Consciousness: Did I already know that?

I am currently reading ‘Straw Dogs:Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals.’ It’s one of the first books I’ve read in a while that I cannot put down. I haven’t ventured much into Philosophy since I had to teach Sophie’s World to an 11th grade English class, an experience I don’t think anyone particularly enjoyed. But I cannot stop reading it.

One line in particular jumped out at me.

“What surfaces in consciousness are fading shadows of things we know already.’

I read an article a while back about how our gut is aware of things before our brain has time to catch up. In the same way that microbes move away from acid and move towards sugar we - made up of the same particles - move away from acid and certainly some of us, including myself, move towards that sugar!

Not unlike the light from stars we look up at that died light years ago, our conscious mind becomes aware of things that holistically we know already.

I’ve often put stock in feelings I experience despite not always having the verbal dexterity to articulate them, whether it be interactions with other people, or when making decisions.

I wonder what the last thing was that you realised but already knew?