What is consciousness?
“We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.”
A lovely student who completed my online Learn to Meditate course recently asked the question, "what do you think 'consciousness' is in terms of the practice you've been teaching?".
What an excellent question! It excites me to be asked questions like this, as it is beautiful inquiry which allows me space to reflect and answer with my own knowledge, but foremost my own experience.
'Consciousness', and 'conscious' this and that, have become common terms we often see thrown around.
Firstly, consciousness means the same thing as awareness. And what I teach my students is how to transcend the thought level of the mind, twice a day, in order to experience their very own 'awareness in being'.
When we reach this state every day, twice a day, it becomes more apparent in our life with our eyes open. And much like muscles in our physical body, the more our mind is exposed to this environment, the more it grows. Yet unlike a muscle, it will continue to grow infinitely.
Each individual experiences consciousness differently. It can be either narrow and bounded, limitless and unbounded and anywhere in between. Depending on how much each individual spends in the transcendent state of consciousness, will determine how they respond and relate in every day life.
You see, our transcendent state of consciousness is yet another state of consciousness just as is our dream state (when we dream during physical rest), our waking state (this is you right now), as well as our sleeping state of consciousness (physical sleep).
Now imagine if you deprived one of those states over a long term? You've probably heard the phrase around sleep deprivation being the cruelest form of torture. This phrase then paints the picture for the fact that for most human beings, our transcendent state of consciousness has been deprived for far too long.
So, this is what consciousness means in relation to the practice that I teach. It is giving ourselves permission to dive into this 4th state of consciousness (4th after, sleeping, dreaming and waking), in order to feel enlivened and ready to meet the demands of our 'eyes open state' with pure present moment awareness.
We are after all "one consciousness, experiencing itself subjectively", therefore it is our self-responsibility to do so.
Written with love, and a smile,
Natasha x