Self-conscious human being has got all the powers of the rational one plus he or she is conscious of himself/herself and the world. Consciousness is a relatively new power of a human being and so far in the reference books, that is in phenomenology of existential philosophy and hermeneutics, the research conducted by the authors refers to the content of human consciousness. The subject of philosophical research made by the representatives of the mentioned specializations is the content of human consciousness. These authors study in what way a human being formulates and remembers the content of experienced feelings, thoughts, observations about himself/herself and the surrounding world. This way of developing philosophy is consistent with the tradition of modern philosophy. Beginning with Descartes, from his cogito ergo sum there has been a tendency to prove the fact of existence of consciousness in contents and experience. This problem was presented in a few words by John Paul II in his work Memory and Identity (2005).

To shed some light on this problem it is necessary to go back to the Age of the Enlightenment and first of all to the revolution in thinking carried out by Descartes. Cogito ergo sum - "I think, therefore I am", brought reversal in the field of philosophizing. In pre-Cartesian period the philosophy ? cogito (I think) or rather cognosco (I recognize) was subject to esse (to be), which was primary. However, for Descartes esse became secondary while cogito was considered primary.

This way not only the change in the direction of philosophizing was made but also a radical withdrawal from what philosophy was formerly, especially that of Thomas Aquinas, the philosophy of esse. Before everything was interpreted through the prism of existence (esse) and everything was explained through this prism. God as a self-existence (Ens subsistens) was a necessary support for every ens non subsistens, ens participatum ?for all the created beings and man as well. Cogito ergo sum broke with that tradition of thoughts. Ens cogitans (thinking existence) became the primary one. From Kartezjusz philosophy becomes the science of pure thinking: everything that is a being (esse) ? both the created world and the Creator ? remain in the cogito area as the essence of human consciousness. Philosophy deals with beings as far as they are the content of the consciousness and do not exist beyond it (John Paul II, p. 16).

Beginning with Descartes, the model of philosophizing relies on investigating the content of consciousness, the content of thinking. When philosophers achieved their level of self-consciousness, their style of work did not change. They still try to became conscious of the content of thought that is the subject of the study.

The direction of philosophizing of active thinkers in the field of consciousness is very precisely marked by Edmund Husserl in Cartesian Meditations (1982).

This common deprivation of importance ("suspension", "excluding from the game") applied according to all acts of adopted attitude, adopted position on the objective world, first of all according to all existential positions (concerning existence, pretence, being possible, presumable etc.) or, as it was used to say, this phenomenological epoche, relatively, bracketing the objective world, do not confront us with nothingness. On the contrary, what becomes our property in this way or more precisely, what in this way becomes my share, as a meditating philosopher, is my pure life with all its pure experience and all its supposed objects ? taken in its entirety field of phenomena, in phenomenological meaning of the world. Epoche is, as it also can be said, a radical and universal method that enables me to display myself as a pure I, together with my own pure, conscious life in which and thanks to which the whole objective world is the world existing for me, the world that exists in such a way as it is related to me. Everything I find within the borders of my world, any space-time being exists because of me which means that because of me it has the importance of something valid and has it because it is experienced by me, perceived and reminded that I think about it in a way, pronounce judgment on it, evaluate it from the point of view of values that I desire it etc. Descartes as we know calls all these activities cogito. The world is for me nothing more but the world existing in one?s consciousness (Husserl, 1982, s. 29 - 30).

Husserl made a phenomenological reduction, phenomenological epoche. The reduction means suspension, bracketing the existence of the real world. Having done this operation he notices that in our consciousness there is still some kind of idea of the real world. The imagination is conscious, it is in our mind, exists independently from the real world. Husserl adds that any thinking operation that takes place in the world ? pronouncing judgments, evaluating, desire ? I do it in the world of consciousness. From the position of consciousness it has been possible to notice the content of our consciousness and the fact that the world perceived by us has got a consciousness character that is not real.

Phenomenological reduction and the discovery of the existing world of consciousness is of great importance. As a result of phenomenological epoche we became conscious of the fact that we move in two different worlds: the real one and its conscious reflection. Our access to the real world is restrained, we always come at it through the conscious world.

The philosophical research so far has been limited to the study of the method of creating cogito, the conscious world, way of its functioning in our mind. Scientists formulate their idea of the world and philosophers study how the notional, conscious contents function. The subject of the research are two levels of human spirituality: the first one is a conscious, symbolical picture of the reality, the second ? self-consciousness of the previous one, consciousness of the consciousness, consciousness of the conscious existence of the world for me.

However, this new human power, which is self-consciousness, can be utilized in a different way, applied, used to reach the world. As a result of the phenomenological reduction we become conscious of the existence of two worlds: the real one and the imaginary one. What is more, we can reach the real world only through our imagination about it, through the imaginary world. We treat the world in the way we imagine it.

At present, self-consciousness is used to study the imaginary world while we can also use it to study relations, relating a human being to the real world. A human being has a representation of the world and on the basis of these representations s/he refers to the real world.

I postulate to break with the Cartesian tradition and to use self-consciousness for the new type of study. It is possible to work not only on the content of thought but also on the relation between human mental imagination about something and its practical reference to this thing. Then, the content of philosophizing, of self-consciousness is not only the content of thought (however at a different level), but the relation that joins the thing?s representation and the actual use of this real thing by humans. The subject of self-consciousness study becomes a complex system with a human being that can reflect the surrounding world and act following its image.

My second suggestion is to loosen the relation between the world?s idea and the real world, and allowing one thing or phenomenon to have many images. Science takes the position of the study validity. Scientists take the position of the truthfulness of scientific knowledge which means they look for one true picture of reality, its single image. Images different from the ones accepted by the scientific society are rejected as wrong and false. I postulate to allow many images of reality. Of course these various images of the same excerpt of reality do not have to be recognized and used in the same way. Each of them discovers a different aspect of reality they relate to. From the position of consciousness it is possible to choose owned images and use them according to their utility and achieved results.

For a conscious man it is important to choose and make decisions. The condition of a conscious human being has changed a lot. His/her world has been enriched considerably. S/he is richer with all the images of reality different from the ones that have been accepted as correct ones. The world of a conscious human being is a world full of all the available images of reality and ways of actual reference to the world, related to all these images. The choice of images becomes important for a human being and the activities taken by him/her. Each of the activities gives different results. A conscious human being is in the position of the unlimited freedom, became a conscious doer of the action. A rational human being is limited by the stiff world and the perceived world order. His/her choice is to get to know and adapt to the order of nature. Of course s/he has got free will and can violate the order which means doing evil.

A conscious human being is offered unlimited freedom. Care in the choice of understanding reality and actions becomes essential. A conscious person is bound to make decisions and choosing potential more or less valuable benefits resulting from their actions.

A conscious person became responsible for what s/he does, for the effects of his/her actions.

My third postulate is to place oneself in the area of consciousness. As a result, I become the subject of my activities. Consequently I am able to work on self improvement. I suggest assuming that I am able to work on myself and thus enrich the possessed subject equipment. Together with improving myself, I improve the abilities to make decisions in such a way so as my actions lead to doing more good.