By Bruce Barbour
Version 1 - April 2016

Part 1 - What is Consciousness

Introduction

Happiness and sadness are part of our consciousness. In order to investigate happiness properly a necessary starting point is to understand the nature of consciousness. From this base I will build up an understanding of the various approaches to happiness.

The concept and definition of consciousness is not straightforward and has intrigued philosophers and others for centuries (Note 1). The word itself has a wide range of usages. In its most basic form "to be conscious" can be used to mean to be simply awake. However this usage is not very useful for our discussion. One popular idea is that it is primarily related to the ability to think - "I think therefore I am" (2) is a well known formulation of this idea however as we will discover this idea is not complete. Consciousness can also be used to mean awareness of self, or awareness that you are alive. Beyond that there is the idea of "higher consciousness" which would be awareness beyond the self and possibly the physical universe.

Consciousness encompasses all these aspects.

Next Page - The Consciousness Model

Notes:

1. Refer to Wikipedia - Consciousness

2. Quotation of René Descartes - refer Wikipedia