The Spectrum of Human Consciousness

Let’s face it: some people are more conscious than others. Consciousness as explained by Wikipedia is the state or quality of awareness or of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. Therefore, some people are more aware of themselves and external objects than others.

The Consciousness Spectrum

On the lower end of the spectrum there are for example newborn babies people with severe mental limitations. They are not very aware of the situation, can’t create or recall conscious memories and act based on impulses rather than thinking. In many ways they behave the way animals do.

The high end of this spectrum is more difficult to determine and is way more subjective. My guess for the most aware beings is Buddhist monks or renowned historical thinkers such as Socrates. For the sake of having a boundary I will pick Socrates as the upper limit.

Let’s say newborns have a consciousness level of 0% and Socrates of 100%. The rest of us humans lie somewhere in between. From my own empirical observations I can conclude that the variance amongst us is quite large.

Beast-man

The rather sad conclusion is that some people are more “beast-like” in their heads than others. This does not say that conscious people are “better” than less conscious people. In many cases, the opposite is even true: imagine two people having a fight. The least conscious person throws a punch because he cannot control his rage and anger. This person is acting based on “animal-like” instincts rather than thought. Now image that the more conscious person also throws a punch. In his conscious mind he will think something like: “I really disagree with and dislike this person. I need to hurt him so he will learn his lesson and know his place. I will throw my fist in is face as hard as I can, because that is the place where he will be hurt the most”. The first person cannot really be blamed for his actions but the second person can. The first person’s actions can be described as instinctive and the second one as practical but insensitive or even as evil.

Your place in the spectrum

Just like you cannot measure a person’s actual intelligence with an IQ test, it’s impossible to determine your level of consciousness. However, just like it is possible to make an educated guess about someone’s intelligence, you can also make a good estimation about someone’s consciousness level.

Some indicators for someone being in the lower end of the spectrum are:

Being impulsive — act without thinking ahead.

Showing self-destructive behavior — such as using drugs, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and being overweight.

Getting angry and argue a lot — getting angry does not have a purpose which is not hard to find out when thinking about it.

On the higher end:

Being indecisive — thinking too much about something that it makes you anxious.

Asking why — instead of doing what everybody does, ask why we do it and then decide to go on with it or not.

A final note

There is also a difference between people being conscious and acting like it. When you are always seeking distraction to get out of your head you are not taking advantage of your full potential.