In Russian, сознание (soznanie), "consciousness" (our translation), joins со-, "with", and знание, "knowledge": knowing oneself, seeing oneself. The narrator calls it a disease when there is too much of it, and the adjective сознательный, "conscious", appears in the formula of conscious inertia. Near the end of Part One it is said to be infinitely above twice two, and suffering is its only cause.
Where It Appears
Quotes
I swear to you, gentlemen, that having too much consciousness is a disease, a real, complete disease.
Part One: The Underground, the underground man
the pleasure came precisely from the all-too-vivid consciousness of one's own humiliation.
Part One: The Underground, the underground man
After all, suffering is the only cause of consciousness.