the poverty of enlightenment

The privilege of understanding how consciousness works at the rudimentary level, is that there then remain no concerns about what consciousness means. There is nothing to engage with emotionally, as emotions can be bluntly appreciated as ordinary sensory experience with ordinary structures like everything else. 

The question about what to do with such privileges remains an economic conundrum. While the ordinary neighbours are facing their existential hardships, enamoured by engagements which they can't simply shake off by intention ... one either ignores them, or empathises with them, which incurs high cognitive costs. 

I suppose at some point if one is rich enough, then one can engage more often. Otherwise social engagement is simply a lot of work with no reward, and perhaps better to be deprioritised. Hm.