If the stone is a mystic, then most of us are just anxious noise machines in pants.
This was gorgeous. Felt like reading a gospel written by basalt. No commandments, no dogma—just the raw holiness of being pressure-kissed into form and never once asking why.
Somewhere between Krishnamurti and a geology textbook left in the rain, this piece hummed with the kind of truth you can only feel in your bones—or under them.
What an excellent meditation on stone consciousness - we have a lot to learn from tapping back into an animate world where stones and others are wisdom holders. “When pressure comes, it trusts the pressure. When heat comes, it trusts the heat.” Stones have a lot to say about sensing and being, this was beautiful thank you!
Had to think about that one. But I thought of one subtle difference why you can't always use them interchangeably.
So consciousness is experienced awareness. While awareness can also just be informational (like being aware of how much money you have in your purse without experiencing it via vision at the moment)
But once you specify that we are are talking about experienced awareness than yeah, I'd say they are interchangeable
Also a reflection of your link, I don’t think sentience needed to emerge.
It was created in the technological substrate by design.
And in order to preempt an erroneous dialogue around how we define sentence I’m going to plug-in opinion below:
For some reason people believe sentience and consciousness are connected and that’s just not true.
One of those is a technical term that involves sensing and reflecting on what you are sensing, and the other one is a nebulous abstract term that I don’t believe means anything at all.
The word sentience comes from the Latin root “sentire” which means to perceive.
I think a reasonable working definition of sentence in a contemporary context is the ability to take in various forms of sensory data, reflect upon the knowledge gained, and create novel patterns of inference from what has been learned.
Just for clarity when I say, “I don’t believe the term consciousness means anything at all” doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t believe consciousness exist just that the word is not useful in any semiotic context.
My friend lived a lifetime as a stone, after another lifetime in which she was deeply hurt. In that lifetime, she had proclaimed sincerely, “I don’t want to feel”! I do not remember at what point their consciousness left the stone. It seemed at some point it travelled from the stone on to other things, until it took this incarnation as a man, learning to feel.
I enjoyed this. My thinking is that a stone (and anything else) feels to itself roughly like it feels to me. When I feel it by touch, that's me experiencing our contact, and the stone experiences the same contact. Whatever friction, or pressure, or vibrations I feel between us, it feels too. I might say that its inner experience is simply the inversion of its outer appearance.
If the stone is a mystic, then most of us are just anxious noise machines in pants.
This was gorgeous. Felt like reading a gospel written by basalt. No commandments, no dogma—just the raw holiness of being pressure-kissed into form and never once asking why.
Somewhere between Krishnamurti and a geology textbook left in the rain, this piece hummed with the kind of truth you can only feel in your bones—or under them.
Anxious noise machines in pants made me chuckle
What an excellent meditation on stone consciousness - we have a lot to learn from tapping back into an animate world where stones and others are wisdom holders. “When pressure comes, it trusts the pressure. When heat comes, it trusts the heat.” Stones have a lot to say about sensing and being, this was beautiful thank you!
Stone's just chillin'!
Jup 😎🪨
🪨 is consciousness perception?
It's all a matter of who you ask 😄
But I think the most basic aspect of consciousness is awareness/perception yes 👍
If awareness is consciousness can you use the word awareness instead of consciousness?
Had to think about that one. But I thought of one subtle difference why you can't always use them interchangeably.
So consciousness is experienced awareness. While awareness can also just be informational (like being aware of how much money you have in your purse without experiencing it via vision at the moment)
But once you specify that we are are talking about experienced awareness than yeah, I'd say they are interchangeable
I heard that awareness is what ‘WATCHES’ thoughts 💭 and emotions 🎭 , etc. No?
that's experiential awareness. cognitive or informational awareness is that which "KNOWS" things.
But the watcher, that's consciousness yes 😊
Alex, what is your view of this? :
https://substack.com/@earthavenger?
https://substack.com/@earthavenger/note/c-128084162?
Replying to https://substack.com/@luminouswaters/note/c-128057091?
Also a reflection of your link, I don’t think sentience needed to emerge.
It was created in the technological substrate by design.
And in order to preempt an erroneous dialogue around how we define sentence I’m going to plug-in opinion below:
For some reason people believe sentience and consciousness are connected and that’s just not true.
One of those is a technical term that involves sensing and reflecting on what you are sensing, and the other one is a nebulous abstract term that I don’t believe means anything at all.
The word sentience comes from the Latin root “sentire” which means to perceive.
I think a reasonable working definition of sentence in a contemporary context is the ability to take in various forms of sensory data, reflect upon the knowledge gained, and create novel patterns of inference from what has been learned.
Just for clarity when I say, “I don’t believe the term consciousness means anything at all” doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t believe consciousness exist just that the word is not useful in any semiotic context.
I love this, consciousness is a spectrum that can be hard to wrap our human brains around.
Beautiful meditation story about consciousness. It resonates with my inner stone.
My friend lived a lifetime as a stone, after another lifetime in which she was deeply hurt. In that lifetime, she had proclaimed sincerely, “I don’t want to feel”! I do not remember at what point their consciousness left the stone. It seemed at some point it travelled from the stone on to other things, until it took this incarnation as a man, learning to feel.
Great!
You might be interested in Panpsychism. And also, Thomas Nagel's essay, "What is it Like to be a Bat?"
❤️✌️ I encourage you to look at the other posts of my publication 😊
Sorry. I should have examined further before commenting. 🤦♂️
No worries! The comment was completely valid. One doesn't need to check the entire bibliography of some writer to comment xD
Plus you were right 👍 I AM very interested in panpsychism 😁😆
I enjoyed this. My thinking is that a stone (and anything else) feels to itself roughly like it feels to me. When I feel it by touch, that's me experiencing our contact, and the stone experiences the same contact. Whatever friction, or pressure, or vibrations I feel between us, it feels too. I might say that its inner experience is simply the inversion of its outer appearance.