We tend to assume that progress in answering the ‘hard question’ of consciousness will be accompanied by a subjective feeling of greater understanding. However, in order to feel we understand how one state of affairs arises from another, we have to deceive our-selves into thinking we have found a type of causal link which in reality may not exist (Rosch, 1994). I draw from and expand upon Rosch’s model, which specifies the condi-tions under which this self-deceptive kind of causal attribution arises. I argue that the mind–body relationship may not meet these conditions, especially because of its poten-tial novelty and uniqueness. We should not therefore expect to subjectively feel we un-derstand consciousness.