Crowley and the Origins of Consciousness

"Consiousness does not precede, and give birth to, language; rather, it is language that makes consciousness possible." - Hmmm.

Since we're talking deconstruction, we will have to deconstruct the word "consciousness."

I have always wondered about the role language acquisition plays in memory. Can we construct memory without language? And, isn't consciousness just an awareness of ourselves that would of necessity include the process of remembering who and where we've been?

For as long as I can remember, I've had a set of moving pictures in my head for which, until relatively recently, I had no frame of reference:

A very, very small white house, out on a lonely prarie, unpainted wooden steps up to an unpainted wooden porch with whitewashed railings. Inside, the house is very dark and close - though it doesn't feel cramped; I see only a living room (filled with knick-knacks), a kitchen, and a tiny bedroom. A woman lives alone in the house, a woman with hair so long it reaches down to the backs of her knees. I like the woman a lot when I see her, but I'm not sure who she is - I don't even have a name.

I'd held those pictures inside, because I didn't know what they meant; they were simply a part of my knowing of myself. Finally though, I shared this with my mother whose response was:

"Oh, my goodness, that was Aunt Eunice's house in Texas. How on earth could you remember that; you couldn't have been more than a year and a half old when she died."

"But, did I visit her in her home while she was alive?" I asked.

"Yes, many times. You really seemed to love being with her."

My mother always said I learned to speak at an early age - so it is possible these memories could be linked to some rudimentary language development, but I don't think so, simply because there were never (and still aren't) any words or speech of any kind associated with them - just the pictures.

So, which came first: consiousness or language?