We are what we are

We all have different levels of awareness and it can be very subjective. When people talk of awareness of the self and consciousness, what exactly do they mean? If awareness is a very subjective thing, then that would mean something different to each and every one of us, wouldn’t it?

Being self-aware or self conscious is not the same as being aware of self and conscious of self. Again, that would be subjective depending on what each of these mean to you.

Awareness is part of the life force within that created the individual self. It is that force that bridges our understanding of the physical world in which we find ourselves and the unseen world that we are all connected to.

Every thing that is life, that is, everything which is animated with the force of life, has conciousness. That part of us that can see, hear, touch and respond to the sensory experience of the world, an awareness of our surroundings. We can either be immersed in thought or we can be mindful of those thoughts and feelings, we can dismiss them or engage with them, should we choose. Many of us will be able to distinguish between random and intentional thoughts. We create through thought. We create within the mind. What is there before thought? Where does that seed of imagination come from? What is it that connects the sensory ‘self and the imaginative ‘self’ ?

Awareness of this linking force of life lets us know we are more than just a body where the mind resides. We are more than the thoughts that flood our minds, we are more than the emotions that cascade through our bodies and we are more than all we sense within the world out there. But what?

Perhaps this all starts with the question “Who am I?”. Being aware of things at the levels of sensing, feeling and thinking is but a step to a deeper awareness. “I am that breathing entity that reads these words, forms thoughts and feelings about these words that I am sensing, externally to me.” Everything works together to create the entire experience of each and every moment. Thoughts come and go depending on perception, intention, belief and experience, all of which cumulate to form judgements about each experience we encounter.

If we challenge that which we think we know we can gain new understandings of how we perceive the world and our relationship to it. We start to see patterns to the thoughts that flood our minds and the feelings that cascade through our bodies. Patterns that appear to be separate from that entity of our true self. These are the beliefs we have formed about everything we have ever experienced or been ‘taught’. Not many would question the ‘fact’ that one plus one is equal to two, nor would we question the demonstration that proves this to be true. In reality though we believe this to be so because we have been taught this or indirectly learned this. Even the demonstration that proves it to be true was taught to us by some one who was also taught this and is only a belief and not direct knowledge, as such. What happens when we question everything we believe? What changed those deeply held beliefs we once had but no longer hold onto?

Beliefs come from those around us, family, peers, society and help create a perception of how the world out there works. Our interpretation of the world.

These beliefs also create thoughts about who we are and how we relate to others. These beliefs are all contained within the mind and like the sum of one plus one, we often take these thoughts as the reality that is. We very seldom question these beliefs. The mask of ego adorns these beliefs in error and then continues to fight for acceptance of who it thinks it ought to be. The mind, in effect, tricks us into thinking it is us and we are the mask of ego. Ego leads us to believe that we are something separate from life, that we are living a life and so creates that conflict within that serves the individual concept of Ego.

So why does Ego exist, for what purpose do we have it? The Ego is important for creating a perception of individuality and personality but, The problem arises when thoughts of me and mine create a belief in isolation and duality, the conflict within the human condition. It’s this conflict that separates us from all other living things. It’s this belief that leads to the perception that all things that are alive are, living a life and not life, living an experience.

Life is the organised energy field of our essential being. It doesn’t need a label or a definition of it’s self. It knows that it is that which is. All living things are created from or an extension of that energy field called life. Life is that hidden existence of consciousness and our connection to all living things, seen and unseen. Life, the guiding force of our experiences, sustains the physical self and brings us experiences that are expressed within the physical planes of existence. This is how awareness of consciousness grows. This is how we become more aware of the self.

As we become more aware of the various levels of perception, we get a better understanding of how life, the mind and the body work in unison with each other and that there is no separation at all.

The Ego and the mind perceive themselves a being separate entities from all other things, this is the isolation and duality that appears to exist. The mind within ‘I’ of the Ego can’t relate to anyone or anything as being part of itself. As our minds accept the perception of the Ego we see labeling and identification of other things as the only way to experience the world. We identify everything as different from us and we build a picture of the world from this ego centric view. This is a natural process as life enters the world of form and matter. Without the perception of Ego we couldn’t make sense of the physical world, we wouldn’t have the perspective to understand ourselves.

All living things, physical or otherwise, are interconnected, created and supported by that source of universal energy called life. It is this energy force that forms our lives, it is life-sustaining life.

Here is a thought, when we become more aware of the space between our thoughts and feelings we become more aware of the life force that we are. To kill the Ego would remove our understanding of the unique perspective that adds to the whole experience of life.