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Thread: What is consciousness

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    What is consciousness

    Over the years many a topic surfaced hinting at certain parts of consciousness.
    Lower and higher consciousness. Certain bits or flavours of consciousness. The question if and how we can become aware of consciousness etc.

    I thought it might be helpful to have a thread solely purposed for exploring all questions, idea's, conclusions and figments of imagination about consciousness.
    The reason of which of course to gain insight on what it is that we call consciousness. Its nature, it's quirks, it's applicability to states of being, it's tendencies and it's drawback's if there are any.

    Again i'm in my buddhist frame of mind, so anything coming through undoubtedly goes through that filter.
    Anyhow a book I found that started this specific exploration is the comprehensive manual of abhidhamma by bhikkhu bodhi. available as a free download here.
    http://store.pariyatti.org/Comprehen...ok_p_4362.html

    For starters I'll state that consciousness is everything we can become aware of.
    Reason i'm stating it as this is that I hold the notion that certain aspects of consciousness are not easy to see without some form of training in observance.

    With Love
    Eelco
    Have a great day today

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    Quote Originally posted by Eelco View Post

    For starters I'll state that consciousness is everything we can become aware of.
    Reason i'm stating it as this is that I hold the notion that certain aspects of consciousness are not easy to see without some form of training in observance.
    Awesome quote and thanks for synchronicity as I have only just today found a pocket of time to revisit my personal studies of Consciousness. I am currently exploring the anatomy of our lenses, i.e. eye-brain, heart-brain, etc and the connections I have personally developed to detect and interact within our individual sub-layers of "Consciousness". I find the following Lyricus Discourse 3 to be particularly helpful and was going to quote from it but then realized I would become swept up in "rambling on" so have decided just to paste it in as it is far more skillfully explanatory than I could manage
    Thanks for thread. I am looking forward to what will be shared.

    . . . .woops when I copied the discourse I realized it would be way too long for here so I have dropped in a small excerpt and created a separate thread "Lyricus D3-Nature of Knowledge" where the entire conversation can be read for those interested. It starts off talking about gaining knowledge of God and raises questions as to what we would do with power but uses this as a platform to launch into Consciousness and its multiple layers.

    Student: Okay, we’ve established that I’m a dreamer –

    Teacher: There’s nothing wrong with seeking the unknowable. I am not suggesting that you have wasted your time in the pursuit of a dream.

    Student: But it seems that I need to place more time in understanding this phantom core. What do you recommend I learn in this regard?

    Teacher: Learn all that you can about the human body, emotions, and mind. Make it the focus of your study for a period of time – perhaps a year or two, depending on the availability of your time.

    As you do this, take notes about the features of the human instrument that either seem connected or anomalous. For example, the brain is dominated by the data received from the eyes. Why do the eyes not dominate consciousness?

    As you produce your notes, organized around connections and anomalous phenomenon, begin to define the structure of the human instrument as one would if they were making a map of the interaction between the body, emotions, mind, and genetic mind. Remember that the phantom core is the shadow of the soul and operates seamlessly between the folds of the human instrument. It is the first perceiver and transmitter of the experience that consumes the human instrument of a specific individuality. It is the continuity of the undivided process within the material realms, while the soul is the continuity of the undivided process within the non-physical realms.

    Student: And what about the Wholeness Navigator?

    Teacher: It is the bridge of continuity between these two worlds. The Wholeness Navigator is the interlock between the worlds of time and the worlds of non-time. It is the fusion of the soul and the phantom core, integrating this vast experiential storehouse of data, and making it coherent as a force of transformation.

    Student: It will take me a long time to create this picture and understand the connections.

    Teacher: It will take you a lifetime, if you are fortunate. However, if you set forth upon the path of First Source without first understanding the fundamental structures within which your soul operates, you will pursue a mirage. God will appear and disappear, and doubt will shake you every time a new occurrence crosses your path. It will seem that all is impermanent, even the face of God.


    (http://www.lyricus.org)

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    Just read that discourse.. It seems there is an innate assumption about the existence of God in there, A source if you will.
    Although I "believe" gods exists. That is beings with seemingly supernatural and almost omnipotent powers. Until I am one they will remain a source of mystery to me.

    Which may bring us to the limitations of human consciousness. Is there a distinction between consciousness? is it broken or limited by any condition? being a human or being a god? Or does it transcend such limitations...

    A quote I read on another forum a few minutes ago.

    Awareness, perception and consciousness are synonyms although use of the words perception and awareness imply that there's something other than consciousness to perceive, if you see what I mean? Most people mistakenly believe that if perceptions (including the bodymind) disappear then consciousness disappears. Enlightenment is the experience that it doesn't.
    hmmm.
    With Love
    Eelco
    Have a great day today

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    I might as well start by paraphrasing from my version of the Abhidhamma, because if I have to wait to write anything here only if my understanding of them is complete it may take a few lifetimes still. Besides what fun would a discussion be if I already understood everything about it.

    So the Abhidhamma states it talks about the ultimate reality of things. That is the reality of things in themselves. So conceptual realities don't count. In my mind a concept of human, tree, animal etc is not ultimate reality as they are only exist as concepts. Built up from several co-dependend states that together we call human, tree or animal.

    The Abhidamma describes 4 such ultimate realities.
    There are:
    - Citta(Citta's) which translates to mind or consciousness and points at that which knows.(these get subdivided later into 89 or 121 types of consciousness)
    - Cetasikas which translates to mental factors. These mental factors arise together with consciousness. There are 52 of these. Feeling(pleasant, unpleasant and neutral), Perception, and 50 mental formations.
    - Rupa or matter. of which there are 28 types of material phenomena.
    These 3 are the so called conditioned realities, which means they exist only when certain conditions are met.
    - Nibanna the final reality which is unconditioned and therefore signify ultimate freedom (from suffering)

    Of those 4 Citta/Concsiousness is also 4-fold.
    - Sense sphere consciousness
    - Fine material sphere consciousness
    - Immaterial sphere consciousness
    - Supramundane consciousness

    Citta is also defined 3 different ways.
    - Citta as an agent, here citta is that which knows or cognizes an object.
    - Citta as an instrument, Here citta is that by means of which the 52 mental factors cognize an object.
    - Citta as an activity, where the process or act of cognizing an object is called citta.

    This last definition seems to be the most adequate. As it does away with the notion there could be a permanent self that is cognizing or conscious. It is in the process of cognizing that Citta arises and passes as agent, as instrument and as activity by itself.


    With Love
    Eelco
    Have a great day today

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    This came popping out of my head this morning. I was originally thinking about outer world dramas and distractions, as you can see, but it came around to consciousness, after all.

    All of it is distraction. Distraction from what, you might ask?
    Distraction from being the creators each of us are. Feed your energy to the beast, all but what you need to barely survive, then we'll let you live. What? That is what it has come down to. We give our energy to continue to fuel a reality that isn't even what we really want.

    Now that I fully recognize that and see it for what it is I have become somewhat liberated, at least from my previous state of being and understanding. No doubt, there will come along an even newer, more expanded understanding that will supersede this one, but for now I am going to explore where I am at.

    Various different converging points along the time line. This time is vitally linked with some other key related points along the spiral of time. First there was a point, a small dot. That dot expanded, creating an inner core, then an outer core. From that dot a line was formed. Movement emerged out of this core in a spiraling fashion, creating a donut shaped object that contained all possible movements within. This created space and time.

    We are the dot, we are the donut, we are the line. We are all of this, and yet we have individual awarenesses that emerged as consciousness in individual packages. These packages became souls that came to remember their passages along these almost infinite lines that became known as time emerging from the core. Thus true individuality was born.

    Just a train of thought I am probably not done with yet, but consciousness, and what it really is, is a favorite topic of mine, one I muse about considerably.
    Last edited by Spiritwind, 12th April 2015 at 16:29.

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    For starters I'll state that consciousness is everything we can become aware of.
    Reason i'm stating it as this is that I hold the notion that certain aspects of consciousness are not easy to see without some form of training in observance.


    I liked this definition and then I realized...hey...wait a minute....

    ....so I am aware that something which I call "I" is aware of things. But those things aren't what the "I" is. Then I really had to do a double take because the "I' is being observed by something else, and it's empty! It exists, but it only exists because it observes. When it doesn't observe, does it continue to exist?

    If all we are is a collection of observations, what happens if we are observing things which are in their nature false, does that mean we are false?

    What about the notion of false?

    What about the notion of notion?

    What about?

    ?

    Consciousness is the result of observation which is conducted by something which, at it's very nature, is ineffable.

    Welcome to the walk of the mystic.

    E if I haven't friended you yet, it's incoming.

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    Quote Originally posted by Milneman View Post

    If all we are is a collection of observations, what happens if we are observing things which are in their nature false, does that mean we are false?

    What about the notion of false?

    What about the notion of notion?

    What about?

    ?

    Consciousness is the result of observation which is conducted by something which, at it's very nature, is ineffable.

    Welcome to the walk of the mystic.

    E if I haven't friended you yet, it's incoming.
    I started thinking about your first question, then realized nothing is false. When we become conscious of it, it exists. Nothing inherently false about "it" only when we start building a story around it does anything become false. Remember so far I am talking about experiential reality not conceptual.

    When in meditation, what that means to me is that when i start observing something and i am making a distinction that it is truth or false I acknowledge/note that my mind is thinking. And I start observing again.
    Thoughts like these, or any thoughts for that matter arise just like views from a window on a journey by train.
    Same with the notion of notion.
    They are just a part of my immediate sensate reality. Therefore impermanent, unsatisfying and not self.
    Which btw does not give them a devaluation of any kind. But not an inflation into something bigger than it is either.


    In another sense the concept of false in my mind becomes relative to the desired results. I do use these concepts when i contemplate my immediate sensate reality in terms of causes and effects..

    anyway off to work.
    With Love
    Eelco
    Have a great day today

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    Consciousness

    There is much talk these days, as there has been for many decades, of an impending change of consciousness- in line with many ancient predictions; one that will take humanity into the much-heralded Golden Age, [also called the 5th Age, or Age of Enlightenment].

    So, what does this mean for you and me, the ordinary denizens of the 21st century?

    What future awaits our children, and our grandchildren, if the current political scene - based on war, separation, and fear - continues, or worsens? Can we have a hand in shaping a different future?

    The answer has to be a resounding yes, because if we, the collective, don't change the way the world is run, those presently in control will turn it into a trans-humanist dystopia, in line with their Agenda 21.

    So, what is consciousness, and how can it change?

    Consciousness is really a metaphysical concept, and can't be subjected to investigation or definition through currently-accepted scientific principles, in the way, for example, a mathematical algorithm can be scrutinised. Although, that said, mainstream scientists are involved in just such an investigation, as we speak. Presently however, there is no universally acceptable, scientifically-repeatable, and provable answer to the question: What is consciousness?

    In essence, it is energy, expressed and experienced in the physical form. The best semantic equivalent to consciousness that we can come up with here, is awareness.

    Consciousness is a graduated state of awareness of the experience of being. But it is more than that. It is the essence, and barometer, of life itself. Time, as we currently experience it, is actually an out-picturing of limited consciousness – a consciousness that is unable to de-code the energy of physical reality in anything other than a linear form.

    From a mathematical perspective, we can attempt to pin down the way in which energy and time relate to each other, via, for example, Einstein's formula. But that isn't the only way of describing energy, and consciousness similarly defies such left-brained analysis.

    The answer that we give to the question what is consciousness?, from our present five-sensory state of being, is very different from the answer that would come from other realms of being...... other states of consciousness. This is because perspective creates perception, which, in turn, creates experience. More clearly stated, the way in which we look at something determines what we see. Change the state of consciousness, and you change the perspective, which changes what is seen [de-coded], and what is therefore experienced.

    It was Dr John Lee who eloquently suggested that: “The apparent solidity of matter is a perception that devolves from the limitations of our sensory equipment”. In other words, physical reality only appears to be solid because that is how our five senses interpret the raw energy that surrounds us, and which gives us a platform for 'creating reality'.

    And, that perception of solidity includes the bodies which we think we are!

    We are actually no more solid than the electromagnetic network that constitutes the backbone of the internet; we are just vibrating at a lower - denser - frequency. Thus, our five senses determine [restrict] our level of awareness.... aka, our consciousness. Having only five senses with which to interact with the environment is a bit like putting a 1 megabyte wireless receiver [the senses] on a 500 gigabyte computer [the human brain] …..only, as we will see in a moment, there are also other problems.

    Those who have spent time researching this subject talk about states of consciousness...... lower states and higher states, and they relate these expressions to various numbers of active DNA strands…… 2, 12, or more.

    So, what is a lower state of consciousness, as compared to a higher state?

    A lower state of [human] consciousness is one which derives its perceived reality from a very narrow bandwidth of frequencies. A higher state of consciousness is one which derives its perceived reality from a wider band of frequencies.

    Currently, humans exist in a very narrow bandwidth of frequencies; trapped within the visible light spectrum, which is a tiny fraction of what is potentially available for interpretation.

    If we represent all energy as a pie chart, we would have dark energy / matter as 95%; ordinary non-luminous matter as 4.5%; ordinary luminous matter as 0.5%; and the electromagnetic spectrum as 0.005%.

    The electromagnetic spectrum ranges from gamma waves, through X rays, ultraviolet, infra red, microwaves and radio waves. Between ultraviolet and infra red, we have what we call the*visible light*range.... which is a fraction of the 0.005% that represents the electromagnetic spectrum's contribution to*all energy. Humans are more or less totally blind, deaf, and dumb!

    But, this is by design, and our present state of low awareness – one that manifests fear and separation-consciousness – serves as food to non-corporeal parasitic beings, [Archons], who have deliberately structured governments and corporate society to serve their purposes. However, this is another subject.

    A large part of our present state of awareness owes its provenance to altered DNA.

    The DNA acts as a transmitter / receiver [or antenna] that picks up various frequencies that are available in the ambient environment. The so-called junk DNA is actually no such thing. This part of the DNA is picking up frequencies from many different dimensions of reality, but our brains are unable to de-code this information, which further exacerbates the sensory limitation problem, as hinted at previously. As a result of this brain dysfunction, there is nothing to report from other-than-five-sensory data, and the internal screen remains blank. In other words, our CPU is not sufficiently well-advanced, at this stage, to enable this wider-range data de-coding process.

    In fact, it was Stewart Swerdlow who described DNA as: “The biological interface between physicality and hyperspace" - which may add credence to these notes.

    We are currently trapped in the mental mind, or left brain. This is the masculine, analytical aspect of our CPU, which needs to box and file all incoming information in sizes and shapes that make sense to our basic survival, reproductive, and distraction programmes. The right brain, or feminine, intuitive aspect of the CPU, is effectively offline, and only manages to integrate and process a small amount of incoming data.

    As these two aspects of our mind return to full function, [which, according to many in the New Age network, is what is now occurring], we will be able to utilise a great deal more of the information that is presently by-passing the system. This re-integration of the left and right hemispheres of our brain will lead to what metaphysicians have called higher or full consciousness.

    It has long since been understood within spiritual circles [possibly erroneously] that when we leave the physical form by the process we call death, the animating energy [spirit] of the body is freed from the confines of the five senses, and gains access to a much wider range of frequencies from which tocreate reality– as numerous OBE and NDE tales testify. However, authors such as John Lash, Cameron Day, and others, have suggested that these out-of-body and near-death experiences may be part of an elaborate, Archon-orchestrated illusion - an illusion which serves to push us back into physical reality, whence we came, via a revolving door of false light.

    This has been our experience to date, possibly covering thousands of years, prior to the onset of the alleged photonic ‘upgrade’ that we are now encountering. As these new energies are integrated, and the erstwhile so-called junk DNA is recognised, and used, for what it truly is, we will be able not only to transcend many of the conditioned programmes that presently govern our lives….. those of limitation, lack, pain, and fear……but also to actually migrate to another dimensions of reality altogether, in a totally transformed semi-physical form.

    Well, that is what the New Age has been telling us, anyway. Unfortunately, we are unable to clearly distinguish what is truth and what is fantasy in this model, as most of the information that has served to fill its pages has been gleaned from wholly-unreliable channelled material, or from otherwise-compromised sources, the latter whom may or may not be minions of secret government projects, or subjects of mind-control, spreading misinformation.
    Last edited by Anarp, 14th April 2015 at 15:21.

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    That's why I started a study of the abhidhamma.
    It seems old experiencers and meditators have found a way to define consciousness to very detailed levels.
    Focusing on what it is, how it arises, how we can influence it.

    I agree it's a lot less colorful when the descriptions is in terms of what we already can experience or with some effort can learn to experience, but so far as a personal subject of investigation within the realms of experience its rather satisfying in terms of defining consciousness and seeing its arising by itself..

    The promise made in for instance the vissudhimaggha (path to purification) is just that. It is possible to experience states of consciousness that transcend the 5 or 6 senses that still are bound to some of the defining parameters set for consciousness.

    I believe for now that we have the full version of our consciousness at our disposal it is just that we don't use it properly. Trapped if you will in what Buddhists call wrong view.

    Anyhoe just my tuppence

    With Love
    Eelco
    (who will get off of his preaching soapbox soon.. promise)
    Have a great day today

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    I am not going to be quoting anything of what you wrote because for most part, I agree with it, and your post is well-written. I would however, if I may, like to throw in my two Eurocents worth on a few things, just as an alternative perspective to the same thing, if you will. ;-)

    Although it's pretty much a matter of semantics, I prefer making a distinction between consciousness and awareness. Many people equate consciousness with "the soul", but that is not how I see it. Consciousness, to me, is simply life itself; it is the ability of a particular thing in existence to interact with another thing in existence, to exchange information with said other thing in existence. Ergo, for me, everything has at least some form of consciousness, albeit not necessarily as we ourselves experience our own consciousness.

    That said, consciousness has only one function, which is to collapse the wave function. Or, otherwise put, consciousness seeks to make sense out of what it observes -- it seeks to create order out of chaos, and thus, to reverse the entropy. This ties in with what Source is. Source is infinite information, some of which is paradoxical, because Source contains information both on all that is and on all that is not, with "is" and "is not" being collapses of the wave function. Within Source, the information is in a constant quantum superstate.

    Part of Source is information about consciousness -- information on how to make sense of the information. That is how come part of Source is self-aware, thereby creating the first dichotomy ever: Self and Other. If you wish to put that in quantum physics vernacular, then we speak of the Observer and the Observed. When translated to spirituality and philosophy, then it becomes Creator and Creation. Everything else stems from that dichotomy, because by the very existence of this particular dichotomy, the concept of dichotomy itself has become real, and as such, other polarities also spring forth from within this concept. It's all Yin and Yang, but they are not opposites; instead, they are complements -- the two sides of the coin, and one becomes meaningless without the other.

    So that, to me, is what consciousness is: it is that part which gives meaning to the existence of something, and this is not contradictory to what I said higher up, which is that consciousness is the ability for something to interact with something else and exchange information. After all, something that does not interact with anything at all, has no meaning and therefore, technically, does not exist. :-)

    Now, I define "awareness" as "the extent of consciousness", or perhaps differently put -- and you've alluded to this yourself in your post -- the degree to which we can focus on a particular set of information, and thus, make that wave function collapse. The broader the awareness, the broader the collapse of the wave function. As a practical example, the broader your awareness, the better your idea on what reality is like within your personal reality bubble -- and we all do have such a personal "mini-universe" around us. As such, the broader your awareness, the more of a creator you yourself will become. However, this is not a conscious process of creation, because one does not create what one wishes to create. Instead, one only creates in the sense that one generates a bigger degree of order -- or if you will, a smaller degree of entropy -- in one's own reality bubble. It's a function of consciousness, not of willpower -- the latter is a function of the mind, and the mind is the interface between the soul/spirit and pure consciousness. :-)

    (I hope that makes sense to someone. )

    Another aspect that I would like to address is a particular item which you've touched upon in your post, namely the "left brain"/"right brain" thing. The notion that the left brain half would be representative of "the masculine" and that the right brain half would be representative of "the feminine" is actually incorrect. In fact, men and women both have two fully functional brain hemispheres, but it is the way in which these two brain hemispheres work together which gives expression to masculinity or femininity. In a typical masculine configuration, the two brain hemispheres -- representing logic and intuition -- appear to be working in parallel, whereas in a feminine configuration, they appear to be working in series.

    This above is also not simply a matter of having a physical body. Rather, the physical body is itself (at least in part) a manifestation of the configuration of one's soul/spirit. There is of course a two-way interaction between the soul/spirit and the physical body -- which is an entity all of its own account, comprised of billions of individual cells which are also entities all of their own account, and those cells are made up of molecules and atoms, all of which are themselves also entities, and so on, down to the quark level. But the interaction is two-way, because the soul/spirit influences the make-up of the body (most notably when the body is developing as a foetus inside the womb) while the experiences of the body (or perhaps more appropriately put: the experiences of the merger between a soul and a body, i.e. an incarnation) also feed back and color the soul/spirit through its memories and energetic interactions. Your experiences gathered throughout your incarnate life will co-determine your soul/spirit identity, even after you leave these mortal realms. :-)

    (And I hope that this, too, makes sense to someone. )
    = DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR =

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    [QUOTE]
    Quote Originally posted by Aragorn View Post
    I am not going to be quoting anything of what you wrote because for most part, I agree with it, and your post is well-written. I would however, if I may, like to throw in my two Eurocents worth on a few things, just as an alternative perspective to the same thing, if you will. ;-)
    Hi Aragorn, and thanks for your considered opinion on this multi-faceted subject.

    Although it's pretty much a matter of semantics, I prefer making a distinction between consciousness and awareness. Many people equate consciousness with "the soul", but that is not how I see it. Consciousness, to me, is simply life itself; it is the ability of a particular thing in existence to interact with another thing in existence, to exchange information with said other thing in existence. Ergo, for me, everything has at least some form of consciousness, albeit not necessarily as we ourselves experience our own consciousness.
    You're introducing another aspect of consciousness here, namely communication.

    When I made an attempt to define consciousness as the "graduated state of awareness of the experience of being", I didn't specifically allude to communication as being inherent in this awareness. But we can have that conversation now!

    For example, we can say that "everything has consciousness", including a rock, but we would be hard-pushed to prove such a statement, unless we used some kind of arcane measuring device, such as Kirlian photography.

    Now, humans communicate via many means, but primarily through language. Some people may be more telepathic than others; some may use smell as a communication signal more than others; then we have sign language, music, drumming, lights, and several other forms of passing messages from one to another.

    Can rocks communicate? Probably, but not by any means that humans immediately recognise, and certainly not by spoken language. Perhaps rocks talk to each other via some kind of quantum geo-interconnectedness [currently under investigation], and if this investigation proves conclusive, we may well be able to include rocks in a more holistic compendium of things that are conscious.... but at the bottom end of the graduated scale that I previously referred to.


    That said, consciousness has only one function, which is to collapse the wave function. Or, otherwise put, consciousness seeks to make sense out of what it observes -- it seeks to create order out of chaos, and thus, to reverse the entropy. This ties in with what Source is. Source is infinite information, some of which is paradoxical, because Source contains information both on all that is and on all that is not, with "is" and "is not" being collapses of the wave function. Within Source, the information is in a constant quantum superstate.
    I would suggest that it is not so much consciousness, per se, that is responsible for collapsing the wave function..... that activity is more the function of the CPU, our brain. For sure, we need consciousness to animate the CPU, but the message that is received after de-coding what is seen / heard / sensed / [ie collapsing the waveform] happens within the cerebral cortex. It is the perspective that is obtained from this de-coding activity that defines our level of consciousness.

    And that is where our problems arise..... the inherent limitations of the CPU, as it currently exists, severely colour our perspectives, and thus, our perceptions.

    I'll reply to the rest in another post.

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    That's a very good post you have written there, Anarp. Although the only part I would disagree with is the "false light"-meme, I think that itself is a trap.

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    Part of Source is information about consciousness -- information on how to make sense of the information. That is how come part of Source is self-aware, thereby creating the first dichotomy ever: Self and Other. If you wish to put that in quantum physics vernacular, then we speak of the Observer and the Observed. When translated to spirituality and philosophy, then it becomes Creator and Creation. Everything else stems from that dichotomy, because by the very existence of this particular dichotomy, the concept of dichotomy itself has become real, and as such, other polarities also spring forth from within this concept. It's all Yin and Yang, but they are*not opposites; instead, they are*complements*-- the two sides of the coin, and one becomes meaningless without the other.
    I'm not really sure where you are going with this.

    So that, to me, is what consciousness is: it is that part which gives meaning to the existence of something, and this is not contradictory to what I said higher up, which is that consciousness is the ability for something to interact with something else and exchange information. After all, something that does not interact with anything at all, has no meaning and therefore, technically, does not exist. :-)
    I would be interested to read a list of things that you consider unable to interact with anything.

    Now, I define "awareness" as "the extent of consciousness", or perhaps differently put -- and you've alluded to this yourself in your post -- the degree to which we can focus on a particular set of information, and thus, make that wave function collapse. The broader the awareness, the broader the collapse of the wave function. As a practical example, the broader your awareness, the better your idea on what reality is like within your personal reality bubble -- and we*all*do have such a personal "mini-universe" around us. As such, the broader your awareness, the more of a creator you yourself will become.
    Well, respectfully, I don't believe that such a notion can be applied across the board. We have to define the method and nature of creation that we are referring to. For example, there are many people of genius-level minds who are clueless, [or physically-unable], when it comes to creation using physical methods. Stephen Hawking comes immediately to mind.

    Hawking has a brilliant mind, and he is supremely creative, but not in a physical way.



    However, this is not a conscious process of creation, because one does not create what one wishes to create. Instead, one only creates in the sense that one generates a bigger degree of order -- or if you will, a smaller degree of entropy -- in one's own reality bubble. It's a function of consciousness, not of willpower -- the latter is a function of the mind, and the mind is the interface between the soul/spirit and pure consciousness. :-)
    I refer to my previous comment about consciousness being the animating force behind the tools [the physical senses and the CPU] that are responsible for the creative process, whatever form such a creative process would take in the physical world.

    Another aspect that I would like to address is a particular item which you've touched upon in your post, namely the "left brain"/"right brain" thing. The notion that the left brain half would be representative of "the masculine" and that the right brain half would be representative of "the feminine" is actually incorrect.
    I understand what you are saying. I was using these terms [male and female aspects of the brain] more in a colloquial vernacular than in a scientific sense.

    In fact, men and women both have two fully functional brain hemispheres, but it is the way in which these two brain hemispheres work together which gives expression to masculinity or femininity. In a typical masculine configuration, the two brain hemispheres -- representing logic and intuition -- appear to be working*in parallel, whereas in a feminine configuration, they appear to be working*in series.
    *

    I believe this is similar to what I was suggesting.... namely, that men tend towards a more analytical approach to engaging with life, whereas women tend towards a more intuitive approach. Of course, there are degrees of such activity in both camps. However, the main problem for both males and females is the lack of full connectivity of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

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    Great thread, Anarp!

    Quote Originally posted by Anarp
    What future awaits our children, and our grandchildren, if the current political scene - based on war, separation, and fear - continues, or worsens? Can we have a hand in shaping a different future?

    The answer has to be a resounding yes, because if we, the collective, don't change the way the world is run, those presently in control will turn it into a trans-humanist dystopia, in line with their Agenda 21.
    Yippee, eh? You couldn't have said it any clearer than that.

    Quote Originally posted by Anarp
    Consciousness is a graduated state of awareness of the experience of being. But it is more than that. It is the essence, and barometer, of life itself. Time, as we currently experience it, is actually an out-picturing of limited consciousness – a consciousness that is unable to de-code the energy of physical reality in anything other than a linear form.



    Quote Originally posted by Anarp
    It has long since been understood within spiritual circles [possibly erroneously] that when we leave the physical form by the process we call death, the animating energy [spirit] of the body is freed from the confines of the five senses, and gains access to a much wider range of frequencies from which tocreate reality– as numerous OBE and NDE tales testify. However, authors such as John Lash, Cameron Day, and others, have suggested that these out-of-body and near-death experiences may be part of an elaborate, Archon-orchestrated illusion - an illusion which serves to push us back into physical reality, whence we came, via a revolving door of false light.
    I love entertaining this hypothesis.


    Quote Originally posted by Wind View Post
    That's a very good post you have written there, Anarp. Although the only part I would disagree with is the "false light"-meme, I think that itself is a trap.
    What if 'true light' or whatever you would call it, is also a 'meme' and, as such, is also a trap? What if there's nothing 'on the other side' except us with our creative imaginations? What if there is no 'other side'?


    Quote Originally posted by Anarp
    Can rocks communicate? Probably, but not by any means that humans immediately recognise, and certainly not by spoken language. Perhaps rocks talk to each other via some kind of quantum geo-interconnectedness [currently under investigation], and if this investigation proves conclusive, we may well be able to include rocks in a more holistic compendium of things that are conscious.... but at the bottom end of the graduated scale that I previously referred to.
    Talking rocks... I can 'dig' it.

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    So many new good threads starting, thank you.

    What is consciousness? Consciousness is the symptom of a living being, a soul. Consciousness cannot be manufactured, it is eternal, it cannot be separated from the soul. The soul is conscious and through consciousness free will is expressed.

    All living entities have consciousness, trees, animals, crystals, humans, blue avians but that consciousness, or spiritual energy is covered by more or less material energy which will limit, to a greater or lesser degree the souls capacity for expressing consciousness.

    A tree has relatively less capacity to express consciousness than a human, due to the limitations of the tree body, and a human has his/her limitations due to the human body, compared with the blue avians. But the soul within those different bodies is not different in quality or quantity.

    You can observe yourself when you use your mind to think, you can observe your thoughts, the observer is the conscious soul.

    The process of ascension or enlightenment we are going through is the purification and rising of vibration of the layers of material dust that is covering our soul our consciousness and it is driven by the souls desire. Ultimately the soul is perfect and complete and we are on our journey to discover that.

    That is my two paisa.

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