Re: Principle 62 -- Consciousness

Sat Apr 26, 2008 5:48 am

My Friends,

It appears that my asking some questions here indeed stimulated your thinking. I used to do this more often and it has always been productive.

I do not have time to comment on all your answers but will give my views as I seek to access my inner self. Some of you will see some of the things you discovered reflected in what I write.

Principle 62 -- Consciousness

Now let us look at the first question:

What is consciousness?

Consciousness is the registration and recognition by a living entity of something that affects him. That which affects him changes him, even if it is sometimes a very small change. This something can be in form or formless, seen or unseen and moves him along the path of Becoming.

For instance, a person can go on a walk and take in the scenery, the birds, the sunset, etc. All these forms affect him and stimulate consciousness.

On the other hand, one can feel formless love or joyousness and this will also affect him and stimulate consciousness.

What is the difference between higher and lower consciousness?

Lower consciousness is that consciousness which is stimulated by the physical world and the lower emotions. Higher consciousness is that consciousness which is stimulated by the heart, higher mind and formless worlds.

What is the principle behind consciousness?

Bryan is pretty accurate when he says:

"I can see how the principle of Duality may need to be 'in play' in order for consciousness to exist/manifest."

Yes, it is impossible for consciousness to exist unless there is an interplay of two or more things -- or a duality. The greatest stimulant for our consciousness in mortality is the interplay of spirit and matter that meet within us as soul energies. These soul energies are most potent on the physical plane, but also this is the plane where they are most difficult to access in fullness. The path to this consciousness is narrow and difficult, but the reward is great.

The principle is basically the recognition, incorporation or interplay of the self, the decision-maker, with that which is not the self. This interplay produces consciousness, which affects the Thinker, the Self.

Without the interplay of the Self and the Not Self there would be no consciousness.

Now some say that the highest consciousness comes when we realize that all is one. It is true there is one life with many parts. The parts have to be seen and interplay must result to produce consciousness. This does not negate the oneness of life. Seeing the oneness of life merely expands seeing the many and thus expands consciousness.

Contemplate the difference between no consciousness and consciousness. Do we still exist without consciousness? If so what is existing and what does it do?

We oscillate between consciousness and no consciousness. During the great pralaya we lose normal consciousness and enter into the great sleep of God, but even during this sleep we dream from time to time. During the deepest sleep we do not dream or have consciousness as we understand it, but enter into a pure state of being and refresh the life principle that sustains us for eternity. We experience pure livingness, which is the higher octave of consciousness. In this state of being we synthesize all our experience into a higher state of intelligence.

To be conscious one must be conscious of something. What then are the "somethings" that make consciousness possible.

Anything that is not the knower within yourself. Duality stimulates decision, and decision expands consciousness.

Is consciousness then even possible in the formless worlds?

Yes, but it is a different kind of consciousness. Some say there is no duality in the formless worlds, but our dual existence came from the formless. This tells us that the seeds of duality are in the higher worlds.

Edison did not get the idea for the light bulb by finding it on the physical plane but by ascending in his thinking to the atmic plane where every possible idea exists. There he found the light bulb and brought its duality down to us. In the formless the light bulb did not exist as a physical duality, but as an idea that requires Duality.

There is thus consciousness in the higher worlds caused by the interplay of the thoughts and divine ideas of God.

Are you conscious when you are asleep and not dreaming?

Advanced souls are conscious in their mental bodies during sleep but lose their memories when they awaken.

What is the relation of time to consciousness? Is there consciousness without time? If so what can one be conscious of?

Time is motion of form or energy and without such motion there is no consciousness. The passing of time creates consciousness as we know it.

Even when the seeker enters the "timeless state" time still exists for he has only left time. We can go in and out of time just as we can go in and out of a building. If you are on the outside of a building the building still exists, you are just not in it and affected by it.

But even when out of time and in the formless there is still time, but the passing of time is not registered so it seems timeless. Time still exists but mystics have labeled the higher aspect as "the Eternal Now."

"If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them."
-- Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

Word of the Day

Pawky - Overly Shrewd, cunning, sly.

Following the above transaction, "SH" wrote the continued the thread by posting the following on the same topic:

"It is impossible for consciousness to exist unless there is an interplay of two or more things, or a duality.

"If I understand correctly, this implies that if there was a beginning in which God was a singularity, then at that time God did not have consciousness. If God did not have consciousness, then how did God decide to experience something different?

"What am I missing?"

JJ:

Concerning the state of pralaya DK [Djwhal Khul] tells us that this is not a condition of nothingness, or "that which is not" but "that which is esoteric."

Esoteric means "hidden." In other words, there are things going on in the mind of God at all times.

For an expanded view of the singularity see my book "Eternal Words" the section on the grand tour. There we find the singularity is really a whole universe that houses the mind of God.