Sungchul Ji, Ph.D. (with ChatGPT assistance) Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Cell Biology Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ
On August 12, 2025, I had a personal encounter with consciousness—and the absence of it—that led me to coin a new word: conscion. By conscion I mean the content X of consciousness of an agent at a given time t. Each conscion is like a snapshot, a discrete token of awareness, existing for a moment and then yielding to the next.
1. A Treadmill Accident and Four Conscions (One Missing, One Latent)
At around 4:00 PM, I remember seeing my right foot trying to climb the side of a treadmill. That visual image is a conscion (let us call it C1).
What I do not remember is my fall—my buttocks and head striking the floor, people rushing over, the gym staff gathering. This should have been a conscion (C2), but it is missing.
Then, according to an observer, while lying on the gym floor (around 4:00–4:10 PM), I was asked two questions:
“Who is the President of the US?” — I could not answer.
“What is your daughter’s name?” — I replied: “Mia.”
This verbal exchange demonstrates that a conscion did occur: I processed language, retrieved memory, and produced speech. Let us call this C2.5. However, subjectively, I do not recall it clearly—if at all.
Finally, the next thing I remember is inside an ambulance, around 4:00 – 4:30 PM, hearing someone say: “Your trainer is here with you. Don’t worry.” This auditory episode is another conscion (C3).
So, objectively there were at least four conscions:
C1: seeing the foot,
C2: the fall (not remembered),
C2.5: answering questions on the gym floor (objectively real, subjectively absent),
C3: hearing reassurance in the ambulance.
Subjectively, however, only C1 and C3 are retained. C2 and C2.5 vanished from memory.
2. Consciousness as an Eigenstate
This raises a deeper question: how should we think of consciousness itself?
In quantum mechanics, an eigenstate is a system’s “own state” under some operator, such as the Hamiltonian. Eigenstates are stable, stationary configurations: their observable values don’t fluctuate, though their phase evolves smoothly in time.
What if consciousness is something similar?
A conscion could be an eigenstate of the brain, a transiently stable configuration of neural and biochemical processes.
Just as a quantum system can “collapse” into one eigenstate out of many possibilities, the brain might settle into a conscion at any given moment.
Transitions between conscions (like the gap between C1 and C3) would then be understood as jumps between eigenstates.
In my accident, C1 and C3 were stabilized eigenstates, while C2 never formed (blackout) and C2.5 formed but was not stored (amnesia).
3. A Quantum–Neural Analogy
If we view the brain as a hierarchy of neurons, and neurons as systems of enzymes, then consciousness may be seen as an emergent eigenstate of these coupled systems.
This picture resonates with:
Standard neuroscience: metastable oscillations across neural networks.
Quantum biology: long-range coherence and the pre-fit mechanism, where fast quantum processes couple to slower biological ones.
Philosophy of mind: the stream of consciousness not as a continuum but as a sequence of discrete, frame-like eigenstates—conscions.
Mathematically, we might even write:
Ψbrain(t) →collapse ϕi=conscioni
where Ψbrain is the evolving quantum–neural state, and ϕi is a particular conscion.
4. Why This Matters
The vocabulary of conscion gives us a new way to talk about lived experience—especially the gaps in consciousness caused by trauma, sleep, anesthesia, or seizure. Instead of hand-waving about “loss of consciousness,” we can now describe precisely which conscions appear, which disappear, which form but fail to be recalled, and which never form at all.
And by linking conscions to eigenstates, we begin to see consciousness not as a mysterious flow but as a structured series of stable configurations—emerging, vanishing, and transforming as the brain navigates the landscape of life.
5. Comparative Table: Conscions as Eigenstates Across Frameworks
Figure 1: Conscions mapped across neuroscience, quantum mechanics, trauma/memory studies, IRVSE, and the gnergy framework. The case of Conscion 2.5 (objectively present, subjectively absent) illustrates that conscions can form without being retrievable—an eigenstate without long-term stability.
6. Timeline of Conscions During Accident
Figure 2: Timeline of conscions between 4:00 and 4:30 PM on August 12, 2025. Green = subjective conscions remembered (C1, C3). Red = missing conscion (C2, the fall). Yellow = latent conscion (C2.5, answering “Mia”), objectively observed but not retrievable.
In summary:
A conscion = a unit of conscious content at time t.
Conscions may be thought of as eigenstates of the brain, transiently stable modes of neural activity.
My treadmill accident illustrated four conscions: two retained (C1, C3), one missing (C2), and one latent (C2.5).
By bridging neuroscience, quantum mechanics, and gnergy theory, the concept of conscion offers a new language for describing the structure
I am intrigued by the linearity of occidental thought. We have to live in a finite universe where all has a beginning and an end. That warrants the search for emergence of consciousness. What if consciousness is the foundation of all there is? And what you call a conscion is simply like the drop emerging from the ocean to fall back into it?
Such an analytical mind. Really remarkable!
For some reason this brings to mind David Applebaum's book Disruption but in a different context perhaps.
I am intrigued by the linearity of occidental thought. We have to live in a finite universe where all has a beginning and an end. That warrants the search for emergence of consciousness. What if consciousness is the foundation of all there is? And what you call a conscion is simply like the drop emerging from the ocean to fall back into it?