This presentation was offered in Avebury, Wiltshire, UK, in October 2019. Content included exploring what consciousness is, what it means to be conscious, the theoretical and experiential exploration of self-awareness, the connection between the self and transpersonal levels of awareness and collective consciousness. Via a discussion of philosophers, psychoanalysts, scientists and spiritual thinkers (including Brentano, Freud and Jung) we developed an enriched understanding of the various layers and ways of understanding consciousness as interpreted as an ‘act’ and a ‘thing in itself’ with its own ontological existence.