Consciously animated

There is change. Stuff  happens. There is ongoing churn and flux.

Some of the change is internal (thoughts and feelings) and some of it is external ie outside the mindbrain that senses it. The past and present thoughts and feelings are compared and contrasted to make plans for the future. Each thought and feeling has objective neural correlates.

The changes have causes that can be either inanimate (eg meteorites, volcanoes, and droughts) or animate (eg parasites, plants and people).

To be animated is to have an active mindbrain that is (a) aware of what is happening externally and internally and is (b) capable of reacting appropriately. Arguably all living things are animated.  This includes single celled organisms and plants (eg using tropic movements). Some living things (eg predators) are more elaborately animate than others.

When an animate being is awake to and aware of what is going on around them and inside them they are said to be conscious. But consciousness is considerably less than it seems to be. Recent findings in neuroscience suggest that most of what happens in the human mindbrain happens in the unconscious: what appears to consciousness is only brief, after-the-event shadows. And, of those, only a very small part involves the subjective experience of self consciousness.

Both the unconscious and conscious aspects of an individual human mindbrain will be conditioned and encultured by nature (the hard wiring), nurture (the learning) and serendipity. There is ongoing churn and flux. There is also neural plasticity – it is never too late to change a mindbrain.

Animate beings have reproduction as their ultimate goal and purpose. This is made possible by meeting the needs of the various subordinate life processes – nutrition, respiration, excretion, movement, sensitivity etc. Few people are awake to this. It does not feature in their self consciousness. They are not aware of being consciously animated.