The Consciousness of Space, the Space of Consciousness

Abstract

Among the various aspects and definitions of consciousness, we focus here on the subjective experience of consciousness (the so-called ‘hard problem’), and its metaphoric relation with space. In this sense, consciousness is seen as the phenomenological self-evident actuality of one’s own immediate existence, namely the ‘aware presence’ that we regard as the elemental background of all the more intricate connotations of sensorial (or access), reflective self-consciousness or moral conscience. Furthermore, we emphasize that the subjective experience of consciousness is epistemically and existentially primary, which in turn means that it cannot be objectified as something ‘out there’—not an emergent property of the brain, nor a neuronal resonating network, nor an integrative memory of some sort, nor a tubulin molecular apparatus—since obviously, in order to see and consider all of this, you already need consciousness. This consideration permits the metaphor with space: space is not the mountain or the horizon outside there, as any localized object is a mere content of space. Likewise, all the observable objects are just contents of consciousness, not consciousness itself, as this is in fact the ‘space of awareness’ containing all experiences, all perceptions, and all the attempts to understand and rationalize them. This metaphor has however its limits, first of all the consideration that finally space itself, as well as time, is also a content of consciousness. Other aspects of this metaphor and of subjective experience in general are considered and briefly discussed.