Definitions HQ

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠based wholly on errors. We need to understand that as of now only our errors have been incorporated into us.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠entirely unnecessary. The whole of life would be possible, without, as it were, seeing itself in a mirror. Even now, for that matter, by far the greatest portion of our life actually takes place without this mirror effect... and this is true even of our thinking, feeling and willing life.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the last, latest, most unfinished and unstrong development of the organic. It is the residue, the vapor of lived, embodied experience, where dynamic emotions, drives, passions, and affects congeal and are codified in language.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the process of arranging, simplifying, schematizing, interpreting, and imagining everything of which we 'become conscious' while at the same time burying the connections between, bodily feelings and desires.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the latest development of the organic... it is weak, unfinished, and wrongly taken for the 'unity of the organism', a misunderstanding whereby men, by believing that they possess consciousness, have not exerted themselves very much to acquire it, a fact which has allowed it to develop more slowly.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a more or less fantastic commentary on an unknown, perhaps unknowable, but felt text.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠really only a net of communication between human beings; it developed under the pressure of the need to communicate, and a solitary beast of prey would not have needed it.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠man's weakest and most fallible organ, which he was reduced to when his infallible drives lost their footing.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the supreme state and precondition of perfection — the opposite is true: to the extent an action is willed and conscious, there is no perfection in it.

Consciousness (n.) in ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠its becoming expresses a discomfiture of the organism: it must try something new, nothing fits, there is toil and strain.

Consciousness (n.) receives ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only terminal phenomena: everything that enters it is an end that causes nothing — yet we tried to understand the world as if only thinking, feeling and willing were real.

Consciousness (n.) plays ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a subsidiary role, almost indifferent, superfluous — perhaps destined to vanish and give way to a perfect automatism.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the supreme court but a means of communication, evolved through social intercourse — not the directing agent but an organ of it.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠innocent of every essential process of our preservation and growth; no head is subtle enough to construe more than a machine, to which every organic process is far superior.

Consciousness (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠entered its phase of modesty: the conscious ego turns out to be a tool of a higher, more comprehensive intellect — we are only the smallest part of ourselves.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a proud chamber in which nature has locked man — aloof from the coils of his bowels — and then thrown away the key.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the hand with which the organism reaches out furthest — and like a general who must not know too much, it must above all be a drive to exclude.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠just a tool for the miracle of the body — a tool in the same sense that the stomach is a tool.

Consciousness (n.) exists ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in a man as many times over as there are beings constituting his body; the intellect is simply the one kept sealed off and fed a falsified selection.

Consciousness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a small segment of an organism's total life and only one more means of its expansion — making it the measure of life is the fundamental mistake of all philosophy.