Forms of Consciousness

Our Consciousness is so narrowly focused on ourselves that it is difficult for us to comprehend LIFE. LIFE is much more than just Human Beings and our collective ignorance and arrogance tries to make LIFE better and safer without fully grasping what LIFE is. Ignorance and arrogance are both dangerous states but together they can be deadly. It is these two states that bring out our Greed, Fear and our desire for Power. It is in this state of our narrowly focused Consciousness that we have polluted our environment, destroyed our forests and even murder each other. LIFE is not dangerous to us, we are a danger to ourselves. In some spiritual paths we search for Love, Abundance and a state of Bliss. We look for an escape of what is right in front of us. Some say that LOVE is the ultimate state or power, I say LIFE is the ultimate power and is eternal. LOVE, FEAR, BLISS, AGONY and everything in between is only possible because of LIFE. 

The year is 2012 and there is much talk about raising our Consciousness to the next level.  I am always questioning what this actually means. It sounds nice and it sounds like we know what we are talking about, but do we? When we try to explain the idea of raising our Consciousness we hear about other dimensions, about bringing our Consciousness into the "Light" and about becoming "Enlightened".

2012 is going to be a year that alters our Consciousness to be sure.  Raising our Consciousness may not be accurate, I prefer to describe it as Broadening our Consciousness. In raising our Consciousness signifies that we are coming from a inferior Consciousness to a superior Consciousness and I do not think this is true. In order to rate different forms of Consciousness as inferior or superior we need to have a more complete understanding of all the different forms of Consciousness.

Our Physical Universe has a Consciousness or Awareness that is constantly expanding. The countless Galaxies have a Consciousness, the solar-systems have a Consciousness, the planets and stars have a Consciousness (including Mother Earth), Humans, Animals, Plants and even the Minerals have a form of Consciousness. There are many times many FORMS of Consciousness.

When we start to broaden our Awareness we start to see our self as an intricate part of LIFE, not separate from it.  LIFE is not dangerous, it is an adventure. LIFE needs to be respected and will not be controlled. When we fully understand LIFE and our part within LIFE we can truly be at PEACE and we start to understand that we are never truly alone.

What I mean by respecting LIFE is that we need to learn our part to play. It does not mean that we are subservient to it but a intricate part of LIFE and we need to learn our part. It is our ignorance and arrogance that we think we can control LIFE and we are superior to the Animals, Plants, Air and Water that gets us into trouble. The WHOLENESS OF LIFE has a accumulated Consciousness associated with it that I refer to as the CREATOR. Each minute part of LIFE also has a form of Consciousness - the Air, Water, Animals, Plants and even the Crystals & Stones.

This book 'Radical Acceptance' is a good way to begin this process. Our first step is to stop struggling with LIFE and start accepting LIFE for what it is. It is from this place of acceptance that we can start to find our place in LIFE and we can begin the journey of creating our LIFE.

Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book talks about how the majority of our SUFFERING is due to our inability to ACCEPT our situation. We deny, we become angry, we feel the lose, and finally we accept.

Acceptance does not mean that we like the situation or agree with it or even to think the situation in okay. However, once we have managed to accept something for what it is, we can now more effectively deal with the situation.

Tara Brach does a lot better job of this than I do here. It really is worth reading a number of times as there is lots to digest and to ponder about. It is well written and not difficult to read.

View all my reviews

Life Values

Our Life-Values are important in defining who we are! When we have a full understanding of our Life-Values we have more DIRECTION in our Life and less CONFUSION. It is also our Life-Values that help in setting our Personal Boundaries.

When we do not have a good grasp on our Life-Values we are more adrift in our Life and in more confusion. We have much more of a challenge setting our Personal Boundaries. When we are unsure of our Life-Values we look outside of our self for direction in our Life. It is difficult to find our TRUE Life-Values when we have LOW SELF-ESTEEM  OR SELF-CONFIDENCE. It is a challenge and is very much like the 'chicken and egg' thing; which comes first the Life-Values or the Self-Worth? They work together, as we define our Life-Values our Self-Worth improves and as our Self-Worth improves we are able to refine our Life-Values.

When we have a full grasp of our Life-Values we KNOW how we want to live our Life. We no longer need outside confirmation of our Life-Values. We also realize that our Life-Values are OURS and others may or may not have the same Values. I do not need others to have MY VALUES and I do not have to ACCEPT another person's Value. I can RESPECT another person's Value without accepting as my own. I can accept the INDIVIDUALITY of others and still HONOR my Values. This comes with more SELF-CONFIDENCE AND A HIGHER SELF-ESTEEM.

It amazes me how this is not more COMMONLY KNOWN and the importance of developing our Personal Life-Values. These Values like our Beliefs are not able to be IMPOSED on us to have any real worth. The individual needs to find their own Values and Beliefs before either has any worth in our Life.

BELIEFS

In the last post ‘Heal Thyself’ I mentioned that our Mind has lost Belief in our Body. This post looks at our ‘Belief System’, what it is and how it affects our Life.

BELIEF SYSTEM:

The Encarta Dictionary has 5 different definitions for ‘Belief’:

1. Acceptance of truth of something.
2. Trust.
3. Something that somebody believes in
4. Opinion
5. Religious faith

The closest one that I am referring to is the first point;

“Acceptance of truth of something – acceptance by the mind that something is true or real, often underpinned by an emotional or spiritual sense of certainty.” The emphasis is mine.

The key point here is the MIND. Our Mind has a FREE-WILL and we are free to act as we choose, we are not limited by INSTINCT. When we choose to BELIEVE in something or NOT we are exercising our MIND’S FREE-WILL. We can BELIEF or DISBELIEF both are the results of our FREE-WILL and are BELIEFS (DISBELIEF just describes one’s BELIEF). We can decide not to choose, we call this an ‘OPEN-MIND’.

We seldom question our more fundamental BELIEFS as we see them more as TRUTHS than beliefs. We would not BELIEVE in something if we did not think it was TRUE. There are no good or bad BELIEFS; there are only EMPOWERING BELIEFS and LIMITING BELIEFS. We need to view our BELIEFS in how they EMPOWER us or how they LIMIT us. The issue of a BELIEF being a TRUTH is the illusion that keeps us to that BELIEF.

There are two discussions I had with different perception of BELIEFS that I believe will demonstrate the deep level of BELIEF that I am referring to.

1. I was having a discussion with a group that was pressing that their sense of ‘Knowing’ was more fundamental than their ‘Belief’. The ‘Knowing’ that they were referring to was their ‘Intuition’ was much more important and helpful than their ‘Belief’. My point was the need to BELIEVE in their ‘Intuition or Knowing’ in order for their ‘Knowing’ to be of any value. If one DISBELIEVED in their ‘Intuition’ then one would not pay any attention to their ‘Knowing’ and it would have no value.
2. I was in a workshop with about 20 others, I forget how it came up, and one person commented to me that “...facts always trump belief”. The point is once again missed; one needs to BELIEVE in one’s facts in order for the facts to have any relevance.

We often see our BELIEF as something wishy-washy, silly, superstitious, and wishful or some other not real state. The level of BELIEF that I am referring to is what everything else is built on.

HOW OUR BELIEFS AFFECT US:

It is through our BELIEFS that we experience our lives and our environment. It is our BELIEF SYSTEM that forms our Judgments, our Desires and even our sense of Right & Wrong. Our BELIEF about our self will be the foundation of our success or failure and how we see our self is what we will experience.

Empowering & Limiting Beliefs;

When we want to change a part of our LIVES, we need to look towards our BELIEFS. When we are reviewing our BELIEFS we need to ask – “Does the BELIEF empower me or limit me?”. When we want to make changes in our LIVES, we need to have EMPOWERING BELIEFS. When we have LIMITING BELIEFS we need to find a way to make it into an EMPOWERING BELIEF. LIMITING BELIEFS create a challenge for us to overcome so that we can move past them.

CAUTION:

Examining this deep level of our BEING must be taken with caution; it can be unsettling for anyone not ready to explore this level of their BEING. When we start to question our deep BELIEFS in our self and about our Life can trigger what is referred to as “Dark Night of the Soul”.

It can be shocking when we start to question BELIEFS that we have built our LIVES ON, be cautious and approach these BELIEFS we have slowly, patience is a virtue. When we are review our BELIEFS it is necessary to view the BELIEF in a positive manner and not in a right or wrong judgment. We can be thankful to Limiting Beliefs as they have got us to the present point.

Heal Thyself

It is our Physical Body that is the TRUE HEALER. To demonstrate what I mean I use the example of a broken bone. When we have a broken bone we go to the doctor and he ‘sets the bone’ and then ‘immobilizes the limb’ so that the BODY CAN HEAL THE BONE. The doctor is only able to assist the BODY in the actual healing. It is the BODY that does the actual HEALING not the doctor. This example with a broken bone is an obvious healing by the Body and is difficult to argue with even by the doctors. All of our Physical Healing works this same way and our BODY has everything it needs to HEAL ITSELF, if we allow it to. We allow the BODY to heal when our MIND BELIEVES IN THE BODY. It is our MIND that gives the BODY the permission to HEAL! 

The PHYSICAL BODY and the NON-PHYSICAL MIND are parts that need to act as a WHOLE. When these two act in unison MIRACULOUS healings can occur. The MIND being the CONSCIOUS part of this union needs to keep a BALANCE and know when the BODY needs OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE, such as ‘setting the bone’ and when it does not. In keeping this BALANCE the MIND needs to stay aware that it is the BODY that actually HEALS ITSELF. 

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In our modern society our MIND no longer BELIEVES in our BODY. We run off to the nearest doctor or healer every time we have a minor physical challenge. The more we look outside of our self to heal our issues, the less we actually heal. 

I am in my early 60s and I grew up in the 1950s and 60s. As a child I seldom remember going to the doctors and never to emergency. I remember once, I think I was in grade 3, one morning I wasn’t feeling well and wanted to stay home from school. I was always trying to get out of going to school. Mom sent me off to school anyway. When I got home and that evening I was feeling worse, so they called the doctor. The doctor came, yes they did house calls back then, and declared I had ‘double-pneumonia’ and ordered to bed. I got to stay home for a few days from school. The point being is that today this would have been an ‘emergency’ setting and all kinds of fuss would be made. Today we go to the doctor for everything possible and the doctors are so busy that they cannot make ‘house-calls’ anymore. We have put ALL OUR BELIEF in the medical system, and not in our PHYSICAL BODY. 

Today our MIND has lost its BELIEF in our BODY and all of our BELIEF is with the outside assistance in our PHYSICAL HEALING. This shift in our BELIEF has weakened the BODY in its ability to HEAL. The BODY itself become dependent on the OUTSIDE INFLUENCES. 

Anything lost can be found. We can shift our BELIEF back to the BODY, while keeping the proper importance of the OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE when required. It is this BALANCE that is key, it is not a question of one or the other, we need both.

WHO WE ARE

In order to understand where I am coming from when blogging on this site and the Healing services I offer we need to understand ‘Who We Are’. I have added a new dedicated Page to this site titled ‘LIFE’ and I recommend individuals to read this so that the topics here are put into their proper perspective. 

It is important to know what I mean when I talk about our Body, Soul, and Spirit. I am sure that my definition of these aspects of our self is somewhat different than the standard understanding. What I mean about the 3 Realms is also important to understand – Spirit Realm, Physical Realm, and Energy Realm.  

Please take the time to read LIFE.

5 Non-Physical Senses

It is these 5 Senses that play a large part in our Life. It is these senses that create a deeper understanding of LIFE and a base for our LIFE-VALUES. It is compassion and empathy that create a deep level of caring and support in our society. Without these we would have a very sallow society. Some may think we have a sallow society, and it would be from a lack of these two senses. We can be so focused on this Physical realm and our 5 Physical senses that we deny or ignore our compassion and empathy as being too sentimental. It is the caring and support that our compassion gives us that leads to our VALUE OF FAIRNESS. It is often said – “Life is not Fair.” – I disagree. We (Humans) are an intricate part of LIFE and the part we play in LIFE is to bring FAIRNESS to LIFE where we can. 

COMPASSION;

Compassion is our CONNECTION TO THE ONENESS that is the Spirit world. It is our Compassion that connects us to everything else – we care for each other, animals, plants and the planet as a whole. Without Compassion we truly are ALONE AND SEPARATE. When we lose our connection to our Compassion two options occur;

     

1. We become too self-absorbed and our EGO becomes a problem. We can see everything around us as objects for our own benefit or as threats. 
2. We become so isolated that we can barely function. Everything seems to be a threat and we do not see our self as good enough or capable.

These options are experienced in many levels of degrees. In the 1^st option the extreme would be the psychopath and is so disconnected that they are a danger to everything around them. In the 2^nd option the extreme would be with the person so consumed with ‘self-doubt’ and the feel of ‘inadequacies’ that they become totally dependent on others or they are unable to function in a social environment.

This sounds like a lot to put onto something as simple as COMPASSION, and it is. However, COMPASSION is more than just ‘feeling sorry for someone’ or ‘to make allowance’ for someone. COMPASSION is our connection to everything and without it we are truly ALONE. When we exercise our COMPASSION we are helping our self as much as we are helping others.

EMPATHY;

Many may see little difference between Compassion and Empathy. However, there is a difference. Empathy is an issue of setting one’s Spiritual Boundaries. Compassion is our connection to everything; Empathy is our ability to experience what others are experiencing. We take what we see others experiencing and experience it as our own. 

Empathy, like everything else in this physical world of duality, has a positive and negative aspect. Being Empathic may be necessary when we are assisting and supporting what someone may be experiencing. However, we need to know the difference between what others are experiencing and what is ours to experience. Without setting our Spiritual Boundaries by being aware of what is ours to experience and what are others, we can have problems. 

This setting of our Spiritual Boundaries is important in order to live our Physical Life or we bring much more challenges into our lives than we need to deal with. We need to be AWARE of this need to set our Boundaries and of our Compassion and Empathy in order to live OUR LIFE. If we are not AWARE of the need to set our Spiritual Boundaries we can become a victim of everyone around us.  

ENERGY-SENSING;

Energy-sensing needs to be explained. This term ‘energy-sensing’ describes what I mean, some may say that we ‘feel’ the energy but this can be confused with our ‘emotional-feelings’ or one may say that we can ‘touch’ the energy but this can be confused with our Physical sense of ‘touch’. We SENSE this energy within our awareness, when we are conscious of it.

When we walk into a room we can sense the ENERGY in the room. The room may have Hostile Energy that puts us on guard, or a Peaceful Energy that can put us at ease. The ENERGY can be somewhere between these two, the point being is that we can sense the ENERGY. It is said that animals can smell fear; fear has a particular ENERGY that animals can sense, not smell. The animals are much more AWARE of this Energy than we are (80% - 20%).

INTUITION;

Our Intuition is often referred to as the ‘sixth-sense’ in relation to our 5 Physical Senses. It is unfortunate that we often discount our Intuition as it is a DEEPER SENSE OF KNOWING. The challenge we have is how we interpret our Intuition. If we deny or ignore our Intuition we can never learn how to work with this SENSE of ours.

Many view our Intuition as our KNOWLEDGE from our higher-self or our Spirit. I believe this to be partially true; however, our Intuition is also a method that our Spirit Guides will use to guide us. 

IMAGINATION;

Our Sense of Imagination is truly unique in ALL the Kingdoms. It is a very powerful tool that we have. It is our Imagination that allows us to CREATE. If we want to CREATE a better Life we must first be able to Imagine a better Life.

Like Empathy, Imagination has both a positive and negative aspects to it. With the ability of Imaging a better Life we can also Imagine a worse Life. With the great ability that Imagination gives us, we can also be caught up in the curse of never being satisfied with what we have. This often leads to such things as GREED.

When we are UNAWARE of the true power of our IMAGINATION we can suffer from the negative aspects of our IMAGINATION. When we are AWARE of our IMAGINATION and its abilities we can use this Sense of ours to its potential.

Our Imagination is also another method that our Spirit Guides can use to guide us. When this occurs it is not the fact that we imagine something it is the something that is important (it is WHAT we imagine that is important). 

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These 5 Non-Physical Senses are as important to our Physical Well-Being as our 5 Physical Senses. When we are CONSCIOUS of just our 5 Physical Senses and remain UNAWARE of our 5 Non-Physical Senses we are experiencing our Life with only half of our BEING.

Remaining UNAWARE of the importance of these 5 Non-Physical Senses can also put us in a vulnerable position when dealing with the negative aspects. We can Imagine a worse Life; we can be overly sensitive to the Energy around us. These can increase our SUFFERING.

Human Consciousness

“What we are aware of, we are conscious of.”

This statement is a definition of ‘consciousness’ and it is a statement of what we are aware of. There are other forms of consciousnesses such as sub-conscious, unconscious and recently termed super-conscious. All of these forms of consciousnesses describe our state of awareness. 

On the page titled ‘Mineral Kingdom’ I talked about the ‘Level of Consciousness’ of the 4 different Kingdoms. The Human Kingdom’s Level of Consciousness is rated at 90% aware of this Physical World and 10% aware of the Spirit World. It is this 90-10 split in our consciousness that this post is about, and why the 10% is so important and can drastically change our physical life.

90%:

This physical world is the realm of duality and opposites. In order for this realm to exist everything must be separate in order for its expression to exist. When our AWARENESS is singularly focused here in the physical we feel and sense this separation. This separation leads us to feel vulnerable, lonely, and inadequate to everything else. These are the foundations to our FEARS. We strive to find LOVE, comradeship and belonging in order to relieve our FEARS. When we do not find these, we SUFFER. Many of us will look towards RELIGION to find some form of belonging. Even the RELIGIONS see this physical life and our spiritual life (after-life) as separate existences. We are alone and vulnerable and we look to our culture and religion to give us something to belong to and for a level of safety. Often in our desire to belong we deny our distinctiveness. We see this denial with the common denouncing of our EGO and desire to be popular and to ‘fit-in’. The old-science reinforced our sense of separation and our exposure to the dangers of LIFE – disease, accidents, violence and even our genetics makes our Life beyond our control.  We often see LIFE as dangerous and that we are a victim of LIFE – “Why me?!” is often heard when faced with some challenge. 

We define our physical world with our 5 physical senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. These 5 senses are how we define REALITY and if we cannot measure something with these senses we often deny their existence.

10%

The Spirit world is the realm of ONENESS. In the Spirit world there is no separation as everything is part of the ONENESS. This concept of ONENESS is foreign for our physical rational mind to conceive. 

Our rational mind is faced with a strong contradiction. When we materialize into this Physical realm we are coming from a realm of ONENESS to this realm of SEPARATION and it is foreign to us, however, now that we are here the realm of ONENESS is foreign. We are never happy with where we are, when we are in the Spirit realm we want to go to the Physical realm and when we are in the Physical realm we want to go to the Spirit realm. We have not learned how to unite these two realms.

We are not as removed from the Spirit realm as we believe we are. Like our 5 Physical Senses we also have Non-Physical Senses that connects us to the Spirit realm. Our Non-Physical Senses – energy-sensing, intuition, compassion, empathy and imagination all connect us to each other and our environment. These 5 Non-Physical Senses are just as important to our BEING as our 5 Physical Senses. However, we do not give them the same level of AWARENESS as we do our 5 Physical Senses. We need to be more aware and to fully understand these 5 Non-physical Senses. 

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