“CONSCIOUSNESS”

We perceive ourselves to be creatures made of up of body, mind, intellect and soul. When we think of the stars, planets and the universe in all its glory, I agree, we do fall a taaaad bit short of significance :0. On a serious note, are we just forsaken by products of matter that came to be through a dance of chemical components that lasted billions of years, give or take, and is our consciousness meant to diffuse into nothingness once the physical body perishes?  Let’s cut through the prelude and say naah… not really.

Before we dive any further, let’s understand what consciousness is. It is defined as a state of being aware and the ability to respond to one’s environment. We do not even think of what consciousness is because from the time we were born, we inherently started perceiving the environment around us corresponding with our level of mental growth. To give you a brief idea, consciousness is what makes you different from me. It’s the “me-ness” in all of us that is a product of our genes, experiences, education, belief etc.

We are not just breathing, feeling, thinking bags of flesh and bones, we are in fact personalities that have existed before this and will continue to exist after this (bit too much?… hang on). What I mean is that this corporeal part of us will in fact perish in time but our consciousness will not and no, it will not be merrily floating about as a ghost paranormally prying into the living’s business in the afterlife! 😀

CONSCIOUSNESS creates FORMS and not vice versa. We imagine consciousness to be a product of our physical brain that comes into the picture after our birth. But that isn’t the case. Consciousness created the physical body we now adorn and all the forms we have taken prior to this existence and the ones we’ll take after!  Yes, what I am, in fact, suggesting is that we have lived countless other existences before this and we will continue to do so until we have achieved our spiritual goals. And now a fun fact: The knowledge of these existences is within us even if we are consciously not aware of it!

Below is a fantastic video from Dr. Gary Schwartz, professor of psychology, medicine, neurology, psychiatry and surgery at the University of Arizona discussing whether consciousness is the product of the brain or a receiver of it? Now this is just a brief overview of an intensive study, carried out by various scientists also which was extensively peer reviewed, as going through the entire material is almost impossible.

Now getting back to the discussion, there is a portion of our consciousness that is far more superior (the inner ego) than the ordinary self (yup! the infamous outer ego), the self that we have come to routinely associate with. The sub-consciousness is stationed somewhere between the egos. Our consciousness is not imprisoned in our skull and in fact it is highly specialized and unbelievably creative. Its true potential or awesomeness 😀 is not realized because we are caught, like a bug in a web, by our limited concepts and incessant focus on the physical dimension. Would you consider the idea that sometimes we are far more creative and wiser when we are dreaming than when we are awake!?

Each one of us is a creator. We create our own physical reality and together (as highly evolved creatures… what, with our opposable thumbs and everything :D) we create both the glories and downfalls that are classified as earthly experiences. Until we realize this and accept it we cannot use our creativity in a constructive manner.

We identify ourselves with the part that goes to work, parties, cooks etc. because this is the part that our outer ego associates with. But the part of us that we do not acknowledge is very much active and only upon its smooth functioning, our entire physical existence relies. Our physical senses successfully bind us to the three dimensional world but there are other infinite equally valid dimensions that are within our purview and that which we do not consciously perceive. However, before you feel disappointed, know that we do sail those waters in our sleep when we dream 🙂 and thus the previous statement about how we are wiser and creative in the dream state. Also, the inner ego is continually in touch with these other dimensions with or without our knowledge, and under its subjective influence, we create our objective reality.

The inner and outer egos aren’t the only portions of you. There is a deeper more profound portion that forms both the inner and outer egos and the one that decided that you would be a physical personality in this time. This portion is the core of your identity so to say and you are only a fragment of it. This core represents the whole self/ the Soul. Now, there’s no real distinction between the various layers of your psychic structure. They sort of merge or can be likened to that of the layers of an onion, each developing in different directions but springing from the same core. Imagine the core to be split into various portions, some residing in physical dimensions and others in non- physical dimensions. Yet, all these portions are aware of each other and exchange information even if not done consciously.

To conclude, we are multidimensional beings and our personality is but one fragment of the overall identity. We only need realize this as the first step to finding answers to the questions related to our existence and purpose.