Light's On, Nobody's Home

Are you conscious right now? What about a second ago? Consciousness is a weird thing. It’s something that most people probably don’t pay attention to much. It enables us to do all the things we do. We use consciousness when we see, feel, talk, think, wish, and wonder but a lot of the time we aren’t even aware of it. If you stop and ask yourself if you are conscious you will inevitably say you are. But what about the moment before you asked? Were you conscious then?

This all brings into question how aware we are of our lives. We can drive to the store and think about other things while we are driving. Then, instead of driving to the store, we automatically take the road that leads us home. How does this happens? Aren’t we in control of our actions? Clearly, consciousness can be divided and altered but there’s still somebody at home inside, right? Right???

Well, let’s see… Say you open your refrigerator door. The light turns on when you open the door. Then you close the door. What happens to the light after the door is closed? Does the light turn off or does it stay on? So you try opening the door real quick. Maybe you can catch the light off. You do it real fast. The light is on. Now you close the door again. Is the light still on? Quick! Open the door! The light is on. You could do this all day. One of these times you will catch the light off. Or will you?

Now, a clever person might say that you could check to see whether the light goes off by installing a video camera inside the refrigerator, but that’s not the intent of what I’m talking about here. Opening the door to check if the light is on is the same as asking yourself if you are conscious. You ask yourself, “Am I conscious?” You tell yourself, “Yes I am.” Every time you ask and answer you confirm that you are conscious. This is all good but what about when you aren’t asking the question? Are you conscious then?

It is in this way that consciousness is an illusion. We don’t often pay much attention to what we are doing. We go on automatic pilot. We go through the motions of our lives. This might lead you to ask who is calling the shots if you can do things with such little awareness. Are you in control of what you do? (for more on this, see my previous blog called "Who’s Calling the Shots?"). To alleviate this situation, we can take a cue from Zen Buddhism.

Zen Buddhism suggests that living optimally means being present to the moment. This means taking in what you are doing at a particular time without thinking about something you did in the past or something you want to do in the future. Just being in the moment. Let go of the past and don’t fret about the future. By living in the moment, you will be aware that “your light is on,” that you are conscious. The problem is that this kind of awareness doesn’t come naturally.

We can become more aware just by reminding ourselves during the day to be more aware. We can slow down and notice the little things. We can even become more aware through meditation. Consciousness is amazing, but it has a cost. The cost is that we don't like to expend much mental effort. So, we “turn the light off” when the door is closed. The only way to counter this is to be present to the moment. Are you conscious now?