In this post I would like to introduce and reveal to you the name of your true nature, Consciousness. Get to know yourself!
"The human condition is no small picnic".
- Jason Silva-
If you have read my previous posts with attention and practiced some of the techniques I proposed, you might have discovered "something" that has been totally unnoticed so far: a mysterious witness that knows or is aware of every experience happening in your life. There is nothing of which is not aware of: external objects, other humans, other living organisms, your inner and most intimate feelings, emotions, thoughts, memories. Literally everything is “known” by it.
Spiritual teachers or non-dual books refer to this ever present witness as Consciousness but it can be named in many other different ways. For instance, in my previous post (Before The Big Bang) I referred to it as Nothingness because it leaves less opportunity to mind to make it an object to be found. It does not really matter how you call it but whatever it is, it is your true nature, the only "thing" actually present right now. Consciousness is the infinite land of water that you are (see my post Like Water), that which seems to take the shape of infinite forms that only appear to have an independent objective existence. Consciousness has forgotten to be unlimited and you, as a human, are playing the role of Consciousness being forgetful. Your aim as a human manifestation is to awake to your true nature, to remember who you are and to act according to your true potential.
About Consciousness we could say many things and at the same time nothing at all. Indeed, no words or language can really describe what Consciousness is. A critical point that was unclear to me for a while at the experiential level is that Consciousness can only be Itself. Consciousness cannot be experienced or perceived as an object because it is the subject of all experiences. It is what you and everything else is.
Consciousness, in its pure form, cannot know anything about itself but simply be. And here it comes the magic! The trick by which Consciousness manages to know and explore itself is by taking a specific limited perspective and pretending to be someone with an independent existence that goes around to explore an external world. That is what you are doing as a human not being aware of your true nature. You think to be someone separate from the rest that is exploring and travelling the world. Nope. It is you, Consciousness exploring yourself. So in a sense you are not really going anywhere because there is just you. It only seems to be that way from your human perspective.
As a first step in increasing your understanding of reality you need to look within you and nowhere else to find this Consciousness that is aware of everything else. You need to practice Neti-Neti (see my post Neti-Neti: Who Am I?) to discard any single element in your perception that can be held as an object. What it will be left is Consciousness, whatever that is. Even though this is just half of the story, I believe that this step defines a real and tangible change on how you will experience reality: not anymore as a human being experiencing the world but as Consciousness experiencing the world and the human that you think you are. With this step your identification with being a human collapses. The human goes from being a subject of perception to be an object that is perceived.
Believing and experiencing life only from the human being perspective is too much to bear and it does not have to be that way. Forgetting who you are, you are putting on the shoulder of the human manifestation too much expectation and responsibility and this amazing being has not been created for this reason. The human being (body and mind) should be seen as the vehicle and the tool to create something that is in line with you, Consciousness. Only Consciousness truly knows what this human being is meant to be. Only Consciousness can guide you as a human being in achieving something that will make your life much more fulfilled and joyful. This sixth sense that is present in each of us, this inner guidance that whispers to us when we make decisions is Consciousness, you, that is trying to guide yourself towards something great. However, for most of us Consciousness is unheard, mind takes over and problems are ready to appear along the horizon.
Mind is not meant to lead, mind is meant to execute. Mind is the tool that makes possible manifesting whatever Consciousness desire to create using the body as a vehicle.
In my previous post "Before The Big Bang" I said that unlike religions, faith does not find much space in this work. It would be nonsense to rely on faith to discover what you are already, no? But once this point is clear, once there are no doubts about your true nature, trust and faith play a fundamental role in your life as a human being trying to manifest whatever you are meant to be. It has to become crystal clear that mind does not know what it needs to do and what it is best for you. Once again, mind is not the source of inspiration, it "simply" represents the powerful tool that turns Consciousness's will into something manifested. Mind, if unleashed, will pursuit only selfish goals based on fear and survival. Mind will simply guide you to what seems to be best in the short run because it is fucking scared about decisions based on intuition, decisions that are not based on logic and rationality.
I want to stress that when I say mind, I mean what you currently hold as you. When I say mind, I mean what you think to be right now. At the moment for most of you mind is so glued together with Consciousness that it became your nature. Consciousness has no space to be spotted, it is suffocating. When I say mind is whatever characters you are unconsciously playing right now, it is the identity you are wearing like a dress without even realizing it. It might be the moral you, the rational you, the intelligent you, the victim, the smart one, the bad ass, the scientist, the spiritual you, the catholic you, the atheist one, the liberal you, the conservative you. It can be literally anything.
Get naked! You need to undress completely and find the real you. Only then you can get dressed as you want. Only then you will realize that you and the dress are one thing.
To let go or to surrender is a common invitation among the spiritual teachings and I personally see it as an invitation to stop allowing mind to take over Consciousness. It means to trust the process and follow your inner voice that will guide you towards your goal. Expect mind to sneak in and discourage you in doing so. Be certain that mind will come up with all sort of reasons to stop listening to these dangerous information. Be sure that mind will only be up to accomplish its own selfishness, no matter what.
You might have wondered why I chose a chess picture for this post. I do not know why but while writing this post it came to my mind the metaphor of Consciousness being a king and mind being the diligent servant, the pawn that operates for the wellness of the most following the king's instructions. What is happening nowadays at the individual and collective level is that the servant forgets its role and it gets greedy and selfish trying to operate independently according to its own desires and self agenda. The pawn believes to be a special piece in the chessboard and it paints itself with a special color to differentiate itself from others. It thinks to have more power and more intelligence than the king that behind the scene, form its height, can have a better view of what is happening in the game. The pawn's arrogance is not going to bring any good neither for itself nor for the entire society because the servant does not have the infinite intelligence and skills to operate for the goodness of everyone. The pawn has a limited vision and in the long run its arrogance will just explode in its face.
The same scenario occurs when we live life allowing mind being the king. Mind cannot be aware of what is good in the big picture, it is just preoccupied to achieve and to protect what is best for itself. This attitude can be seen everyday in how people, in name of whatever they believe, chase money, power, fame, success using violence, manipulation and other unconscious techniques. It is fundamental that Consciousness reveal itself and sheds light into the darkness of mind. This shift in perspective, from being a human being accomplishing material stuff to being Consciousness accomplishing Itself, makes life much more easy, exciting, and magical because it removes a lot of suffering and obstacles that we unconsciously create in believing to be mind.
Discovering to be Consciousness or that everything is literally Nothingness, will not put an immediate end to your unconscious habits: some of them will disappear straight way but others will keep running. Most of our habits are so rooted in our behaviors that it will require an active volition to remove them. These behaviors have a lifetime momentum that will require years before getting rid of them. This work can be speed up by being conscious of what you truly are.
Once again I do not want you to hold Consciousness as something to find objectively somewhere out there. This is the position of mind that constantly needs to find and label stuffs to feel secure. Your job is to pierce this enormous layer of clouds represented by mind and finally see the blue infinite sky behind which anything else unfolds. You need to find the canvas behind the colorful paint, you need to find the water creating the waves.
Can you do that?
Thanks for reading!