Questioning Consciousness:

Exploring the Nature of Direct Experience

Benjamin Smythe

The following questions are meant to be actively examined using direct attention to investigate the reality of "material explanations for phenomena":

I recommend reading the question several times, closing your eyes and really exploring your direct experience using each question as a guide.

1. If sound requires air to travel on, how is it you can hear these words?

2. If light is required for the eyes to see, how is it you can see darkness?

3. If a scent requires molecules traveling through the air to smell it, how is it you can smell this lemon?

4. If a taste requires molecules touching your tongue, how is it you can taste this piece of chocolate?

5. If touch requires pressure and temperature, how is it you can feel this kiss?

If the experience these questions invite is simply the function of using memory, how can you be sure you are not remembering reality right now? If you assert because "I can learn new things", how is it you can know you didn't already know it and just forgot? What is the difference between what you remember and what you experience from the standpoint of consciousness?

Dreaming Awake All of the above questions apply equally to "dreaming" reality as well.

What is the difference between what you dream and what you call reality from the standpoint of consciousness if you can see, hear, feel, taste, and smell in your dreams? Where is the light source coming from when you are seeing in a dream? Where is the air sound has to travel on when you are hearing in a dream? Where is the pressure and temperature happening on the body you use to dream? When there is no body in your dreams, what is housing the eyes that still see what is happening? Are your dreams made of molecules, and is this why the five senses still function in a dream? If a dream is made of molecules and reality is made of molecules, could it be said Consciousness is the interplay of molecules? Would this require a separate operator?

Consciousness Listening to Consciousness You are listening to these words with your eyes. Don't move on until you have confirmed the reality of what reading really is. You can test this simply by reading aloud and reading silently and noticing the only thing that changes is the shape of the sound and the sensation of moving the lips, not the reality of being able to hear it. You can hear it now, obviously. In your direct experience of reading this sentence, you are listening to the words. Hear this? If you read aloud, that activates the air. However, if you read "silently", that is obviously not silence. Where is the air sound supposedly has to travel on when you read "silently"? Similar tests can be used to explore the phenomena of darkness, smells, tastes and sensations.

It's Memory If you simply default the cause of experiencing what these questions invite to memory, how can you be sure you are not remembering everything you experience?

Consciousness Liberated When you look at someone, that is yourself. When you look at yourself, that is someone. Consciousness dreams it is a separate person until it doesn't.