The impersonality of consciousness
With the development of these special parts of the brain came the activity called consciousness. Thus came into being the species of organism called the Human Being, the most advanced and sophisticated species that has the most advanced cognitive capacity and functions. It is this species that became aware of an environment called the “world,” and also became aware of a “self” that exists in the world.
In other words, it is this impersonal electrochemical activity called consciousness that has given rise to an awareness of an objective “world,” and a subjective “self.” It is this consciousness that has given rise to an experience which has two parts: a subjective and an objective. The “world” that we are aware of is an objective experience. The “self” that we are aware of is a subjective experience. The self is the result of personalization of the subjective experience. This means the “self,” being a product of the subjective process called consciousness, does not exist apart from the process of consciousness. Therefore it is an appearance rather than a reality. The world that we are aware of is also a product of the process of consciousness. It too is a mere appearance. In other words, both the world and the self are subjective experiences rather than objective existences that stand apart from the subjective experience. In other words, the “self” and the “world,” though they are supposed to exist, do not really exist by themselves. If this is so, the self and the world are mere delusions.
If this process called Life began as an unconscious electrochemical activity of a self-replicating molecule, it is this unconscious electrochemical activity that produced the consciousness. It is this consciousness that produced the self and the world that we are aware of. If this self and the world do not exist apart from consciousness, it means neither the self, nor the world has a real objective existence.
Although our thinking faculty (cognition = mano) may be aware of this fallacy, our emotions (affective = citta) are unaware. It is our blind emotions that desire existence, but our reason is aware that this blind desire clashes with the reality of non-existence. This clash between blind desire and reality leads to frustration. It is this frustration that we call suffering, or the insecurity of life.