Consciousness and Being Conscious
WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?
Consciousness is that quality of ourselves that identifies possibilities. The more conscious we are the more possibilities we can sense and the more choices we have. If we have too many choices to choose from then consciousness is also what we use to pare down the possibilities so that it is easier to choose from among them.
Being conscious we can sense limits and we can create them. We can sense possibilities and we can create them. Sensing limits we can move within them. The more conscious we are the better we can sense the limits within which we have to move and so the more freedom we have to move within those limits.
Creating limits is both a way of breaking things that are complex into parts that are easy to understand as well as a way of limiting choices so we can choose from among them.
Breaking down complex things into simple things we can work on the simple things one at a time or we can understand the simple things one at a time. We then can understand the complex thing as the sum of the parts that make it up. The more conscious we are the greater our ability to simplify, comprehend and understand. The better we are at simplifying, comprehending and understanding, the more conscious we are and the easier it is to do things, solve problems, get things done and enjoy life.
Modes of Operation
Another aspect of being conscious is that it makes "experiences" a part of our selves. This means we can learn from our experience and grow from them.
One of the ways that consciousness makes experiences a part of our selves is that it experiences them in two ways. First by doing the experience and second by looking back in time at the experience.
To allow this Consciousness has two main modes of operation, it can expand into time or it can expand into space. In time mode we can be thinking, analyzing, trying to under-stand. In the spatial mode we can be using our senses and responding to what we sense.
By doing and then thinking or looking back at what we have done we can learn from the experience and grow from it. We can then move on to other experiences. Eventually we may reach a stage where thinking and doing are simultaneous. Instead of having to move our awareness between time and space we move beyond them both to the realm that contains them both.
Super Consciousness
There is a a mode of consciousness beyond that of thinking and doing. Instead of dividing the two aspects they become as one. Another way of looking at this is that instead of dividing our experience of life between time and space we move beyond them both. We can enter into this mode of "Super Consciousness, or Perfect Consciousness" by being fully focused on doing or by being fully focused on thinking.
In one case we expand our consciousness fully into space so that we leave the realm of time. As a result we may see a little way into the future because we are seeing what is happening now. Fully present we notice what is happening around us and so we can see what is going to happen next. We can then act on that information in such a way that we are simultaneous with what is around us. Because we know what is going to happen next we can respond to what is happening next just before it ha-pens. We can then "arrive in spaces" as they appear.
Doing the opposite and expanding fully into time, our consciousness pulls in from space. One of the ways we might be able to do this is by focusing on our body and then slowly pulling our awareness inwards until we are focused on a point inside of our selves. By making this point smaller and smaller we pull in from outer space and enter inner space. We can also refer to inner space as "Imaginary Space" or i-space.
Another way of entering the state of super consciousness is by doing something with rhythm.
One notion that my be important to understand is that consciousness is limited. The more we expand it in time the less we can expand it in space and vice versa. So, if we are doing the best thing that we can do is use our senses so that we become present in what we are doing. If we are thinking then we pull our awareness from out of space. If we are doing, the more we focus on doing the more likely we are to see the best way to do what we are doing or the fastest way or the only way. If we are thinking, the less distracted we are the more likely we are to see the answer to the problems we are thinking about. Moving beyond time and space, into the realm of super consciousness, we can enter a state of being called flow. When we flow we are one with all that is around us. Instead of reacting or even responding we act as one with what is around us. We become driven by the same source of change. And because we are a part of the flow we can direct ourselves within it. Thus we effect what is around us just as what is around us affects our selves.
The Dance of Shiva is a way of practicing being conscious so that we can enter the state of Super Consciousness more easily. Spirals, Transquarters and Changes and Formulae for Freedom offer two complementary approaches to this exercise.
Ultimate Simplicity and Efficiency offers ways of practicing consciousness in anything that we do.
