peace and hotep,

sabbah, when you cite:

"conscious means "awake". awake means in possession of your own thoughts."

**judging by yr previous statements and yr definition of consciousness, can ANYONE then EVER be "AWAKE/CONSCIOUS"?,

any one who possess his/her own thoughts can become "awake"/conscious...

define possess-

1. to have as property: own.
2. to have as a quality, characteristic, or other attribute.
3. to acquire mastery of or have knowledge of.
4. to gain or exert influence or control over.

sabbah, also when you state:

"also as the originator of a topic, does one not have the right to structure and give direction to the debate. is that not what a "topic" does anyway?",

if the originator of a topic is a "moderater", a neutral party, yes, a moderator, a middleman is given authority to structure and give direction when those engaged in a debate give consent.

if the originator of a topic sets up a position and governs it alone, the originator is a dictator.

sabbah, what are the rules for engaging in debate on this 'reasoning' forum?

mind your wants because some one wants your mind-----georgeclinton

freedomisahapislave