The present governance of our planet is so shocking, that it calls for at least an elementary sorting out of the information available to us. Leaving out Nature,militaries, politics and financial markets for the time being as only the effects, re-actions, not the real causes, the word consciousness seems to stand out of everything else as the “hard problem” of science hiding at the root of the fight between the two systems of governance, available to man – the binary one of artificial intelligence and its mind and trinary one of human intelligence and its heart in direct connection with energies they either spend or generate.
If we go back to Descartes’ famous saying, a student of real esoteric school might dismiss it as very conditionable or indeed dualistic. Thinking does not automatically presuppose that ‘one is’, nor ‘one is’ necessarily implies thinking. Which takes us to the definition of consciousness as such. Our psychology defines it as “intelligence in the sense of mental process or mind activity”, but the esoteric science describes it as a kind of awareness of oneself, as a state where he divides his attention in a given moment between himself and his environment/activity he is engaged in. It should not be confused with concentration because that is also an attribute of mind activity but concentration will have a positive effect on the duration and depth of consciousness. Nedless to say even the most excellent mind activity can bring scientific marvels to humanity yet it can be done without dividing attention to it. In other words, the observer might not be there. The quickest way to recognize such state in oneself is to watch a film. If it is a good one, we disappear into it for two hours. After the end we wake up for few moments before another activity takes us away. We cannot sustain such state of consciousness for very long. Mr. Ouspensky suggested to undertake this intellectual exercise: (from The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution)

Take a watch and look at the second hand, trying to be aware of yourself, and concentrating on the thought, “Iam Petr Ouspensky,” I am now here.”Try not to think about anything else,simply follow the movements of the second hand and be aware of yourself, your name, your existence, and the place where you are. Keep all other thoughts away.
You will, if you are persistent, be able to do this for two minutes. This is the limit of your consciousness. And if you try to repeat the experiment soon after, you will find it more difficult than the first time. This experiment shows that a man, in his natural state, can with great effort be conscious of one subject (himself) for two minutes or less.

The same message from the emotional centre we find in Autobiography of a Yogi of Paramahansa Yogananda:

” You are not here.” Sri Yukteswar interrupted himself one afternoon with this observation. As usual, he was keeping relentless track of my attention.
“Guruji!” My tone was a protest. I have not stirred; my eyelids have not moved; I can repeat each word you have uttered!”
“Nevertheless you were not fully with me. Your objection forces me to remark that in your mental background you were creating three institutions. One was a sylvan retreat on a plain, another on a hilltop, still another by the ocean.”
Those vaguely formulated thoughts had indeed been present almost subconsciously. I glanced at him apologetically.
“What can I do with such a master – one who penetrates my random musings?”
” You have given me that right. The subtle truths I am expounding cannot be grasped without your complete concentration. Unless necessary I do not invade the seclusion of others’ minds. Man has the natural privilege of roaming secretly among his thoughts. The unbidden Lord does not enter there; neither do I venture intrusion.”

The state of consciousness is defined by its duration, frequency and depth and can be developed by special aims, exercises, and efforts, which have been overlooked by Western psychology, psychiatry, and philosophy for the last few centuries. Out of its four stages (sleep, waking state, self-consciousness, and objective consciousness), they recognize only the first two, the rest are officially considered schizophrenia and delusions.
Nevertheless, since this knowledge was revealed to the West at the end of the 19th century, extensive animal and human experimentation with altered states of consciousness initially through drugs took place, mostly in clandestine form. Further exploitation of esoteric science has opened new fields of psychotronic energies and their breathtaking misuse on humans calls for urgent political and diplomatic pressure to declassify the information by national securities and intel agencies of superpowers. This planet urgently needs a system of international laws that would protect humanity from such unfortunate misconduct, so far legal, unbelievably.