From T. Fenning
John Gray asserts that consciousness is a constantly self-renewing illusion (14 September, p 46). What else does he think it could be? Reality?
Perhaps a better definition of consciousness is a highly evolved level of self-aware abstraction, which helps those who possess it to survive by understanding the world around them to a deeper level than non-sentient organisms ever can. Clearly we all have our own version of it, but the advantage is obvious: individuals, or even whole societies, whose perception of reality strays too far from the “real” reality, will have correspondingly reduced chances of survival.
PS I have also noticed that the sky is blue and water is wet.
Jena, Germany
