Opus IV, Telegram XXXI.

TELEGRAM XXXI

                       Consciousness is an adaptation whose benefit
                       Is to increase our sense of well-being and joy
                       In being alive. There is no sense in saying, as
                       John Lachs says (On Santayana, 2006) that
5                     ʻThe enjoyment is, of course, not physical.ʼ
                       The object of our consciousness is not physical
                       (They are all essences), but the feeling of their
                       Perfection and eternity is physical, we feel them,
                       Physical minds feel and value and enjoy them.
10                   As Santayana said, the most important part of life
                       Is feeling; and that enjoyment and sense of feeling
                       Is the function of consciousness. That is what is
                       Made for, its natural adaptation. To live, to fight 
                       To live and reproduce, as Nicholas Humphrey says,
15                   And as William James thought. That is its evolutionary
                       Advantage. That is why consciousness was selected. 
                       That is why Lachs is right to add: ʻThe spiritual attitude
                       Occurs in our experience whenever we take delight
                       In the appearance of things without concern for their
20                  Promise or fate. A world of beauty opens when, 
                       Forgetting past and future, mind sheds its cares. 
                       The unhurried exploration of pure form completes
                       Life by making each of its moments the most satisfying
                       And significant.ʼ Yes, sir, that was very well said.