________________
63
THE TRUTH
17–RECOGNITION Knowledge is a subjective phenomenon. It implies a subjective state as known by an individual consciousness. The knowing consciousness virtually feels itself as the knower in the act of knowing. It is much more than what is implied in the statement: there is an object (e.g., an orange). It actually amounts to the implication: I know the object, e.g., I perceive the orange. The “I” is, however, rarely if ever prominently before its own consciousness; the central place is given to the object of cognition. The same is the case with the feeling of pleasure and pain. It is not that we become conscious of them as if they did not concern us. We know them because they actually affect us. Even when an animal is afflicted with pain the conscious implication of its distress is really only 'I am in pain.'
Knowledge, perception and feelings, then, refer back sub-consciously to the consciousness in which they arise, by which they are felt. Memory, too, is no exception to the rule. For in memory also is implied the sub-conscious knowledge I remember.' Fully amplified this only means ' I recall that I knew 'etc.
Recognition is literally a second cognition of an object. It may be along the line of similarity or it may be along contiguity. When the mind is interested
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
