How is a human’s consciousness/awareness different form an animal or plant?

[Ananta]

Here is my take on it...

Humans have advanced ego's that are not only intellectual, but also can discriminate.

Animals have a rudimentary ego, they are essentially "programs", in the sense that they run mainly by Instinct and can not discriminate.

Plants have a life force, but no mind.

Therefore, it is only humans that can discriminate and realize their true nature.

[Carl-Richard]

19 hours ago, Ananta said:

Therefore, it is only humans that can discriminate and realize their true nature.

To return to your true self, you must first have lived as a separate self 

[Moon]

2 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

To return to your true self, you must first have lived as a separate self 

So plants then animals are closer to the true self than humans? The more advanced ego, the further we are from truth 

[Ananta]

13 minutes ago, Moon said:

So plants then animals are closer to the true self than humans? The more advanced ego, the further we are from truth 

No, there is no "closer" to the true self, as all is already the true Self, but its only humans that can recognize it through discrimination. (Ie, I am not this or that, I'm not that which I perceive, including the body and the mind.)

[Carl-Richard]

9 hours ago, Moon said:

So plants then animals are closer to the true self than humans? The more advanced ego, the further we are from truth 

The separate self is the illusion of separateness created through mental distinctions, and humans are very good at making those distinctions. If you're not making any distinctions; if you're not venturing outside to discover the world, you don't have to come back home again. The difference between humans and animals in that sense is that the animal is sleeping inside the home while the human returns awake (he had been sleepwalking while dreaming and then woke up in his bed).

[Nahm]

It seems like there is a separate object, ‘human’, when false apparent self referential thought is believed. Consciousness / awareness is then attributed to being a product of the appearance, or perception, combined with the thought. Awareness is aware of awareness. Being really is Being, there is no middle’man’. Consciousness is the lamp unto itself. 

[zeroISinfinity]

10 hours ago, Moon said:

So plants then animals are closer to the true self than humans? The more advanced ego, the further we are from truth 

Well they are. Do I always have to introduce my dog. She is kinda tired to always serve as example and be dragged all over the place. But she likes mud.