What is consciousness? We cannot yet know.

Since we are conscious, it is tempting to try to understand what consciousness is. We can think of consciousness as the way that we perceive the world. For example, when we see a red ball, we perceive a red ball. When we feel the wind, we perceive the wind as moving our hair. When we eat food, we perceive the taste of the food. Our perception of a red ball is a completely different experience from our perception of the wind or of food. So, if we try to understand what these perceptions are made of, we would need to understand what the basic common unit of perception is made of, because all perceptions are made of this unit. So, our question becomes: what is this unit?<br><br>Since we are aware of ourselves, we should also be able to understand what this unit is. After all, we understand what basic units of other things are. We understand what makes up water. We understand what makes up wood. We understand what makes up electricity. We understand what makes up computers. But, we do not understand what makes up awareness. In fact, we do not even know that this unit exists. So, our revised question is: does this unit exist? That is, we want to know whether we are a collection of things that we can perceive, or whether we just exist all by ourselves.<br><br>If we were a collection of things that we can perceive, it should be easy to find out what this unit is. After all, our awareness of ourselves allows us to detect and perceive things like balls and wind, that is, things we can touch and measure. Then, we should also be able to detect and perceive the things out of which we are made. Yet, we cannot. For example, when we eat meat, we can feel the flesh of the meat. We can feel the fibers that make it up. But, when we examine the material that we are made of, we do not feel anything like that. We feel our organs, but we do not feel the things that make the organs up. We feel our skin, but we do not feel the things that make our skin up. In short, we can sense the material that we are made of, but we cannot sense the things that make up this material. <br><br> So, the things that make up the material that we are made of cannot be perceived by us. But then, this material is not part of our awareness. For example, when we say that we perceive a red ball, we are not referring to the material the ball is made of, we are referring to the ball itself. We can similarly say that we perceive our body. But, we are again not referring to the material that our body is made of, we are referring to the body itself. The material that our body is part of is part of our awareness, not the material that our body is made of.<br><br> So, if our awareness is made of things that we cannot perceive, then we are not aware of what our awareness is made of. For example, we know what cotton is made of, because cotton is made of things that we can perceive. But, if cotton were made of things we could not perceive, then we would not know what cotton is made of. So, if our perceptions are made of things that we cannot perceive, then we do not know what our perceptions are made of. <br><br> In summary, our perception is made of things that we cannot perceive. So, we do not know what our perception is made of.<br><br>It’s not the things that you don’t know that can hurt you. It’s the things that you think you know that are not so. We perceive a red ball, we perceive meat, we perceive the wind, etc. These are the things we know. But, what is the unit made of? We don’t know. Then, we cannot yet know what consciousness is.<br><br>Edit:<br><br>This is a summary of the reply to the comments so far. Please read the comments for more detail.<br><br>**Consciousness is not awareness.** As an extreme example, plants have awareness. Plants do not have consciousness. <br><br>**Perceptions are not a collection of basic units.** For example, this is why we have whole brain imaging fMRI, and why we have whole body MRI. A picture of one piece of the brain or the body does not necessarily imply what the full picture of the brain or body is.<br><br>**My question is not about the nature of consciousness.** Instead, I am asking whether there even exists a basic unit that makes up consciousness, and whether there even exists a basic unit that makes up our perceptions.<br><br>**My answer is not about the nature of consciousness.** Instead, I am saying that there is no basic unit that makes up consciousness, and there is no basic unit that makes up our perceptions.<br><br>**My answer is not that the basic unit is the whole brain.** In the same way that the whole brain cannot perceive a red ball or meat or cotton without individual pieces of the brain working together, the whole brain cannot perceive anything without individual pieces of the brain working together. For example, we cannot hear music without individual pieces of the whole brain working together. In the same way, we cannot hear individual instruments of music unless there is a basic unit that is responsible for hearing each instrument.<br><br>**My answer is not that the basic unit is the individual cells that make up the brain.** But, it is definitely true that consciousness arises from the activity of neurons. After all, if you sever neurons, you may lose consciousness. In the same way that cotton is made of fibres, consciousness arises from individual pieces of brain working together. But just as the colour of the cotton is not necessarily equal to the colour of the fibres, the colour of consciousness is not necessarily equal to the colour of the individual pieces of brain.<br><br>**My answer is not that the basic unit is atoms.** I may have been unclear in my example with cotton. If you could see the fibres of cotton, you could see what the cotton was made of. But, if you could see the atoms that make up the cotton, you could not necessarily see what the cotton was made of. <br>So, if you could see the whole brain, you could see what the brain is made of (unlike if you could see individual pieces of brain, and unlike if you could see individual pieces of the whole brain). But, if you could see the pieces that make up our perceptions, you could not necessarily see what our perceptions are made of.<br><br>**My answer is not that the basic unit is subatomic particles.** If there is any colour that arises from subatomic particles, it is the colour of atoms, not the colour of the cotton. <br>So, if there is a consciousness that arises from subatomic particles, it is the consciousness of atoms, not the consciousness of humans. And, if my answer were that subatomic particles are the unit of human consciousness, then I would be saying that the consciousness of atoms is the same as the consciousness of humans. So, if you are an atom, that’s good news for you, but my answer is not that.<br><br>**My answer is not that the basic unit is “something” that we do not yet know of.** But, part of the definition of something is that we can perceive it. <br><br>**My answer is not that the basic unit is space.** But, our consciousness is definitely not the consciousness of space. After all, we have perceptions, and space is not able to perceive. And, our consciousness is definitely not the consciousness of particles of space. After all, if there is any colour that arises from particles of space, it is the colour of space, not the colour of what is in space. And, if there is a consciousness that arises from particles of space, it is the consciousness of space, not the consciousness of what is in space.<br><br>**My answer is not that the basic unit is “nothing” that we do not yet know of.** But, part of the definition of nothing is that we cannot perceive it. And, as long as we have awareness, we can perceive our awareness. <br><br>**My answer is not that this unit is a nonsense concept.** After all, if we were made of “nothing,” our awareness would not exist, and we would not know that our awareness does not exist. On the other hand, if we were made of “something,” our awareness would exist, and we would know that our awareness exists. So, our awareness exists. So, we are made of “something.”<br><br>**My answer is not that this unit is a meaningless concept.** After all, if our awareness were made of “nothing,” then we would not have any perceptions. On the other hand, if our awareness were made of “something,” then we would have perceptions. So, our awareness is made of “something.”<br><br>**It’s not the things that you don’t know that can hurt you. It’s the things that you think you know that are not so.**