By: Dr. Adnan Bouzan 

Consciousness has long been considered the center of human identity, the foundation upon which perception and freedom rest. However, if we examine the nature of this consciousness, we will find that it is not a fixed entity but rather a dynamic flow of thoughts, emotions, and sensations—akin to a river that never ceases to flow. So, do we truly control our thoughts, or do they arise and take shape within our consciousness without our permission?

A closer look at the mechanism of thinking reveals that thoughts do not emerge through a voluntary decision; rather, they arise from the depths of the unconscious and impose themselves on the surface without direct intervention from a conscious and controlling "I." Even when we attempt to direct our thinking in a specific direction, we find that this very guidance is itself based on motives and reasons we did not originally choose but were instead shaped by experience, upbringing, and environment.

If consciousness is composed of spontaneous mental flows, can it be considered an illusion? Not in a nihilistic sense, but in a functional one: it is not a cohesive essence but a necessary illusion that maintains the coherence of our experience with ourselves. We need to believe in the existence of an independent "I" that controls its decisions because this belief provides us with a sense of continuity and agency. Yet, in essence, the mind appears to operate through automatic algorithms more than we might assume, where even the will itself arises as a result of hidden causes rather than as an absolute force emerging from nothingness.

If we accept this idea, we arrive at a profound paradox: how can freedom exist if consciousness is merely a necessary illusion? How can we speak of moral responsibility if, in the end, we are the product of cognitive and unconscious interactions over which we do not have full control?

Perhaps philosophy, then, is not merely the pursuit of truth but a continuous confrontation with the necessary illusions that make life possible. In this case, the most important question is not whether consciousness is real or illusory, but rather: how can we make use of this illusion without falling into the trap of absolutes?