How Far Does Sentience Extend in Consciousness?

How far down the chain of being can we carry the understanding that all sentient beings are localisations of consciousness? Do insects, microbes and trees have inner experience? Rupert says: ‘By sentient being, I mean any being that has inner experience, any entity for whom there is something it is like to be that entity. I would suggest not for trees. This table is not having the experience of being itself. You are all having experience. That doesn’t mean that everything is conscious. That would be panpsychism. I don’t feel strongly about where the line is drawn between what is a sentient being and what is insentient. I see sentient beings as localisations of infinite consciousness. Everything else, the unlocalised aspect of infinite consciousness, would appear to be insentient.’

From event 06 June - 13 July, 2025 Seven-Day Retreat at The Vedanta, 6–13 June 2025

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