Consciousness is an Active Process

Consciousness is not a static state but an activity, an ongoing, continuing process of interacting with the world. This is a fundamental shift from the static view of consciousness held by Plato and the various mystics. Ayn Rand articulates this active nature of consciousness:

Awareness is not a passive state, but an active process. On the lower levels of awareness, a complex neurological process is required to enable man to experience a sensation and to integrate sensations into percepts; that process is automatic and non-volitional: man is aware of its results, but not of the process itself. On the higher, conceptual level, the process is psychological, conscious and volitional. In either case, awareness is achieved and maintained by continuous action. [^1]

To understand this point, let’s examine both conceptual and sensory levels of awareness:

A brief introspection reveals that conceptual awareness is inherently active. Thinking is an activity, and it’s impossible to freeze a thought in place. For instance, try thinking, "Triangles have three sides," and keep your mind locked on that single thought. You’ll find it can't be done. Your mind will naturally start asking, "Now what?" or "So what?" You might begin exploring what it means for triangles to have three sides, picturing various triangles, or repeating the phrase until it loses meaning. This demonstrates that consciousness, at the conceptual level, is always in motion. What you cannot do is stop “the stream of consciousness,” as William James phrased it.

In contrast, sensory perception might seem static. When you look at this text, it appears motionless for as long as you stare at it. From science, however, we know that your nervous system has to be engaged in constant physiological action in order for you to have the seemingly static perception. Even without modern scientific knowledge, it's clear that perception requires the active use of senses to explore the world, gather information, and make distinctions. Perception isn’t a passive registration of momentary input. For instance, if you continuously smell a background odor or hear a constant hum, you eventually stop noticing them. Your awareness of these stimuli fades unless there is a change or you actively focus on them again.

Consciousness requires contrast, change, difference. Consciousness is a difference-detector. The primary function of consciousness is to differentiate, which is an active process.

The fact that consciousness is active does not contradict the primacy of existence (nor imply that consciousness is somehow invalid). Rand’s important aphorism makes the necessary distinction: “Consciousness is metaphysically passive, but epistemologically active.” That is, consciousness does not create or alter its object (consciousness is passive, metaphysically), but awareness is achieved by an active process (consciousness is active, epistemologically).[^2]

[^1]ITOE, p. 29
[^2] How We Know: Epistemology on an Objectivist Foundation