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We have a physical perspective which is somewhat constrained by our material attributes, i.e. we can only see so far, we can only hear sounds from so far away, we can only smell smells within a certain range. But what about consciousness, where are it's limits? When I contemplate consciousness it feels like I am existing within consciousness, it doesn't eminate from my mind/body in any sense at all. So from an experiential point of view consciousness appears limitless in space, and equally from an intellectual point of view it makes no sense to say my consciousness ends at any particular point in space.
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I would have to say that consciousness is, just like matter, limitless. You may say that our body is limited in the sense that it is distinct from other bodies in the material world, but if you consider the body minus consciousness, it seems fairly intuitive to say that it is a single, limitless
thing. Certainly it is consistent with physics.
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Now if this is so then what of the consciousness of others. If mine is limitless then so is theirs. It is absurd to entertain the possibility that my consciousness is mottled, and the gaps are filled by the consciousness of others. And not only does it offend the intellect it also offend my experience, as this is not how it feels to be conscious. So my consciousness is limitless in space and completely fills that space (or is space contained within consciousness?) and so does that of others - but surely the only way this is possible is if we share the same consciousness.
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I firmly believe that it is indeed the case that there is only
one consciousness in the same sense as there is only one physical matter. Not only that, but I believe that the two (thought and extension) are merely two modes of a single, infinite substance that has an infinite amount of such modes. Obviously I didn't come up with this view on my own; it's from Spinoza's
Ethics.
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Is there only one consciousness and physical perspective is simply a manifestation of it?
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It's possible (I guess that's what the German Idealists were arguing), but I think that the extended world of matter
exists just as much as consciousness does.
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Am I getting wrapped up in words when the only possible 'solution' to the problem of consciousness is not to be found in words and rational explanations but simply to be conscious?
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It's possible, but thinking about it is still a good mental exercise.