1

Consciousness is awareness of what the physical senses report about the external world and of one's own intentions, thoughts, feelings and sensations.

Consciousness is primarily pure, content-free awareness. In us as human beings it can become pure and content-free, but as long as Ignorance lasts, it is an egocentric awareness of our own being and of things and processes in a variety of subtle and physical worlds.

In us as human beings, consciousness slowly develops from a limited awareness of what our senses report about the outer physical world and our own outer nature, into and ever deeper and more detailed awareness of the Divine in all its aspects.

2

One's identity is one's "self-construct": an assemblage of contents of consciousness related to one's ego.

While Ignorance lasts, one identifies first with the ego and later with the jīvātman. After overcoming the Ignorance, one realises one's identity with the universal paramātman, which is the same for everyone, eternal, immutable and one with Brahman.

While Ignorance lasts, one identifies with the ego. After overcoming the Ignorance, one realises one's identity with the individual jīvātman,jivatman600 as well as with the universal paramātman. Both are eternal, immutable and in their essence one with Brahman.
(See also 19.)

3

Consciousness is only awareness.

Consciousness is only awareness.¹

Consciousness is both awareness and force (cit is also cit-śakti).

4

Consciousness is the exception in an otherwise unconscious universe. It occurs only in humans or at most in a few other animals and machines.

Consciousness is primary and its existence is not questioned.
Vedānta: The existence of the universe is dubious as it is seen as a product of māyā.
Sāṁkhya: The universe (prakṛti) also exists (eternally), but it is unconscious (and not very interesting).

Consciousness is all-pervasive. It exists not only in individuals, but throughout the cosmos and even in the transcendent beyond. While it is understandable why the physical world looks unconscious to some and unreal to others, it actually is conscious in its own way.

5

The ultimate reality is matter.

The ultimate reality is saccidānanda: consciousness and delight are intrinsic to ultimate reality.

Same as Exclusive Spirituality.

6

Matter is primary and taken for granted. The existence and relevance of consciousness are open to doubt. According to some, consciousness "emerges" out of unconscious material processes at a certain level of complexity.

Consciousness is primary and its existence not doubted.
Vedānta: Ultimately, a divine consciousness is the cause of everything, but matter and energy are in doubt and widely ascribed to Māyā.
Sāṁkhya: Matter and Energy (both part of prakṛti) are eternal and uncreated.

Consciousness is primary and not doubted. Matter and physical energy are the end product of a process of exclusive concentration within the conscious existence of the Divine. Both Matter and Consciousness are real and divine.

7

Matter is unconscious (except, perhaps, the human nervous system).

Vedānta: Some schools same as Integral Spirituality; other schools see matter as an illusion.
Sāṁkhya: Matter (as part of prakṛti) is unconscious.²

Everything is conscious. The consciousness in inanimate things is the secret cause of their "name and form."

8

Mind is the wider concept: consciousness is a property of some mental states and processes.

Vedānta: Consciousness (cit) is a fundamental aspect of reality. Mind (manas) is used for a type or plane of consciousness (as in the manomaya kośa of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad) or, more commonly, in the narrower sense of the sense-mind.
Sāṁkhya: Consciousness belongs to the Self (puruṣa). Mind (consisting of manas, buddhi and ahaṅkāra, sense-mind, intellect and ego-sense) is part of Nature (prakṛti).

Ultimately same as Vedānta, but occasionally, for pragmatic reasons "on the way", using the conceptualisations of Sāṁkhya.

9

Emotional states are dependent on brain states and tend to be described in functional terms.

Consciousness is intrinsically blissful. Suffering arises through identification with the ego. Happiness arises out of detachment.³

Same as Exclusive Spirituality.

10

Selfless, "true" love is not understandable, and whatever can be understood instead tends to be described in utilitarian and pragmatic terms.

Except for love for the Divine, its stress is on purity and inaction. This tends to push love out of sight, though perhaps more in theory than in practice.
In Buddhism, love's "spinster sister" compassion is encouraged.

Love is the dynamic side of delight, and as such intrinsic to existence and pervasive throughout the universe. In humans, however, it tends to be corrupted by ego, ignorance and other leftovers from our evolutionary past.

11

Thoughts and feelings are looked at as physical processes taking place in our nervous system.

Humans have the illusion they think and feel when (in their ignorance) they identify with thoughts and feelings, which may well have their own existence, independent of any individual human being who hosts or expresses them.

Same as Exclusive Spirituality.

12

Consciousness is only awareness. In the field of Consciousness Studies one would say, consciousness is epiphenomenal, that is, it is not causally active.

The human consciousness is habituated to being enslaved to the workings of the nervous system, but it can liberate itself and become free.

The human consciousness is habituated to being enslaved to the workings of the nervous system, but it can liberate itself and then become both free and active.

13

Consciousness is located in the individual.

Consciousness is the individual (but see 2 and 19).

Same as Exclusive Spirituality.

14

Consciousness is dependent on a working nervous system. As such it has to belong to a living human being (or other animal).

Consciousness as such is not dependent on a working nervous system. As long as it is ignorant, the individual, human consciousness identifies with the workings of a nervous system.

Same as Exclusive Spirituality.

15

The ordinary, mental awareness of ourselves and our surrounding is the norm. The few states recognized as different from the ordinary waking consciousness, such as dream, sleep, coma, trance, and altered states, tend to be considered as less than the ordinary waking state.

Consciousness is pure awareness: no types, no content, no movement. Any intrusion of content is ultimately a sign of ignorance.

There are many different types of consciousness. Some of them are considered lower than our ordinary waking state, some higher in the sense of being more conscious, beautiful, true, loving, pure, and powerful.

16

Intentionality and the distinction between subject and object are considered defining characteristics of consciousness and mind.

Intentionality belongs to the mind. Consciousness has no intentionality; it simply is. (The idea that consciousness has intentionality is due to the error of confusing consciousness with the mind.)

Intentionality and the distinction between subject and object are considered typical of the ordinary mental consciousness, but are absent in most other types of consciousness.

17

The physical and mental processes of which we are not aware are classified as preconscious or as unconscious. Preconscious processes are being explored by cognitive psychology in laboratory experiments. Some dark corners of the unconscious are studied by depth-psychology through free-association, dream-analysis and sometimes hypnosis.

One strives to arrive at pure consciousness. The subtle worlds are as irrelevant as the physical world.
Sāṁkhya: All mental processes are by themselves unconscious; they appear conscious when lighted up by consciousness.

The physical, vital, mental, psychic and spiritual processes of which we are normally not aware may be subconscious or superconscious to us , but they are not unconscious in themselves. Through the various processes of yoga, one gets access not only to darker and lesser types of consciousness but also to higher forms, and to whole worlds of inner light, power, beauty, knowledge, love and joy, which go far beyond anything one can even imagine in the ordinary waking state.

18

Consciousness is dependent on a working brain; so, consciousness is intrinsically individual.

Besides the individual and the cosmic consciousness, there is also a transcendent consciousness.

Same as Exclusive Spirituality.

19

There are many individuals, each with his/her own consciousness.

It depends on the school. According to Advaita Vedānta there is ultimately only One: once Ignorance is left behind, the jivātman merges and effectively disappears into the Divine. Saṁkhya takes the many seriously. Some schools consider others a support (e.g. the sanga); others consider them a distracting encumbrance. For the bhaktas, there are only two: oneself and the Divine.⁴

Each individual has a distinct, individual Self, the jivātman, which is an eternal portion of the Divine with its own, unique, svadharma and svabhava.
There is also a single, identical Self for all, the paramātman.
In the end, oneness and multiplicity do not contradict; they are different aspects of the same underlying reality.
To live wisely is both: to love and feel oneness.⁵

20

The unitary character of consciousness has been acknowledged as the "binding problem", the as-yet-unanswered question how a mass of parallel neurological processes gives rise to a single conscious experience.

The entity that combines all the different sense-impressions and mental processes into one mental state is called the manas.
Vedānta: On a more elevated level, the unitary character of consciousness has been acknowledged as the possibility for the individual to merge back into the Divine.

The unitary character of consciousness has been acknowledged as the essential oneness of the individual consciousness with the consciousness of the Divine (and all other beings). Oneness and diversity don't contradict each other.

21

Relationships tend to be seen pragmatically in terms of their evolutionary functionality.
(Fortunately, as mentioned earlier, there are not that many physicalists who are willing to live their theoretical convictions.)

As we are all part-manifestations of the same Divine consciousness, one can recognize (and love) the Divine equally in oneself, in everyone else and in everything (see also 10 and 19).

Same as Exclusive Spirituality.

22

Classical Behaviourism: If you want to be objective, then "you … must describe the behavior of man in no other terms than those you use in describing the behavior of the ox you slaughter" (Watson, 1930).

Later schools are more respectful
(e.g. client-centred therapy,
collaborative inquiry).

If one goes deep enough inside, one recognises others as oneself, and one can know them as well as one can know oneself through knowledge by identity (vijñāna).

Same as Exclusive Spirituality.

23

When the body loses its ability to maintain sensorimotor contact with its surrounding, e.g. under narcosis or at the time of death, it is said that the person "is losing consciousness". In other words, the mainstream view identifies the person with the body.

In the same situation, it is said that the person "withdraws from the body". In other words, the spiritual view identifies the person with the centre of his consciousness, and asserts that it can continue to exist without the body.⁶

Same as Exclusive Spirituality, except for a different conceptualisation of the Self.

24

If nature is an unconscious machine, evolving through brute laws of chance, then pursuing one's own (or one's group's) desires, survival, fitness and ability to procreate, even at the cost of others, is the most appropriate natural expression of the laws of nature, while qualities like truth, love, and beauty are secondary and worth pursuing at most for pragmatic, commercial or hedonistic purposes.
(But ... reread note at 21.)

If consciousness is all, then ascetic withdrawal from nature is the only thing that makes sense.

If nature is gradually evolving towards an ever more perfect and complete manifestation of consciousness, truth, love, and beauty, then our individual aspiration for them is the natural expression of nature's own will.

25

If our ordinary waking consciousness is the best way of being conscious, then striving for anything higher is an error.

If pure consciousness is the only thing real, then withdrawing from activity is the best thing to do and all other human pursuits are vain.

If there are ranges of consciousness beyond our ordinary state, then pursuing them is the most sensible thing to do. All events in one’s life, good, bad or indifferent, are then occasions for growth, and there are no limits to the heights of joy, light, love, power, and right action one can develop.

26

If each centre of consciousness is intrinsically locked up in a separate brain and dependent on its survival, then people are intrinsically separate from nature and from each other, and doomed to an unending battle for resources.
But.... see 21.

If consciousness is the only thing real, then striving not to be reborn is the right thing to do, whether individually (as in most schools of Exclusive Spirituality) or collectively (as in Mahayana Buddhism).

If consciousness is ultimately one, and quite independent of the body-minds with which individual portions of it temporarily and ignorantly identify, then people are intrinsically and intimately one with each other, one with nature and one with the Divine. Love and cooperation are then the natural outflow of the underlying unity, and nature's own striving after truth, love and beauty will inevitably prevail in the end.