We have been Confusing Consciousness with Awareness for a very Long Time.
Some eighty thousands years ago, Neanderthals mutated into Cro-Magnon creatures and evolution would give these beings self-reflected consciousness. It was indeed the development of the neocortex which took man out of the “natural” world and naturally so, no pun intended, it was quite a fantastic step out of the caves — a sort of slow A.I. prehistoric mutative awakening!
We literally became conscious beings: conscious of being conscious and to be more specific: strategic life began. As an extraordinary example, Neanderthals had the bow but never invented the arrow. Fast forward, it eventually gave us civilisation as we know it.
Here is my premise: we have been confusing consciousness with awareness for a very long time. At the level of the soul or spirit-awareness, self-reflected consciousness or the consciousness of being conscious is completely blind and with it, so is mind. It is conscious but unaware of what it is i.e. its nature or essence, where it comes from and why it exists at all.
What is being “reflected” or I should say “projected” through the process of self-reflected consciousness is a formidable evolutionary and measured advantage over other organisms on earth but it does not make any of us human beings AWARE. My point being is that we became formidable…