When you are alive , you are conscious .It is consciousness that defines your aliveness. The other way,it is aliveness that causes consciousness. When I experience something my consciousness is temporarily suspended in order to register sensations and record experiences .I have been thinking of why ,when I am typing this ,I am not simultaneously conscious of my typing. I have often found that I may have been subconsciously aware of the experiences I am going through but not all the time. For example I do a hundred things during the day but find it difficult to remember all the experiences when I try to recall them later. I have found over the years it is expedient to let another part of mind to offer a running commentary on what is taking place. There is a continuous drone in the back of my mind which is a kind of a background commentary offered by another part of my mind which makes me conscious. The sound inside is a persistent commentary which tries to synthesize my experiences and make some sense out of them before they are filed away.The commentary looks at the aggregates ,brings to the fore analogous situations, tries to read trends and look for meaning behind each of the transactions.
I have read Aldous Huxley’s statement somewhere that progress is never felt ,but only recorded. Of course he was talking in another context.In the context of what happens to the humankind over large tracts of time. In the evolution of human thought. The running commentary within us makes us conscious of the external sensations which tend to die away without being noticed and made sense of. I train myself to look at the world as I take my walks ,trying not to miss the fascinating sounds of life ,the fantastic newer perspectives on nature ,the glory of unreal situations which will not repeat themselves. All this becomes possible only if the commentary goes on uninterruptedly while I participate in the drama of life.
