THE ANATOMY OF CONSCIOUSNESS ■ 35identity of its own. Sam had no clearly differentiated goals; he wanted
exactly what other boys his age are supposed to want, either because of
their genetic programs or because of what the social environment told
them to want—in other words, he thought vaguely of going to college,
then later finding some kind of well-paying job, getting married, and
living somewhere in the suburbs. In Bermuda, Sam’s father took him on
an excursion to a coral barrier, and they dove underwater to explore the
reef. Sam couldn’t believe his eyes. He found the mysterious, beautifully
dangerous environment so enchanting that he decided to become more
familiar with it. He ended up taking a number of biology courses in high
school, and is now in the process of becoming a marine scientist.
In Sam’s case an accidental event imposed itself on his conscious
ness: the challenging beauty of life in the ocean. He had not planned
to have this experience; it was not the result of his self or his goals having
directed attention to it. But once he became aware of what went on
undersea, Sam liked it—the experience resonated with previous things
he had enjoyed doing, with feelings he had about nature and beauty,
with priorities about what was important that he had established over
the years. He felt the experience was something good, something worth
seeking out again. Thus he built this accidental event into a structure
of goals—to learn more about the ocean, to take courses, to go on to
college and graduate school, to find a job as a marine biologist—which
became a central element of his self. From then on, his goals directed
Sam’s attention to focus more and more closely on the ocean and on
its life, thereby closing the circle of causality. At first attention helped
to shape his self, when he noticed the beauties of the underwater world
he had been exposed to by accident; later, as he intentionally sought
knowledge in marine biology, his self began to shape his attention.
There is nothing very unusual about Sam’s case, of course; most people
develop their attentional structures in similar ways.
At this point, almost all the components needed to understand
how consciousness can be controlled are in place. We have seen that
experience depends on the way we invest psychic energy—on the struc
ture of attention. This, in turn, is related to goals and intentions. These
processes are connected to each other by the self, or the dynamic mental
representation we have of the entire system of our goals. These are the
pieces that must be maneuvered if we wish to improve things. Of course,
existence can also be improved by outside events, like winning a million
dollars in the lottery, marrying the right man or woman, or helping to
change an unjust social system. But even these marvelous events must
take their place in consciousness, and be connected in positive ways to