Do You Know That You Know?

Before I go on to the next higher principle, the Intellect, let’s talk a little bit about consciousness.

Among the lower animals there is very little of that which we call consciousness. It is a little more than mere sensation. Life in the early stages is almost automatic. The mental activity is almost entirely subconscious, only concerned with the physical life of the animal, the satisfaction of its primitive wants, of its instincts. After a while, this primitive consciousness developed into what psychologists term ‘simple consciousness’. A perception and recognition of things other than the inner self. Conscious attention is turned outward.