How do I know that YOU have consciousness?

Originally posted by yic17
How do I know that I am not the only conscious thing in the Universe and that everything is just within my mind?

Thanks.

I think for one because if you were you would know why everyone else is inside your consciousness. If its all just your own consciousness then you should already understand everyone and everything in it since its your projection.
Good question

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
reply to post by yic17

 

The word 'God' is not a man with a pen and pad jotting down good deeds and bad deeds.
God is another word for what is happening. This is happening, reading, noises, sensations. This is Being. All that is seen, heard and felt is just happening. No one is doing it, it is just Being being.
Consciousness (god, being, awareness, this, now) is. It is never not that.
Thoughts arise and we think they are happening to us or that we are doing thoughts. Thoughts appear the same as clouds do in the sky. The clouds in the sky never touch the sky, they pass by, but with out the sky there would be nowhere for them to appear. The cloud is a 'thing'. All 'things' that appear are secondary. 'Things' are manifestations, appearances within consciousness. Without consciousness (the sky) no 'thing' (cloud) could appear.
You are consciousness (sky) and consciousness is not a 'thing'.
Consciousness sees, hears, experiences. It experiences 'things'.

Consciousness (all that is) would not be able to know itself if it remained without 'things'.
Consciousness is nothing without 'things'.
Consciousness is no 'thing'.

In the human story a baby is born, it knows nothing (no 'things'). The baby is pure consciousness and then learns about 'things'. It learns that itself is a thing, mother is another thing, the world is a thing. Consciousness is one so there is really only subject, this is totally known by a young child, but adults have been encouraged to forget this then unknowingly pass it on to the child. All part of the game of hide and seek.
The adults teach the child that it is them against the world, shape up, fit in, be good.
This is what causes the dis-ease. How to cope in this big scary place with all the 'things' to work around.
All 'things' are only thoughts. Until you think you are a separate 'thing', you just are. No labels=no things.

It is as though we imagine standing outside of ourselves looking at ourselves, we see an image of ourselves, that image is not what we are.
Consciousness is what we are and consciousness is transparent, consciousness is no 'thing'. Nothing until 'things' appear. Consciousness is emptiness, formless (like the sky) and remains that even with the appearance of 'things'.
Consciousness can not know itself without manifesting 'things'.
Consciousness sees all the things and one day realizes that it is not a thing.
When it looks upon itself it knows itself knowingly.

So do you think there are multiple consciousnesses or there is just one?

And how do you function in the world of "things" if you do not label yourself as a "thing"?

Also, do you believe that this consciousness will remain even after the brain dies?

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13

Originally posted by yic17
How do I know that I am not the only conscious thing in the Universe and that everything is just within my mind?

Thanks.

I think for one because if you were you would know why everyone else is inside your consciousness. If its all just your own consciousness then you should already understand everyone and everything in it since its your projection.
Good question

Yes, this is certainly one way to see how I am not the whole of the universe.

However, when you consider the "subconscious mind" - then it becomes possible again. Because even though I am not in control of my subconscious mind which processes my body automatically and creates dreams I do not consciously create - my subconscious mind is still a part of me.

So I guess we can assume that my conscious mind may not be the only one. BUT - what if everything is simply the creation of my subconscious mind?

reply to post by yic17


A 'thing' is something that can be defined, are you a 'thing'?
The question 'who am i?' 'what am i?' will show you what you are.
This is called self inquiry.

In this world of illusion there is a very strongly held belief that there are only things (materialistic world view).
People believe without question that they are a 'thing' amongst a world of other 'things'.

Here is a thought experiment:
You are asleep having a dream, there are people, places, colors and sounds, it is all going on and you are viewing the dream.
When you wake up you can remember the dream, you can say it seemed real, but where are the people and places now?
Was there really anyone 'real' in the dream or was it all happening within your own consciousness?
We easily dismiss the dream as imaginary - it was imagined.
Or it could be said that images appeared to us.
The image that appears is an appearance, we could separate certain images out of the entire scence and call them 'things'.
The seer of the appearance (the watcher of the movie, the seer of the dream), is not an appearance, not a thing. It is what you are, notice that is the one constant.
All 'things' (appearances) appear within the context ( in the bubble). You will never see or experience anything outside the walls of the dream (the bubble - consciousness). Everything appears within the dream, whether you are asleep dreaming or 'awake' dreaming.
Life is a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream.........

So in my opinion life is not dependant on a brain.
Brains appear within the dream and the dream can do anything.
The dream is eternal, eternal life.

Within this dream we believe in birth and death.
But birth and death only appear within the dream of life.

It is a dream that is viewed.
There is only the viewer and the viewed. It seems like two, but they can not appear apart.
God smelling his own fart.
Is there any room for any more.
One.

reply to post by yic17


With us humans we built a world within our heads, we have learned of far away lands, we have learned that there is more to life than what we experience directly. We worry about 'things' that are going on somewhere else or with someone else (loved ones).
But we only ever experience what we experience, nothing more and nothing less.
If you experience stress worrying about someone elses suffering, that is your experience. However you will never know for sure if the other person is suffering, because you can not know another experience.
There is only one experience in your experience.

reply to post by yic17


This one experience is your experience.
Experience can only happen now. Experience can not happen in the past or the future. Experience is immediate and direct.
Experience only happens where you are.
Unless it is happening right now it is nothing more than a fantasy.
Even trying to explain what is happening right now would be a story with many aspects missing.

Words make liars of us all.

reply to post by Ophiuchus 13


I think you are on to something there, this is the game of life.
When it is seen for sure that this is the case it all falls into place.
We have believed that we are not one consciousness and that there are others. This is the suffering and confusion.
When it is realized (liberation) that there is no other we understand everyone and everything because they are no more than a projection of ourselves.
Everything seen is the same as the seer.
This is freedom from the world, because the world is in fact the self.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


pretty sure that it's " I think.. therefore I am.. i think?".. lol
if we didn't think we wouldn't be.. would we?
as we need to think in order to experience..
but i could be wrong because I don't do a lot of thinking.. lol

reply to post by yic17


There is only One Consciousness. Universal Consciousness. By being individualized it creates the Illusion of separation.

Originally posted by dn4cer2000
reply to post by yic17

 

There is only One Consciousness. Universal Consciousness. By being individualized it creates the Illusion of separation.

The ILLUSION of separation? I'm sorry, what am I thinking right now?

Everything has consciousness since you have consciousness and everything is you and you are everything. So you create reality where the many become one. For each and every, is one. It is time for the many to meet at the All to create a new creation. A new work of Art. Timeless where there is no time, the work of art, creates itself. Forever. But. There is no forever. Just now. There has only been now. Forever and yesterday were just a deam, happening now.

Reply to yik17: "God smelling his own fart"....ha,ha,ha! THAT's awesome! Why do I only like the smell of my own farts and no one elses? I mean, isn't everyone else's mine, me, I? So are you telling me that there are parts of myself that I don't like? Are there area's and part's that are unloved? Is the unloved but pieces of marble chisled off the block to reveal the sculptue beneath? The unloved returns to the marble to await another sculptor. So I, we are the sculptor and the other sculptor. Which brings us back to the original question. Fart's stink. Your's and mine just plain stink. So you see, we, I ...don't really like them. Let's chip them off this scupture, this sculptor sculpting itself.... FAR OUT MAN!!!!!

reply to post by HUMBLEONE


You may not like the smell of the fart if you imagined that it was someone elses. However, when it is realized that it is only you, you may appreciate the many different fragrances.

reply to post by believer74


Babies don't think. Babies experience. Later though they will be taught language which will enable them to communicate with others and 'themselves'.
They will learn that they have to tell themselves things, because they will forget that they are just one person who already knows before they tell themselves, lol.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
reply to post by believer74

 

Babies don't think. Babies experience. Later though they will be taught language which will enable them to communicate with others and 'themselves'.
They will learn that they have to tell themselves things, because they will forget that they are just one person who already knows before they tell themselves, lol.

Babies know what pain is, at birth some babies get spanked and start to cry.

If the baby dont get fed when it is hungry they start to cry.

If the baby don't get to burp after it is fed it will start to cry. Because of stomach pains.

If the baby is a wake it might not want to lie down, so it starts to cry.

The baby might not want to sleep when you try and put him/her to sleep. So they stat to cry.

Because a baby can't speak dosent mean it doesn't think or have needs.

About +- two weeks after the baby is borne it begins to smile and lough.

I have two kids an they were far from brain dead when they were borne.

I wish i could answer this. This is something I think about a lot, but ultimately, if it is not a question you can get a solid answer to then it is something you must justify within your own mind.


Instead of what proof, ask what use would it be to have only you conscious and this be the very world around you now.

Also if WE didn't have consciousness then ultimately the replies on this thread would be made of your own mind and therefore pointless. Of course I know I am conscious as I am writing this but how do I know that I am not fabricating all these posts in MY mind.

Proof is hard to come by, I would say that If it were only your mind creating the things/people/places then why would your conscious create evil, why would it have people do wrong to you, why would it have people that you don't like. If you were the only conscious being in the Universe (or your universe) wouldn't it be utopia?

reply to post by spy66


Did anyone say that babies are brain dead?
Perhaps you should read it again.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
reply to post by spy66

 

Did anyone say that babies are brain dead?
Perhaps you should read it again.

That was just a figure of speech.

Newborns do have feeling and thoughts. You can see them move their arms and legs when they dream.

reply to post by spy66


A baby may dream but that does not mean it is capable of thought.
Thoughts are made of words and a baby is not born with words.
Words are a human thing. Do you remember learning the ABC?

A baby has sensation, it experiences what is happening. It has no concept of tomorrow or yesterday. In fact it is void of all concepts until it is programmed to become a human.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
reply to post by spy66

 

A baby may dream but that does not mean it is capable of thought.
Thoughts are made of words and a baby is not born with words.
Words are a human thing. Do you remember learning the ABC?

You are obviously not a professional in the field.

Thoughts are not only comprised of words, thought is the ability to reason or show some form of judgment. Thought is independent of speech, not a result of it.