Hi Dave

If I understand you correctly, you are raising the question of the kind of consciousness that's operating in 'trained' human activities like tennis – or, I imagine, (though the example is rather less glorious) the repetitive actions of a worker on a production line. 

Since I think human consciousness itself is a mystery far from being solved, I really have no idea what such ‘reduced’ forms of conscious behaviour might involve. I can only guess that the training process allows the person to carry out the task with a mimum of thought – which would be a necessity for a tennis player because he simply doesn’t have the time.

That’s hardly a very brilliant diagnosis! As I say, the real mystery, it seems to me, is what consciousness itself is.  I don’t think philosophy has even come close to working this out yet.  Quite possibly it never will. I suspect we’ll manage brief, partial glimpses at best.

DA