Consciousness & The Duality of Self

Abstract

Acceptance of a “Bottom/Up, Top/Down” theory of consciousness requires proof. Logically, that proof will come from both the Bottom/Up part and the Top/Down part. In this article, I will focus on the Bottom/Up. Looking from that perspective, we observe a duality of conscious experience. And, insofar as experience requires an experiencer, the duality of consciousness involves a duality of self. I characterize that duality as the thinking-self and the sentient-self. I will show how these two aspects of self are quite distinct from each other; how the more of one entails the less of the other; and how, in the extreme, the sentient self provides us a portal to what Kastrup and Shani call the “Cosmic Ultimate.”