Consciousness.
The fact of consciousness is the great mystery of psychology. It is
difficult even to define the term, although every person of average
intelligence understands what is sought to be conveyed by it. Webster
defines it as "knowledge of one's own existence, sensations, mental
operations, etc.; immediate knowledge or perception of any object, state,
or sensation; being aware; being sensible of." Another authority defines
the term as "the state of being aware of one's sensations; the power,
faculty, or mental state of being aware of one's own existence,
condition at the moment, thoughts, feelings, and actions." Halleck's
definition is: "That indefinable characteristic of mental states which
causes us to be aware of them."
It will be seen that the idea of "awareness" is the essence of the idea
of consciousness. But, at the last, we are compelled to acknowledge that
it is impossible to closely define consciousness, for it is something so
entirely unique and different from anything else that we have no other
terms at all synonymous to it. We can define it only in its own terms,
as will be seen by reference to the definitions above given. And it is
equally impossible to clearly account for its appearance and being.
Huxley has well said: "How it is that anything so remarkable as a state
of consciousness comes about by the result of irritating nervous tissue,
is just as unaccountable as the appearance of the jinnee when Aladdin
rubbed his lamp." All that we can ever know regarding the nature of
consciousness must be learned from turning the consciousness in
ourselves back upon itself--by focusing consciousness upon its own
mental operations by means of introspection. By turning inward the
conscious gaze we may perceive the flow of the stream of thought from
its rise from the subconscious regions of the mind to its final
disappearance in the same region.
It is a common error to suppose that we are directly conscious of
objects outside of ourselves. This is impossible, for there is no direct
knowledge of such outside objects. We are conscious merely of our
sensations of, or mental images of, the outside objects. All that it is
possible for us to be directly conscious of are our own mental
experiences or states. We cannot be directly conscious of anything
outside of our own minds. We are not directly conscious of the tree
which we _see_; we are directly conscious merely of the sensation of the
nerves arising from the impact of the light waves carrying the image of
the tree. We are not directly conscious of the tree when we touch it and
perceive its character in that way; we are directly conscious merely of
the sensation reported by the nerves in the finger tips which have come
in contact with the tree. We are directly conscious even of our own
bodies only in the same way. It is necessary for the mind to experience
that of which it may become conscious. We are conscious only of (1) that
which our mind is experiencing at this moment, or (2) that which it has
experienced in the past, and which is being re-experienced this moment
by the process of the memory, or which is being re-combined or
re-arranged this moment by the imagination.
SUBCONSCIOUS PLANES.
But it must not be thought that every mental state or mental fact is in
the field of consciousness. This error has been exploded for many years.
The fact is now recognized that the field of consciousness is a very
narrow and limited one, and that the great field of mental activity lies
outside of its narrow limits. Beyond and outside of the narrow field of
consciousness lies the great subconscious storehouse of memory in which
are stored the experiences of the past, to be drawn again into the field
of consciousness by an effort of the will in the act of recollection, or
by association in ordinary remembrance. In that great region, also, the
mind manifests many of its activities and performs much of its work. In
that great region are evolved the emotions and feelings which play such
an important part in our lives, and which often manifest a vague
disturbing unrest long before they rise to the plane of consciousness.
In that great region are produced the ideas, feelings, and conceptions
which arise to the plane of consciousness and manifest that which men
call "genius."
On the subconscious plane the imagination does much of its work, and
startles its owner by presenting him with the accomplished result in the
field of consciousness. In the subconscious field is performed that
peculiar process of mental mastication, digestion, and assimilation with
which all brain workers are familiar, and which absorbs the raw mental
material given it, separates, digests, and assimilates it, and
re-presents it to the conscious faculties sometime after as a
transformed substance. It has been estimated that at least eighty-five
per cent. of our mental activities are performed below or outside of the
field of consciousness. The psychology of to-day is paying much
attention to this formerly neglected great area or areas of the mind.
The psychology of to-morrow will pay still greater attention to it.
The best of the modern authorities agree that in the great field of
subconscious mentation is to be found the explanation of much that is
unexplainable otherwise. In fact, it is probable that before long
consciousness will be regarded as a mere _focusing of attention_ upon
mental states, and the objects of consciousness merely as that portion
of the contents of the mind in the field of mental vision created by
such focusing.