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I really enjoyed last week's discussion on consciousness; it really had me thinking. Firstly, I do believe that learning is a very conscious act. Like Emily was saying, I wish it was possible to daydream and be fully conscious at the same time (that would be great wouldn't it)!

One thing that I was questioning, is how do we feel about consciousness and drugs. Do drugs (narcotics) put us in another state of consciousness, or do they put us in a state of unconsciousness? For example, is euphoria a type of consciousness? Yea, I wonder about that. Also, how do we feel about substances that have the potential to influence our consciousness, such as caffeine, Red Bull, or even Ritalin/Adarol? Are these artificial conscious states? Yea, I wonder about that, too.

Lastly, what I found to be intriguing was using the unconscious to work the conscious state. For example, when I know I need to write a paper, I look over some things that I would like to write about and include in my paper; then I go to sleep! As I sleep, I come up with all these fantastic ideas on how to write this paper; and when I do wake up, I run to my computer and begin typing out the paper that I imagined in my dreams. It works! I do it all the time.

Ok, this is really the last idea: individuals who experience dimeniona are quite puzzling aren't they?? Do they or do they not have a conscious? Yes, I definitely wondered about that one!

Jayme E. Hopkins, '08