In K-speak objects like chairs are not concepts, they are actualities.
Contents of consciousness are solely what is put there by thought - so the memory of a chair, or the attachment to a chair are contents of consciousness.
The chair itself however, the simple perception of it through the senses, is not a content of consciousness.
I am only doing K-speak here you understand. He uses the word “consciousness” in a very specific way, and distinguishes it from either perception or attention (or awareness).
Our experience of the object we see, is that psychological? Or does there have to be an aspect of preference involved? Some emotional reaction?
My confusion stems from my difficulty of separating knowledge into fear based and utilitarian knowledge - as this is the clarification thread, I shall return with further questions.
When K talks about consciousness I understand him to be talking about something that is wholly psychological.
Sense perception, our senses, our physical bodies, our brains, the actualities of the physical world around us, nature - all of this has its origins outside our thinking (the chair may be put together by thought - by someone who used thought - but the wood etc it is made of comes from trees, nature, which is not created by thought).
But hurt, jealousy, self-interest, nationalism, ideological commitments, etc are the creations of our thinking - so they are contents in consciousness (in K’s sense). The contents make up consciousness, and without such contents there would not be any consciousness as we know it.
My question is, what is the relationship between attention and consciousness?, because they are two entirely different things (in K’s way of using these words).
Attention is ‘outside’ consciousness - it is not content. So any conscious attempt to be attentive or have attention is suspect.[/quote]
Not merely suspect, but impossible.
And yet K asks if the mind can be attentive - to pay attention to fear, hurt, loneliness, etc (which are all contents of consciousness). So what is going on here?
K is implying that attempting to pay attention is futile. The contents of consciousness can review and react to itself, but it is too insular to see anything clearly (including itself) because it’s a closed system.