How to Approach Phenomenal Consciousness  Jac O'Keeffe (Jac OKeeffe, St. Augustine, Florida )   C12

Phenomenal consciousness and our ability to be conscious are not the same thing. Existence and our awareness that we exist are not the same thing either. Bringing subjective perception to phenomenal consciousness approaches it with the incorrect lens of perception and obscures its singular nature. Our findings must be illusory. Phenomenal consciousness, because it is the singular underpinning reality, precludes simultaneous subjectivity. Yet each of us can know it directly only when we suspend the subjective reality making mechanisms in our brain. The immediate experience of phenomenal consciousness is oneness without a second. It is singularity. In many spiritual traditions phenomenal consciousness is referred to as Truth; it is not true. Its pattern lies prior to qualitative labels and subjective interpretations. The exploration of phenomenal consciousness is possible if it is undertaken for its own sake, devoid of personal gain. The riddle of phenomenal consciousness will resolve itself when scientists undertake their own inward journey where clarity inevitably reveals itself.