discussed the possibility of this happening, at the beginning of the book. There was the parochially minded man whose consciousness was permanently hardened, the professional man who has the ability to harden his consciousness temporarily to maintain a professional approach to the problem in hand, and the example of the man moved to attempt revenge by reason of some insult to his pride. All these are examples of how the consciousness can be changed, voluntarily or involuntarily. The fear of death is another way in which the consciousness can be changed.
However the thought at once obtrudes itself; is there anything special about the fear of death, or is it just an example of one sort of fear? The answer must I think be that it is special only insofar as it is universal (which is why I took it as an example), in every other respect it is just a fear, indistinguishable from every other sort of fear.
So at last we are able to begin to form a general theory of consciousness. We begin with the clear, truthful, unbiassed, unbigoted consciousness; in poetic language, man before the fall. His thoughts and actions are functions of his whole being. His whole being is perfect and uncorrupted, and therefore his thoughts and actions are perfect too. And there is the chance at least of his forming perfect relationships with other people, and the possibility of a perfect society. But along comes the fear of death, and in its train every other sort of fear. His consciousness becomes clouded; clouded by doubts, later by dishonesty if he tries to conceal his doubts from others. This in turn affects his thoughts and behaviour, which are functions of his whole being. His actions are the putting into practice of confidence and lack of confidence at the same time. His relationships with other people are imperfect; they cannot be anything else, because he is imperfect. If he were able to form a perfect relationship with anyone else, it would not involve his whole personality, but only part of it; the…