Consciousness
One view of consciousness is that it’s an effect of the brain and only present in humans and possibly other intelligent animals such as dolphins and higher primates. This is the material view that sees consciousness as secondary and merely an effect of the material world. An alternative view to this is that consciousness is the primary condition and that the material world arises within consciousness and is therefore secondary to it. This is the spiritual view held by religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism.
The material view of consciousness is the most commonly held view in the western world and would seem to be supported by our everyday experience of life. However, if we investigate thoroughly our everyday experience of life, we may find that things aren’t as they first appear. It’s through meditation that we can investigate the relationship between consciousness and experience and find out which is primary and which is secondary. We can also use the findings of other investigators and meditators to help us and guide us in our own enquiry. Having investigated the nature of consciousness, it’s my conclusion that consciousness is the senior principle and that the world and all experience arise within it.
The content of consciousness varies; during our waking hours we’re typically aware of our body, our mind and our environment, when asleep we’re either aware of dreams or in deep sleep, nothing. The content of consciousness can also be more exotic, as in the cases of astral travelling, out of body experiences, near death experiences, subtle body experiences, psychic, mystical and cosmic experiences.
Consciousness is intelligence and understanding, it’s the apex where all opposites are united, where all contradictions are resolved.. Our mind is simply a filter to consciousness. In the same way as glasses change our view of the world, so the quality of our mind dictates how consciousness perceives the world.
Because we’re conscious we have the capacity of self reflection and the ability to understand. Rather than turn that understanding outwards to the world, if we turn it to ourselves and consciousness, we come to understand ourselves and consciousness itself. As that understanding of our own nature grows, we can become freer in our disposition. We can release the chains that bind us, and see beyond the limited view of ourselves. We can discover harmony where there was discord and unity where there was division.
When consciousness awakens in us, a new dimension of life becomes available. This new dimension contains all of life that we knew before and so we lose nothing, we simply gain access to the dimension of life that is love and happiness. This dimension of love and happiness depends on nothing and is brought about by nothing, it’s always available for free. When the power of this dimension enters our life it transforms us.
When we experience happiness, if only for a moment, we’re in touch with the uncontracted, open and happy state of consciousness. The only trouble is, that if we don’t understand how we contract or recoil from it, we’ll lose the happiness. Therefore, if we observe ourselves and understand how we contract from happiness, from consciousness - the open state - we’ll have the option of remaining open, uncontracted and awake. To begin with it’s like learning not to flinch a muscle when touched, but after a while it becomes more a case of simply relaxing in body, mind and emotion into the ever present and available atmosphere of consciousness.