Thinking as a Sense

"The self" is an object in consciousness (idea) which refers to consciousness. Consciousness may be referred to as the soul, the self, I, and me. I am who everything happens to. I am the one who sees, hears, tastes, thinks, and is sitting writing this post right now. Eyes see, but eyes are not me. Ears hear, but ears are not me. My heart beats, but I am not the one telling it to beat (brain). I am not my physical body or my brain, but consciousness (self/soul)--the one my body and brain speaks to.

My body speaks to me via five senses. Through visual, audio, touch, taste, and smell. Sensations are produced at their organ (eye, eardrum...) and sent through the brain to consciousness. Ultimately, I (consciousness) am delivered the sensation.

These sensations are interpreted into ideas and heard in consciousness as thoughts. Who/what interprets sensations into ideas? Is consciousness the one who interprets sensations into ideas? What does turning a sensation into an idea consist of?

A sensation is a packet of information. Imagine a computer (largely what a brain is). Computers have audio files and video files. Each is coded differently and is sent to a monitor or speaker (audio monitor). I presume the same is so with images and sounds in our brains. Data is delivered to consciousness to a monitor which is then displayed as visual, audio, taste, .. information. Then this information that is now on the monitor must be read and interpreted (translated) into ideas (a different form of data). Who does this translating? Is it consciousness? My consciousness does not sort through memory to construct ideas out of images. Something else does that. All I do (consciousness) is sense and have thoughts. So something else besides consciousness (I call it "the subconscious") must translate sensory input into ideas and then deliver the ideas back to consciousness. Therefore I am not the one who thinks, but the one who experiences (hears) thoughts.

I am merely an observer aboard this bodily vessel.

Why does the brain produces thoughts? What's the purpose of the brain interpreting sensations into thought and delivering thoughts back to consciousness?

_S E  X  Y    B  A  C  H  E  L  O  R_