Well. We see that everyday, but we pay no attention. First, most people (scientists too) take the contents of experience to be consciousness. Second, all experiences are by default internalised under a realism-materialism world view.
We, in dream and in waking state, experience contents of mind-consciousness. First, we assume that the experienced objects constitute consciousness, whereas that is conscious experience. Where is the consciousness and the conscious experiencer? Second. We experience ‘I’ as very intimate experience. The rest of the experience becomes a distant ‘world out there’. This problem is further compounded by self reference problem ( like two mirrors reflecting images infinitely). Self reference makes the notion of self overshadow the ‘world’. This is the root of realism- materialism: I am this and there is an objective world out there. No one thinks that the body-mind-world are objects to one cognising self that no one recognises. This is called ‘forgetfulness of self’.
But truly consciousness constitutes both the ‘conscious experiencing experiencer’ (self) and the experiences of the experiencer — the contents of the consciousness. The contents change. But the cognising self does not. The cognising self is the common link through all changes because of which discernment of the changing states can happen.
None of this actually answers my question. If I have the power to see, but there is no light for me to actually perceive any visual stimuli, how am I functionally any different than a blind person?
Secondly, the perceiving "self" changes all the time. The is one of the fundamental insights of Buddhism.
Mind goes to sleep in infinite, non dual, time-less, desire-less, and rejuvenating consciousness everyday. But we miss it carelessly.
That's a claim, but I'm not seeing the evidence.
In deep sleep, there is no duality and no contrast. Subjective experience of this state is of ‘not knowing’ and of ‘no space-time’. But deep sleep experience is also an experience — of non dual, homogeneous, timeless, desire-less realm of mind. The deep sleep state seems to be a ‘not knowing’ state because in pure consciousness there is nothing to know. There is no second self, no second sound, no second smell, no second colour .... it is like pure unobstructed light of a car headlamp. Until the light beam encounters an obstruction, it is not perceived. In deep sleep nothing is perceived because nothing has been created yet.
This is exactly my point. In deep sleep there is...no awareness of anything. It is unconsciousness. So-called "pure" consciousness is no different from total lack of consciousness altogether. And if the presence of something is indistinguishable from its absence...how do you know it's there at all?
As soon as in the same realm of mind-consciousness, division of subject (I sense) and object (dream world) occurs, space-time comes up. This experience is mental— a mental I and a subtle mental world. In the same empty consciousness of deep sleep, objects get created and as if we become conscious. But conscious self that sees the states and the transitions persists through the states of sleep, dream, and waking.
Again, this is a claim, but I don't see the evidence.
On waking up, the mind is experienced as constituted of subjective experience of grosser ‘I’ and grosser world.
The cognising subject and the consciousness links the three states of deep sleep, dream, and waking.
So, the deep sleep experience, which seems unconscious to the unthinking ignorant, is actually the experience of pure consciousness devoid of any partition and objects.
If you can't show me the difference between unconsciousness and "pure" consciousness (which you still haven't, after all these words), that doesn't make me unthinking or ignorant. It means you havent met the burden of proof.
