are most conscious of the
matter of your thoughts, but conscious to a degree of what you see out
of the window. Your eyes are focused on some particular object
outside, and you are more conscious of this than of other objects seen
in indirect vision, though even of these last you are not altogether
unconscious. Consciousness shades off from high light to dim
background.

The "field of attention" is the maximum or high light of
consciousness; it comprises the object under attentive observation,
the reaction attentively performed. The "field of consciousness"
includes the field of attention and much besides. It includes objects
of which we are vaguely aware, desires active but not clearly
formulated, feelings of pleasantness or unpleasantness, of tension,
excitement, confidence, etc.

Apparently the field of consciousness shades off gradually into the
field of unconscious activity. Some physiological processes go on
unconsciously, and very habitual movements may be almost or entirely
unconscious. The boundary {266} between what is vaguely conscious and
what is entirely unconscious is necessarily very vague itself, but the
probability is that the field of consciousness is broader than we
usually suspect, and that many activities that we ordinarily think of
as unconscious, because we do not observe them at the time nor
remember them later, lie really near the margin of the field of
consciousness, but inside that field. "Unconscious motives", such as
spite or pride often seem to be, are probably vaguely conscious rather
than unconscious. We shall return to the fascinating topic of the
unconscious at the close of the book.

Degree of consciousness does not always tally with intensity of
sensation or energy of muscular action. You may be more conscious of a
slight but significant sound than of much louder noises occurring at
the same time. You may be more conscious of a delicate finger movement
than of a strong contraction of big muscles occurring at the same
time. Degree of consciousness goes with degree of mental activity. Of
all the reactions we are making at the same time--and usually there
are several--the most active in a mental way is the most conscious.
The slight sound arouses intense mental response because it means
something of importance--like the faint cry of the baby upstairs,
noticed instead of the loud noises of the street. The delicate finger
movement aims at some difficult result, while the big muscles ma