Chapter 9 Volume 2 Knowledge-4

Me: "But in terms of time, the second consciousness does not come after the first, because I am conscious of things in the same undivided instant of awareness of myself." Genie: "I didn't speak of temporal order at all, but rather I thought that if you later thought about this undivided consciousness of yourself and of things, and distinguished the two, and explored their connection, You will find that the latter is conditioned by the former, and that the latter is conceived as possible only assuming the existence of the former, not vice versa." Me: "I also find that to be the case. If that's all you want to say, then I agree with you, and already have."

Genie: "I say, you created the second consciousness; did you create it by the actual workings of your mind, or did you find otherwise?" Me: "Of course, on this point I have implicitly acknowledged your claim. As soon as I discovered myself, I added to the consciousness I discovered another consciousness which I did not discover within me at all; I As if supplementing and doubling my actual consciousness is an activity anyway. But I can't help making an attempt, either to withdraw my acknowledgment, or to annul my The whole presumption. When I form a general conception, or when I choose a course of action from among the possible courses of action before me in dubious situations, I am conscious as mind that I I am aware of the operations of my mind, that is, I know such things; but I am not at all conscious of the operations by which I, as you assert, produce ideas of objects other than myself."

Genie: "Don't be confused by this. Only when you pass through a state of wavering, indecision, do you become aware of the activities of your mind. This state of wavering, indecision, you are also conscious of. This state of indecision does not take place in our case; the mind does not have to consider what object it should attach to its particular sensation, which is A natural thing. We also have this distinction in philosophical terms. The activity of the mind which we are conscious of as it is is called freedom; the activity which is not conscious of action is called mere spontaneity.Take good care that by no means do I make you feel directly aware of such an activity, but only that, if you think about the situation, you will find that there must be an activity.The higher question is what it is that prevents this state of indecision, the consciousness of our actions, from taking place; this question will no doubt be resolved later.

"We call this activity of your mind thinking; and the word thinking, which I have used up to now with your consent, we also say that thinking, unlike feeling which is mere feeling, arises spontaneously. .From your previous assumptions, how do you give the feeling that you really have, and yet make up an object that you don't know?" Me: "I assume there must be a basis for what I feel, and then I draw inferences from it." Elf: "Will you first tell me what the basis is?" Me: "I find that something is already determined in one way or another. But I cannot be satisfied with knowing it as it is; I think that it is what it is not by itself, but by a An alien power. This alien power which makes it so contains the ground, and the power which makes it so expressive is the ground of this determination of the thing. To say that my sensation has a ground means This feeling was caused by an alien force within me."

Elf: "You virtualize this alien power to your feelings that you are directly aware of, so that you have the concept of the object in you, is that so? Let's leave it at that. "Now take good care that if the feeling must have a ground, I admit that your inference is correct, and understand that you have good reasons for assuming that objects outside yourself, though you know nothing about them, Can't know. But how do you know that the sensation must have a ground? How do you try to prove it to me? Or in the general way you stated the law of causality earlier, why can't you just be content with knowing that something is as it is, Why do you assume that it came to be like this? Or, if I want to know this from you, why do you assume that it came to be like this by an alien force? I find that you just always assume that's the case That's all."

Me: "I admit it. But I really can't help but assume that. It's as if I knew it firsthand." Genie: "You say you know this directly, and when we go back and examine your answer as the only possible answer, we'll see what it might mean. We'll test all the other answers now, though. possible ways in which we can draw the conclusion that something must have a ground. "Do you know this through direct perception?" Me: "How can I? Because perception often only shows that there is something in me. In fact, it only shows how I was determined, not that this thing has become, let alone it. Became by an alien power existing outside all perception."

Genie: "Or is this a principle which you have formed and raised to universality by looking at things outside yourself—outside which you have always sought grounds? A principle of yourself and your state?" Me: "Don't treat me like a child, don't force the obvious absurdity on me. How can I get this from the things outside of me through the law of causality? What about the law of cause and effect? ​​Is the earth on the elephant and the elephant on the earth?" Genie: "Or, is this law of causality a theorem derived from another universal truth?" Me: "Such a general truth cannot be proved either by direct perception or by inspection of external objects, and you would ask other questions about its origin."—This supposed fundamental truth I can only Get it straight away. It would be better for me to speak of this truth at once in terms of causality, without passing judgment on your speculations."

Genie: "Let's say that. Then, besides the first direct knowledge, through the sense of our state, we have a second direct knowledge of universal truths." Me: "It seems so." Elf: "The special knowledge mentioned here, that is, your feelings must have a basis, does it not depend on the knowledge of objects at all?" Me: "Of course; knowledge of things can only be gained through this special knowledge." Genie: "Do you absolutely have this knowledge in yourself?" Me: "Absolutely; for only through this knowledge do I rise above myself."

Genie: "Do you, then, by yourself, by yourself, and by your immediate knowledge, give law to being and its relations?" Me: "If I think about it, I just ascribe laws to my ideas of existence and its connections. It is safer to choose this term." Elf: "Let's just say that. Then, besides the way you act according to this law, are you aware of this law in another way?" Me: "My consciousness begins with the perception of my state; according to the law of causality, I directly connect the idea of ​​the object with my consciousness; the two, the consciousness of my state and the idea of ​​the object, are inseparable. united in severance; there is never any consciousness between them, never any other before this one indivisible consciousness.—No, I cannot be conscious of the law until I act in accordance with it, except It is impossible for me to be aware of the law in any other way than in the way I behave according to it."

Genie: "So you act according to the law without being conscious of it in a particular way; you act according to it directly and absolutely. But you just said that you were aware of the law and Expressed as general principles. How did you get this particular awareness?" Me: "No doubt it is this: I have examined myself afterwards, and I affirm that I act in this way, and generalize this commonality in my practice into general principles." Elf: "It can be seen that you are aware of your actions?" Me: "Undoubtedly, awareness. I guessed what you mean by asking these questions. Here is the second kind of direct awareness mentioned above, that is, the awareness of my actions, and the feeling is the first direct awareness. Consciousness, that is, awareness of my passive state."

Genie: "Correct. I say that you may afterwards, by free examination of yourself, by thinking of yourself, become aware of what you did; but you will not necessarily be aware of it, because once you are only acting within, You wouldn't be directly aware of it." Me: "But I must have been aware of it at first, because at the same time as I feel I am immediately aware of the idea of ​​the object.—I have found the solution of the problem: I am directly aware of my action, only it is not as Such an action is conscious of me, but is presented to me as a given action. This consciousness is the consciousness of the object. Afterwards, through free thinking, I can also be conscious of it as an action. "My immediate consciousness consists of two elements, the consciousness of my passive state, the sensation, and the consciousness of my action, the consciousness of creating objects according to the laws of causality, and this latter consciousness It is directly connected with the former consciousness. Consciousness of objects is nothing but a consciousness of my idea of ​​creating objects.Although it is not yet considered such awareness.I know this creation only because I myself am the creator.All consciousness, therefore, is nothing but immediate consciousness, nothing but consciousness of myself, and is therefore now perfectly intelligible.Do you think my inference is correct? " Genie: "Excellent! But whence come the necessity and universality with which you state your principles—such as the law of causality here?" Me: "From the immediate feeling that, being rational, I must do this, and that any rational being outside of me must, being a rational being. Everything that happens— —here my feelings—have a ground, which means: I have always conceived a ground, and everyone who only thinks has to conceive a ground.” Spirit: "So you see that all knowledge is only knowledge about yourself, your consciousness is never beyond yourself, and whatever you think is consciousness about objects is nothing but consciousness about objects you build, And this kind of awareness is something that you must complete simultaneously with the feeling according to the inner law of your thinking.” Me: "Go ahead with your inferences boldly! I don't want to hinder you, I have even helped you to develop the inferences you intend to make. But now in all seriousness, I withdraw my whole presumption that I have resorted to The law of causality can admit things outside of me; I withdraw this assumption from within as soon as it makes us fall into a manifest error. "Thus I am only conscious of a simple force external to me, and as a mere imaginary, just as I conceive magnetism in nature in order to explain magnetic phenomena, and in order to Explain the phenomenon of electricity by assuming that electricity is the same. "However, I feel that my world is not such a simple thought, nor of a simple force. My world is something extended, which is quite a sensible thing, not Like power, which can be felt only by its manifestations, but by itself; the world does not produce properties like power, but has properties; Awareness of my understanding of the world, which I feel is perception, even though it has been shown not to be perception; it is difficult for me to describe this kind of consciousness and to distinguish it from other kinds of consciousness." Elf: "Nevertheless, you must try to make such a description, otherwise I will not understand you, and we will never understand this question." Me: "I'm going to try to carve out a way for me to make this description. I beg you, elf, if your senses are like mine, keep your eyes on the red object in front of me without prejudice." Trust the impressions thus produced, forget for a moment your original inferences, and tell me frankly what is going on in your mind at this moment." Elf: "I can fully put myself in your place, and think of the way your senses operate; and it is not my purpose to deny any impression of mere actual existence. But tell me, you anticipate what happens in my mind." Me: "Did you not see and grasp the plane—I mean the plane—by looking directly at it? Didn't the plane suddenly and completely exist before you? You said above that you were not even at the extreme distance Are you aware in a very vague way that such a simple red point extends into a line, and this line extends into a plane? Afterwards, you divide this plane and think of its various points and lines. You And everyone who examines himself in vain, will not affirm and insist, in spite of his previous inferences, that you have in fact seen a plane, a plane colored in one way or another?" Genie: "I admit all that you say; when I examine myself, I find myself exactly as you describe. "But first of all you must not forget that our aim is not to narrate to each other what happens in consciousness, as in a diary of man's thoughts, but rather to consider the various aspects of consciousness in relation to each other. One phenomenon is explained and deduced from another. Therefore, none of your investigations - which, of course, will not be denied, but must be explained - can disprove any of my correct inferences." Me: "I will never ignore that." Elf: "Don't, then, ignore the great importance that exists between them, because of the apparent similarity between the awareness of objects other than yourself - which you cannot yet name - and your actual perception. difference." Me: "I was going to point out the difference. Both of course manifest as direct consciousness, not learned or created consciousness. But sensation is consciousness of my state. Consciousness of things— It has absolutely nothing to do with me in the first place - not so. I know it exists, that's all; , then, in the consciousness of things I am like a mirror, before which the objects just pass by without changing itself in the slightest. "But the distinction works in my favor. Not to mention, I seem to have a special awareness of beings—and I say beings—outside me, which is completely independent of my perception of my state. sensations, for this awareness is of a different kind from sensations." Elf: "Your investigation is good; just don't jump to conclusions. "If what we have agreed is still true, and you are only directly conscious of yourself, if the consciousness in question here is not consciousness of your passive state, still less of your activity, then this consciousness Wouldn't it be a mere unacknowledged awareness of your own existence? Wouldn't it be awareness of your existence insofar as you were knowing or intellectual power?" Me: "I don't understand what you mean, but help me a little more, because I want to understand what you mean."