doesnt everything have self awareness?

[heartofself]

The answer is "abstract thought":

19.11 Questioner: Can you tell me how this new bodily complex was suited to third-density lessons and what those lessons were?

Ra: I am Ra. There is one necessity for third density. That necessity is self-awareness, or self-consciousness. In order to be capable of such, this chemical complex of body must be capable of the abstract thought. Thus, the fundamental necessity is the combination of rational and intuitive thinking. This was transitory in the second-density forms operating largely upon intuition which proved through practice to yield results.

The third-density mind was capable of processing information in such a way as to think abstractly and in what could be termed “useless” ways, in the sense of survival. This is the primary requisite.

There are other important ingredients: the necessity for a weaker physical vehicle to encourage the use of the mind, the development of the already present awareness of the social complex. These also being necessary: the further development of physical dexterity in the sense of the hand, as you call this portion of your body complex.

90.9 Questioner: Then there is an extreme variation in the form of the physical vehicle in third density in the universe. I assume this is also true of fourth density. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. This is so. We remind you that it is a great theoretical distance between demanding that the creatures of an infinite creation be unnoticeably similar to oneself and observing those signs which may be called human which denote the third-density characteristics of self-consciousness; the grouping into pairs, societal groups, and races; and the further characteristic means of using self-consciousness to refine and search for the meaning of the milieu.

It's the questionament about the sense of the things. Philosophical thinking. The sense of "Who I am?", "What I am?" Second density is instinctive in their actions and thinking.

Hello, this is my first posting. I would like to respond by building upon the quoted posting from /u/Infinite

The first thought that came to me upon reading the initial question is that what distinguishes initial 3D self-awareness from simply individuated 2D awareness is the awareness of other selves as distinct from the self, which grows into the awareness that actions made upon the part of the self can or will influence other selves.

Many repliers have offered experiences with their pets, so I will follow suit. I have a young cat that I adopted at 6 months. I have witnessed her grow from a kitten wanting attention from an ailing senior cat (who has now passed) to an adult cat (1+ yrs.) whose attention is wanted by a new kitten. I have observed her change her play strategy to accommodate different physical abilities, have seen her offer affection and gentle reprimand, have had her request my intervention on the behalf of both cat friends multiple times (ex. when my oldest was having a seizure, and when the youngest had trapped herself), etc. I have known a great many cats in my life, and this behavior stands out to me as a special example of 2D transitioning to 3D.

I also want to comment that I have always understood that when Ra uses the word 'useless' in the above quote, they meant in the sense of useless to survival. One may argue that it is more efficient for survival in some cases for the self to disregard other self as self. And so, abstract thought may include thoughts of others as self in their own right, as it does take a level of abstracting to hold this idea in the mind.

Thank you for reading. I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of this discussion!