Introduction In the beginning there is direction. From the moment of its conception, the beginning flows. Within context-to-context beginnings emerge under the unity of the perceived ultimate context, our Universe. We may observe its direction, chart its path, build unity on top of unity out of each beginning, or simply conceive of the One Beginning. Yet in the moment we do so, our pre-reflective awareness transcends the beginning as such, acting like the depths of a stream that allow the stream to flow. Awareness as reflection makes the beginnings coherent, yet abstracts them into categories and contexts. For to be a beginning, is to be an object of consciousness while simultaneously being a part of a cognitive process with its own beginning. The very nature of this cognitive process is based on beginnings as one image transfers to the next as an explication of the sublevel processes of consciousness. Each object of awareness contains within it a beginning, and the mind (as consciousness and its object) only moves to the next when another is brought fourth. Retention of each movement extends mental space simultaneously as awareness (as pre-reflection) fills the space between each movement creating the streams flow. When retention and reflection converge, out flows wider and wider contexts first to be observed, then cognized and then transcended by a wider context from an increased retention and greater awareness.
At first, the images vibrate from one to the next at a frequency too fast for retention or reflection to occur. At this point, consciousness, having no object or sensation to grab on to, remains in a state of timeless, space less unity. As sensation is internalized, starting with subtle mental functioning and reflective centering on temporally momentary images (or any extended sense impression), the basic survival and pleasure seeking/pain avoidance aspects of mind become attached to a protozoic sense of self which is only the continuation of the images creating a passing present. In doing so, mental space is created allowing momentary grasping to the images observed. The complexity of objects emerges only after the complexity of images are internalized and thus begins a mental coherence. This coherence becomes centered in the grasping of one image or thought to the next, and combined with the conditioning of certain images and thoughts (specifically those that reinforce identity continuation: name, external and internal descriptions, etc.) a true and independent sense of self begins and is continually reinforced along an emerging concept of linear time. The self-identity then begins to conceptualize its own perceptions. After the observation and retention of repeated experience (as grasping continually image after image), conceptual images are formed and perception afterwards is conditioned by "matching" perceptions to these images. Fear results when a conceptual "match" is not made and this basic fear is a common ground to the minds experience, as it serves as a normative principle in marinating an objective consensus reality based upon (and an expansion/modification of) previous conditioning and conceptual imagery.
We then may reflect and see ourselves within this stream interacting with it as beginnings (any continuation of form or identity) within a context, and mistake these relations, however related, to encompass the extent of our Being. All the while not realizing that it is our awareness in which the stream flows. So through conditioning we hold on to the concept of an individual "I", and seek to protect it. For this stream is unrelenting, its inhabitants suffering as they observe the beginnings and endings of all the forms around them. Until one day, a traveler along the stream, after finding all beginnings to be formless (questioning understanding and environmental conditioning by reflecting on their beginnings in order to transcend them), stills the silt around him just long enough to witness the ground that makes the river possible. What emerge are interpretations of this ground. Whether referring to it as God, the ultimate Truth, objective scientific understanding of reality or ingenious combinations of the three, inevitably they become a part of the stream, as content with a beginning that is itself to be transcended leaving the ground visible once again. A cycle emerges; ideas and ways of communicating ideas are formed, observed and transcended. However, the self-identity continually seeks to be maintained, extended, and fully integrated within the context of that which it is a part. It grasps at the beginnings, yet in the very grasping of such, looses sight of the ground in which lies directly before/within it. It finally looks inward, toward itself, and in the silent space of self-reflection the streams depths deepen and the flow becomes more coherent. Finally, through deep looking (at its own "looking"), its continual grasping dissolves, and the insight of self realization ends the self identities experience of inner time, beginnings and endings loose all meaning, and the ground of the stream is penetrated released and everything in it flows into/out of the ocean of Infinite Being.
What does this metaphor point to? It can be viewed as a "cycle" representing both an individuals emergence, observation, and transcendence of identity and the emergence, observation, and transcendence of that entirety in which we are a part, the human race and its supporting environment. Finally, when one both dies to the self, and to all that which is the context out of which the identity arose, the source of the ground is "contacted" through the timeless space of pre-reflective awareness thus ending the grasping of images as a continuation of becoming.
Reflective and Pre-reflective Awareness
Reflecting on the past inherently extends to the present, as we arose out of it, and this is the role of reflective awareness. But even in the act of reflection, that which lies prior to it that allows the arising and flowing of beginnings (objects of consciousness as part of a cognitive process with its own beginning), is not a centered self or identity (although it may be seen through one) but pure, pre-reflective awareness. The distinction between the two "modes" of awareness can only serve as a pointer to the elusive workings of consciousness as a whole, but their two very differing natures can be explored in order to highlight a common ground to mankind.
The act of reflection forms a continuum, at one end is our most basic of perceptions. These perceptions seemingly affect us and produce within us the experience of time and space that is so vital to any discussion of objectivity. Yet, reflecting on the beginning of subject/object differentiation, we find it is the self's grasping, unconsciously built up over thousands of years of evolution, that observed as images or thoughts, latches on one to the next, deeply ingrained to do so in order to survive as an identity. And so, our perceptive field becomes our own world of experience in which the image of grasping directly represents itself in all the objects that we observe as such. While we may conceive of these basic sensations or impressions in the realm of our experience as immediate, any experience of time is an outcome of this process, it is in fact is built into it, and provides the view in advance that we may construct our image and description of reality (as objects and beings) out of. Therefore, what we perceive as immediate, is really only a way of describing an appearance that seems to be momentary or fully present, for we perceive it to be as such through our own view of linear time and the extent to which we can imagine a present moment (by being fully present to ourselves) is the extent to which we can have a present or immediate sensation. We shall latter take a look at the deeper meaning of this and how by being fully present to ourselves we engage the outer edges of pre-reflection.
Consciousness becomes conditioned with each particular response we have to objects whether the response be initiated by a curiosity for understanding (emergent outcome, however limited, as the ability to self reflect increases), aversion (fear, hatred), attraction (greed, desire) or fluid combinations of the three, including the midpoint between aversion and attraction which creates more of a non-response. Imagine a child coming into contact with a dog for the first time. She may first be apprehensive as it presents a new experience, then she may see others petting it and become attracted to her image of the outcome, then as her hand goes to pet the dog, he growls at her and once again she feels aversion to the dog, yet this time it is compounded since the outcome did not match her blended image of the outcome, and mortal fear ensues. The range between aversion and attraction may be great, or they can be viewed together, as an overwhelmed ego faces existence, if not turning away for the sole reason of the wonder of curiosity and the drive to understand. This is not to ignore the vast ranges of other physiological and environmental factors that become guides to our experience, it is simply to reflect on the ground of experience absent a larger context (roles, moral imperatives, custom, etc.). As repeated experience occurs, the images may be reflected upon more comprehensively resulting in a better understanding of what a dog is and how it is related to her experience.
However simplified this example may seem, the complexities lie in the subtleties of experience and the view in advance that allows the process to unfold. First she must extract the dog out of the rest of the objects in her vision, which depends on previous experience of self and other, space and time, dynamic movement, etc., which ultimately derive from conditioned operations of the mind formed by habit earlier on as a development of consciousness (grasping of images as a continuation of becoming). This may be harder for us to see, as we have developed vast collections of conceptual models interacting together with another and adapting to experience as it comes. The more they are built up, the harder it is to expose them as conceptual models and even when experience gives light to them as such (either through new scientific explanations or new sense experiences), they may be ignored or even literally go unperceived (in the case of sense experience), or perceived with the view in advance of fear (both explanations and sense experience), for they result in a conceptual "mismatch".
On the other end of the continuum of reflection are the combinations or mental blends of images and concepts that result from experience as described above. We reflect on our inner thoughts and imagine the words that flutter by as a linear inner dialogue, the nature of which is wholly constituted in the words themselves. In so doing, we loose our awareness of the images on which the words depend, and of our preconceived notions since they are more akin to basic images of reality not as explicated in linear thought............
"Discussion" of pre-reflective awareness........
Does looking at consciousness in this seemingly arbitrary fashion provide any insight into the philosophies that shaped the modern era/mind?
Descartes: The Cartesian Coordination
Coordinate system and philosophy coordinated platform between mind and world that allowed for the advance of modern science.
Reflective awareness as grounding principle.
Spinoza:
Infinite attributes.
Hume:
Seems philosophy rests on levels of experience.
Experience substrating other/all experiences.
Kant:
Seems to be on to something.
Relation to space-time and "the transcendent realm" related to the "relation" of reflective and pre-reflective awareness?
Continuation of self lies not with identity, but with the nature of pre-reflective awareness and its role in the process of reflection.
Historically as a cycle
Current times: notion of nothingness uncovering ground.
Sciences first undifferentiated, then categorized by the modern method, now seemingly separated science are blurring the lines between themselves as knowledge taps into the central field of beginning processes and cognitions as emergent properties of a growing present.
Retention and reflection
Current times: overflow of information, greater accumulation of past knowledge and access to it
Extended mediums of reflection, both the senses are extended (scientific instrumentation) and the mediums by which we communicate (television, internet, virtual reality)
Retention and reflection collapsing together into an emerging culture and experience of the present moment
Return of the Image as Representation Reality
Early understanding and communication based on imagery rather than verbal or written narratives (both in beginning human society and human psychological development)
Through the invention and widespread use of the written word, conscious imagery was repressed and moved to the unconscious as linear thought took hold.
Now, due to an influx in visual media, the mind is evolving in an increasingly visual environment of multiple realities and basing understand on complexities of images rather then primarily through linear thought systems.
What does this mean for a "recognition" of pre-reflective and reflective awareness?
Reflection: The Ground Inherent in the Drive for Understanding
Scientific laws representing the least amount of action between reflections.
Pre-reflection: The Ground Inherent in the Drive Towards Liberation and Unity
How is this related to pre-reflection and all the understanding that goes with it?
What does this mean for "future" philosophical investigation?
