Great quote there, Amos! You have outdone Abe Lincoln.

The normal mental consciousness is exactly like a lightbulb, thinking all light is gone when it's been turned off.

There is actually quite a bit of simple consciousness in a sleeping body. For instance, if I set an alarm clock for any time at all, I invariably wake up just 5 minutes or less before the alarm is set to go off. This is because my body consciousness knows perfectly well what time it is all the time, and it doesn't want to hear that alarm go off. That doesn't mean my busy mind knows what time it is, though. It may be unconscious. The body itself has a simpler and more basic consciousness than the mind, and that consciousness is still regulating the body while the mind rests.

The mistake of the average human mind is imagining that it and only it is capable of consciousness. It is 1/3 of the human consciousness, but it thinks it's the whole shebang. It's the one that normally talks, reasons, remembers, compares, uses numbers, and regards itself as separate from everything else and everyone else around it. It's the Ego.

Above and beyond that mind is a higher intelligence which does not think in terms of separation. That intelligence is accessible through meditation and other disciplines. You cannot access it without calming and stilling the mind...while awake. It can then be used in concert with the mind, to great good effect.

The mind is not the Captain of the ship, it's the first mate and other lesser officers. The body is the crew and the ship. A first mate who denies the validity or existence of the Captain is engaging in mutiny, whether he knows it or not. This is not wise, and it leads to a variety of foolish human behaviours, mostly based on insecurity or egotism of one kind or another.