Mrs. Wilsons True Tales Retold

We are aware of consciousness in many forms, including that which is not conscious, which we call sleep, where time is forgotten. If remembered for its moments, it is the remembrance we call dreams and these seep back into that forgetfulness like water into sand and so often disappear. If we remember anything, it is remembrance of the remembrance.There are also the simultaneities of consciousness of which we are aware, the many moving parts of ourselves—sensations, perceptions, within, without—and finally the engineer, the pilot to the motion, attending to the machinery of it, the signals demanding decision and coordination. Our actor. The actor is our presence of mind, at least that is the billing he gets. If he is incoherent, then so am I. If out of his mind, so am I.But what is mind? What is presence of mind? A will? Not merely. A coherent thought? Not always. Logic? Language? Not always. Although it is difficult to distinguish mind from thought in words, since thought in words is how we understan