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Consciousness and the Two-Track Mind

Consciousness: Some Basic Concepts

Sleep and Dreams

Drugs and Consciousness

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CONSCIOUSNESS can be a funny thing. It offers us weird experiences, as when entering sleep or leaving a dream, and sometimes it leaves us wondering who is really in control. After zoning me [DM] out with nitrous oxide, my dentist tells me to turn my head to the left. My conscious mind resists: “No way,” I silently say. “You can’t boss me around!” Whereupon my robotic head, ignoring my conscious mind, turns obligingly under the dentist’s control.

Then there are those times when consciousness seems to split. Reading Green Eggs and Ham to one of my preschoolers for the umpteenth time, my obliging mouth could say the words while my mind wandered elsewhere. Sometimes, my mind wanders while giving a well-practiced speech. And if someone drops by my office while I’m typing a sentence, it’s not a problem. My fingers continue their keyboard dance as I strike up a conversation.

What do such experiences reveal? Was my drug-induced dental experience akin to people’s experiences with other psychoactive drugs (mood- and perception-altering substances)? Does the mind’s wandering while reading, speaking, or typing reveal a split in consciousness? And during sleep, when do those weird dream experiences occur, and why? Before considering these questions and more, let’s ask a fundamental question: What is consciousness?