consciousness is defined - given definition -
given form by matter
if you could subtract the physical world -
you would have only spirit undifferentiated -
and with no sense of self -
in fact it is clear - it would not actually exist -
there would be nothing to define it
the same cannot be said of matter without mind
matter defines itself - its forms - independently
of the existence or not of consciousness
consciousness is an interloper on the scene - in one sense
it comes though - not from outside the physical world
it appears as the inside of the world -
we are not here committed to pan-psychism -
though logically speaking - it would be neat
we have instead an asymmetrical relation
the inside of the world is not as it were quantitatively
equivalent to its outside
and for this reason evolutionary thought has seemed
to be sensible -
consciousness as an emergent property
however if you go with the idea of mind as the inside
of substance - you're left with Cartesian problem regarding
its relation to the outside of itself -
how does an inside emerge from an outside?
perhaps the inside / outside notion does not get us too far
is it an explanation - or what is to be explained?
the simplest notion is that mind is an expression of matter -
in a particular form
it is the event of matter reflecting on itself
it is not an observable event
it is the observing event
and here is the limit of science
explanation - further description of the observing
event will not be found in observing the world -
no matter how precise you get - how infinitesimal
your calculation
the point is - understanding - knowledge - here -
is of a different kind
it is to be found not in observation - rather in reflection
and reflection on what?
reflection - can only be the answer here
reflection on reflection
so you say - what's to be found or gained here?
here is the unknown - fair and square - as a reality -
that is not categorically - definable - reducible -
it simply is - what is unknown
however we - create in terms of this -
our language here is not the language of science -
of the outside - rather the language of art -
here is to be found the metaphysics of consciousness
just where you didn't expect it
its defining property - its aim - is not truth - rather beauty
and this is the best we can do
