The strange behaviour of sub atomic particles, the double slit experiment and the connection between “entangled” particles has always seemed to me to be a clue or possible explanation for the intuitive or telepathic connections that so many of us have experienced from time to time with distant loved ones.  These particles/ probability waves could easily be experiencing proto conciousness.  <br>I find it hard to imagine the dawn of life without a pre existing consciousness. One minute there’s a particular set of ingredients and conditions - the next minute an unconscious living cell has formed which nevertheless can feed itself and do whatever it takes to survive and reproduce, without any motivation other than the coincidental influence of those very particular  conditions. Again, where’s the motivation to continue?  When conditions change?<br>Life is a battle for a microbe.  Without consciousness why adapt? why bother to move?, to recoil from an unpleasant stimulus. Why not return  immediately to mud? <br>There is simply no way to explain the behaviour of primal life forms in terms of mere chemical reactions in the primeval soup.  <br>Every cell in my body applauds me when I conclude that those first living cells must have been fully stoked to find themselves at last with some real agency and able to focus awareness on the new and intense sensations of being “some of the mud that could now sit up and look around” ( Kurt Vonnegut) <br>Over the mind boggling reaches of time that thread of conscious life has continued an unbroken roller coaster progression. Ever diversifying to fill every niche. Sacrificing the immortality model of simple cell division reproduction for the sex and death model of the more complex creatures. <br>This whole history is known to us at a cellular level. We are the spearhead of the glorious adventure of life on earth, forging the future as we go. <br>So it behoves us to remember that thread that binds all that live and breathe and grow, to the common ancestor and it’s exultant proto conscious driver. <br>For consciousness is eternal and unchanging, and thus drawn to life as the thirsty are to water. <br>This is such a beautiful dance. <br>Thanks Lex and Phil for provoking these thoughts and providing a space to share them..