What is consciousness or sentience?
The ability to be self-aware and to think abstractly. There may be more to it than that, some animals apparently have consciousness, some self-awareness, and some ability for thought. But none quite compare with the human prowess in these areas. Why is there consciousness or sentience? Good question/unknowable answer. The more attractive thought is that the Universe has a ‘telos,’ an inner, diffuse urge to become self-aware and reveal itself, its divine self according to some, through sentient beings that she has been raising up and growing within her, not unlike mushrooms on a forest floor. does the individual persist after the body perishes? When one consults some scientists the answer is an absolute ‘no.’ When one consults one’s inner guidance system, one’s intuitive ways of knowing, the answer ranges from ‘yes’ to ‘maybe,’ usually. Religious and mystical thought and traditions are little help: lore on the afterlife is all over the map, descriptively, and if the reincarnationists ha
