Consciousness is of two types – internal and external.
Internal consciousness is always present where you are. There is no way you can switch it to dim. It could be on (most of the time) or off (rarely, even in sleep it may be on). I may be unaware or unconscious of lot of things around me but things of which I am consciously participating in makes me what I am. No-one else could possibly know me better than myself.
So, world consists of two types – one with inner consciousness and the other without. A Television or car has insides but not exactly the right type – no inner point of view but I am a subject, being to whom things can be one way or another and it matters.
External consciousness is about our observation of others. When we kill a mosquito between our two hands, does the mosquito feel the pain (our sort of pain, the one that matters)? Would we have considered it more painful experience for mosquito if mosquito was as big as us and was warm blooded animal?
Presence of such outside indicators are signs of presence of internal consciousness in others. But how can we confirm it? It is impossible to confirm the internal consciousness present side by side with external consciousness in others. If they communicate about it, it could still be considered as a unconfirmed coincidence. Only in our own case, can we confirm the coincidence of external as well as internal consciousness.
When Amitabh Bachan talks to himself in mirror when he is drunk, it is a picturisation (the name of the movie is in my sub-conscious mind!!) of one consciousness talking to the other.
Similar is situation when one describes oneself in third person. Subject and the observer are the same. But the observer (the internal consciousness) moves out and observes the subject (the external consciousness). That could be the true communication with self!!
