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Does the science and philosophy of consciousness have any relevance to ordinary life?

Consciousness is a form that occupies a whole duration of time. We can experience the time extended nature of consciousness by simply listening to music or poetry. This form has other properties apart from time extension, for instance it permits us to experience things simultaneously at a point with a strange geometry that allows us to be both observer and observation. The form is almost entirely in the immediate past, everything we know is in the past, including our intention to do things: 'now' is always gone. We negotiate the future by merging with it as we watch our non-conscious skills process the past.

Without our time extended form there would be no music or dance or any of the things that unveil themselves through time. There would be only cold mechanical analysis by processing machines that know nothing of what they do. Our world would be the empty materialist nightmare of economists and Marxists but without the economist or Marxist to appreciate its soulless imperfection.

Perhaps it is the need to work that has distracted us into believing in the virtue of processes rather than forms. The rhythm of a dance or a poem produces a whole thing that occupies our experience and is much closer to our being than simply earning a living. But without a 'living' where would we be? It is the balance between form and processes that is our problem, should we set aside a day a week for reviving our being or should we spend all seven days shopping and working? Should we work late or go to a concert or dance or imbibe the history of an ancient place? How far should our science be an opportunity for admiring structure or a set of processes for producing consumer goods?

The form that is our experience is also our 'state of mind'. Should we choose a state that resists action, where tolerance and Platonic love are important or should we endeavour to be 'at the instant', reacting immediately to all events or perhaps choose some other state?

These questions are important. If there is a heaven it is also here, now. The only reason it may not feel like heaven is that we have failed to make and think it so.

Another aspect of the science and philosophy of consciousness that is important is our attitude to other forms of life. The similarity between mammals in the way they react to general anaesthetics, the similarities in EEGs and the way they seem to dream like us suggest that they are also conscious. Unlike animals, humans have speech, which gives us a huge advantage in dealing with processes. We can plan and execute complex tasks but we have no reason to suspect that the form of consciousness in animals is different from the form in ourselves. Perhaps this might be taken into account as we endlessly expand into their habitats and destroy their means of livelihood. The encouragement of endless human procreation and overpopulation, especially in small states such as the UK, shows a total lack of concern for other beings.

Our attitude towards animals is also prevalent in our attitude towards people who have poor processing skills. Governments seem to consider that it is their duty to overpopulate and ensure ownership of the world so that there is no place for people who do not have the skills to participate in the economy.

Modern governments concentrate on economics, this is a worthy focus and economics cannot be ignored. However, obtaining sufficient food, clothing and wealth is not enough. We also need an appropriate state of mind. As was shown in chapter 4, our free will comes from a state of mind that is a combination of perception, thought and form that is unique to each of us. If we are a mixture of processes and form governments might nurture our awareness of being rather than simply encouraging the social construction of people by education and the media.

The analysis of consciousness also suggests that the genetic manipulation of humanity to improve our processing skills (intelligence) may be a disastrous mistake. Our being is our form, not our processing capacity, and we know very little about this form in the wider context of the inferred physical universe.