long way you'll have to meditate for many many hours, or likely spend a decent amount of time learning astral projection. If you want the short way to know for sure you must take a good breakthrough dose of a psychedelic.

[Debil]

Astral projection, precognition, PK and memory of previous life is an access to information, it does not mean that there's necessary a soul or a field of consciousness... our intuition, even after years of meditation, can mislead.