Full Idea
Is it not strange that the identity of a person should consist in a thing (consciousness) which is continually changing?
Gist of Idea
If consciousness is personal identity, it is continually changing
Source
Thomas Reid (Essays on Intellectual Powers 3: Memory [1785], III.Ch 6)
Book Reference
'Personal Identity', ed/tr. Perry,John [University of California 1975], p.116
A Reaction
This is the panicky slippery slope view of Locke, that sees his doctrine as the first step to the destruction of religion. The fact is, though, that parts of my consciousness changes continually, but other parts stay the same for years on end.