The Oxford Companion to the Mind defines concept as “an abstraction or general notion that may serve as a unit (or an ‘atom’) of a theory”, going on to say, “we cannot see at all clearly into our minds by introspection.” Two key points arise from these statements.

The collection of structures—thoughts, beliefs, feelings, etc.—which determine behaviour. When conscience is unified with Consciousness, grounded in Love, the result is conscientious, caring behaviour, concerned about the whole. But when conscience is separate from Consciousness, feelings of pride and guilt can arise from a belief in what is right and wrong. Having a guilty conscience is a familiar term. See guilty.

In the Introduction to Consciousness Speaks, by Ramesh S. Balsekar, formerly the President of the Bank of India and an Advaita sage, Wayne Liquorman, its editor, wrote, “All there is, is Consciousness. If that is understood completely, deeply, intuitively then you need read no further. Put the book down and go on joyously with the rest of your life.”

One of the four fundamental principles of concept formation in Integral Relational Logic meaning ‘adhering to the same set of principles’. Western dictionaries then go on to say that consistency means ‘not contradictory’. But such a view of consistency is not egalitarian, not consistent; it treats some concepts, in this case paradoxes, in a different way from other concepts.