Consciousness is never something I’ve thought very deeply about in the past. In my younger days I would’ve thought of it as the soul that is a separate substance from the body. Later on I would’ve seen it as an emergent property of physical processes where consciousness is simply the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. However, upon reading David Bentley Hart’s The Experience of God: Being Consciousness Bliss, I actually engaged for the first time what all the features of consciousness entail and whether or not emergence or other aspects of mechanical nature are sufficient to explain it.

You’re a Republican, having a casual conversation at the YMCA with someone you know only as Bob, who happens to be a Democrat. You’re discussing your latest work project when the topic shifts to a recent school shooting. Bob suddenly says, “Can you believe how these Republicans won’t do anything about gun violence? They don’t care one iota about our children.” Immediately, you feel that tightness in your gut. You tense up, defensive.