I notice noone else has responded to your thread but I also find the mysteries of consciousness interesting.
Consciousness may simply be the existence of some kind of pre-programmed life energy or "spark" within human beings that is simply not present in
other life forms on earth. I speculate on this because of all the evidence that paranormal phenomenon is very real and proves that the intelligent
hauntings involve:
a) Beings that appear to have the voices and physical appearance of their living bodies only in spirit form.
b) Remember details from when they were alive and will sometimes directly respond to specific questions that only they could know.
c) The capacity to interact with physical objects and make sounds to get people's attention. Not to mention possibly manipulate electromagnetic
fields and electrical energy in general.
So that is one possibility. However, when you think about it there are also spirits of cats and other animals that have also been reported. Perhaps
consciousness and life are symbiotic. I believe consciousness is everywhere in nature and possibly even connected somehow. Possibly at the subatomic
level. This brings up all kinds of possibilities..
a) If everything was touching at the moment just before the big-bang, everything in the universe could be "linked" through the concept of quantum
entanglement. In other words: Perhaps all life (energy) is linked at the subconscious level because it always has been and always will be. It may
even be "pre-programmed" into our DNA somehow. This opens up all kinds of other doors too such as "novelty theory" and "timewave zero" which
depicts novelty on a graph (Novelty, basically, representing the interconnectedness of all living things).
b) Certain undiscovered "fields" may exist, such as the zero point field, that are superimposed over our own. It is possible that somehow the
energy of all living things plants is not only interconnected through this field but can communicate subconsciously or psychically with other life
around it. In this case the energy of all forms of life in the universe would act as a transponder - constantly sending and recieving information
from other lifeforms. And it might be possible for "intelligent" beings such as humans to hone this energy over time and have controllable psychic
abilities and/or be able to do things like SRV (Scientific Remote Viewing) using their own life energy.
I can't remember where I read it but.. I remember seeing on the History channel about a university that conducted a study into chaos theory and
discovered that even the most random events in our universe all follow and adhere to very precise mathematic principles. Thus, it is even possible
that our brains are constantly processing said information subconsciously and giving us the "feeling" that something is going to happen because the
brain understands the probability of said event taking place in our reality.
There is just so much that we don't understand about consciousness in general that it's completely open to scientific inquiry and experimentation.
It's just that noone has really thought of a way to prove definitively what consciousness is.. If it is even possible to begin with.
I have a gut feeling that consciousness involves much more than just interconnected energy though. I have a feeling that our brains are constantly
picking up on subconscious information around us when we don't even realize it and that some people, for whatever reason, have subconscious abilities
that are just better at deciphering this information into something their conscious minds can understand. If people really understood how much
information our brains are constantly processing (even just at the conscious level) they would be shocked. And we still don't have any idea what the
other 85% of our brain is used for.
We know that brain sizes of animals in nature is not indicative of intelligence level nor is it indicative of that creature being consciously aware of
its surroundings. This means that something is pre-programmed within our DNA to not only provide us with superior intelligence but that elusive human
"spark" that represents an understanding and awareness of our universe and our place within it. Of coarse, it is possible that many other
animals/creatures in nature really do have consciousness similar to our own when we don't realize it (Whales, dolphins, elephants, etc..).
If that is the case then it is proof that consciousness is not unique to humans but is possibly the end-result of evolution, maybe even the entire
purpose for life existing in the first place.
In other words: Maybe life exists so that living beings can eventually gain an increasing level of conscious awareness so that over time the can
comprehend/understand the universe and their place within it.. OR Maybe consciousness exists so that it can eventually understand the
interconnectedness of all life in the universe. (Life existing to understand truth and purpose).
But, as always, there's the anthropic principle to think about and how it relates to consciousness and life in general.. (Which will have to be an
entirely different post!).
-ChriS