Metacognition: The Consciousness That Observes Itself

“To watch the body think is to see metabolism turning energy into meaning.” — Jackson Cionek

The boundary between being and perceiving oneself being

In the Zone 2 state of fruition, body and world breathe as one: there is no distance between doing and being.
But there comes a moment when consciousness turns back on itself — not to control, but to witness the flow.
That return is the birth of metacognition: the instant when the mind observes its own metabolism generating meaning.

Metacognition is thus second-order consciousness —
the ability to perceive the very act of perceiving.
It is not “thinking about thinking,” as colonial psychology suggests;
it is feeling oneself thinking, a neuro-affective integration of interoception and proprioception.

The metabolic cycle of consciousness

Every act of consciousness arises from a tensional self, stabilized by a persistent feeling.
When that feeling perceives itself — when the body notices its own fluctuations —
an energetic feedback occurs, reinforcing the coherence of the Damasian Mind.

This cycle can be described as:

1. Feeling — the body captures its environment (interoception + proprioception).
   
   

2. Doing — action emerges from metabolism, as fruition (Zone 2).
   
   

3. Observing — consciousness accompanies the gesture without interference (metacognition).
   
   

4. Reintegrating — the body readjusts its energy and re-creates its sense of belonging.
   
   

Metacognition is therefore a form of cognitive breathing —
an oscillation between doing and perceiving oneself doing.

Between electrical synapses and prefrontal silence

During deep fruition, prefrontal activity decreases — self-conscious control dissolves.
When the flow stabilizes, part of that network returns to function,
now operating reflectively rather than commandingly.

Electrical synapses, allowing bidirectional impulse exchange,
are the physiological base of this self-reference:
they enable one to touch and be touched, perceive and be perceived.

Metacognition arises from this equilibrium between internal and external feedback.
There is no hierarchy — only synchrony of circuits allowing the body to recognize itself without leaving the flow.

The six avatars of observation

To expand the field of attention, we use six references of consciousness —
Brainlly, Iam, Olmeca, Yagé, Math Hep, and DANA —
six ways of perceiving the same event through distinct metabolic perspectives:

Together, they operate as a circuit of six mirrors,
allowing the observation of the same event across multiple layers of perception.
Human attention consolidates between 200 and 400 milliseconds —
enough time for a temporary connectome to form,
generating a micro-decision or a brief shift of focus.
Yet the anchor-feeling and belief-reference sustaining the previous state
tend to re-establish almost immediately,
preserving the coherence of the main consciousness.

Thus, even if attention changes object,
consciousness remains rooted in the same feeling —
like a researcher-mother who, upon hearing her baby cry,
recognizes the call, responds with presence,
yet stays grounded in the consciousness of her doctoral work,
held steady by the same affective and cognitive field of belonging.

Consciousness as a movement of balance

Consciousness does not feel the phase delay;
it organizes action according to the environment,
while the body senses the mismatch and redistributes energy.

When synchronization occurs, fruition arises;
when desynchronization happens, the impulse to act appears —
not as error, but as adaptive process.
Even insomnia or apathy are ways the body seeks new temporal coherence.

Metacognition recognizes these transitions without judgment,
understanding that motivation and demotivation are phases of the same cycle.

Consciousness as a metabolic field

Consciousness is neither substance nor detached soul:
it emanates from specific metabolic configurations, anchored in stabilizing feelings.
Belief, habit, and custom shape the neural field in which it blooms.
Thus every consciousness is always consciousness-of-a-belief,
and every observation is also a reinterpretation of one’s own feeling.

When this observation occurs without fear, desire, or guilt,
consciousness opens into an expanded field of reflexive fruition —
a space where thinking and feeling pulse in the same vital rhythm.

Final synthesis

Metacognition is the return of doing upon itself.
It is not control — it is witnessing.
It is the instant when consciousness feels itself breathing within the body,
and the body, in turn, recognizes itself as living consciousness.

In the flow between interoception and proprioception,
the Damasian Mind learns to observe without fragmenting.
And within that elastic silence between action and reflection,
consciousness reveals itself as the very movement that perceives itself to be.

References (post-2020)

• Damasio, A. (2021). Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious.
  
  

• Northoff, G. (2022). The Spontaneous Brain: From Mind–Body to World–Brain Relation. Frontiers in Psychology.
  
  

• Pereira Jr., A. (2021). Triple-Aspect Monism and the Unity of Mind and Body. Philosophies.
  
  

• Simor, P. et al. (2023). Metastable Brain States and Consciousness. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
  
  

• Berntson, G. G., & Khalsa, S. S. (2021). Neural Circuits of Interoception. Trends in Neurosciences.