Curiosity and Consciousness

Jul 6

I worked for a Hospice organization for 5 years providing massage to those near the end of their lives who were in pain.

It was an eye-opening experience because it was the first time in my life I had gotten so close to death...which was the experience I was seeking...in order to learn more than I knew. The number one thing I learned was that one of the deeper instincts a human being has, even if it has been repressed for decades, is to seek, find and express love, and that is why evil will never win.

The world not now nor ever will end in disaster, but disaster can be used by truth-consciousness as a tool of development and ushering in a new era, a new consciousness. That is what is taking place today in 2020, but who can see beyond the disaster and see the essence of a greater unfolding? I would like to remind you that because you’re part of this great unfolding, that your being here at this time on the earth is not a mistake, not an accident, not a misfortune, or a disaster. Of course, it can feel that way, I understand, but little things, very little things, are disastrous to the Mind. The pandemic is certainly a global experience, and every single human being has been affected. And these two poles, the pandemic vs. no pandemic, serve the purpose of stating that there is the horizontal, but there is also the vertical.

Said differently, there is heaven, and there is earth. Somehow, you have to make adjustments to your perception of yourself and the world in which you live in order to decrease the distance between the two, instead of jumping around from one to another, instead of going to church and then going home and arguing with your loved one. Somehow, even the tiniest level of consciousness you develop here must somehow connect with that greater consciousness, increasing the chance that one day, in one lifetime, that two worlds will merge. That should easily not just imply to you but allow you to see some steps in the process are missing.

Now, I hope that you don’t find the next comment offensive in any way, and I want to be sensitive, but it’s ain’t the pandemic, stupid. Whatever scientific reasons are discovered for the origin of and release of the COVID-19, those reasons will not contain the purpose of the pandemic. If you are inclined to believe that there is no purpose to the pandemic, then you render this global event meaningless, and in doing so, in the process, you create a meaningless life. But if you find these comments to be true, then the same would apply to the “pandemics” of your personal life, the struggle or struggles that you face on a daily basis that has formed the essence of your knot....there is a purpose to your struggles and setbacks and negativity. The pandemic is a mirror example of your personal life...You’ve heard it a million times...My life was fine until...enter the pandemic.

Sri Aurobind, and I invite you to listen carefully, says:

“In Matter, shall be lit the spirit’s glow, In body and body kindled the sacred birth; Night shall awake to the anthem of the stars, The days become a happy pilgrim march, Our will a force of the Eternal’s power, And thought the rays of a spiritual sun. A few shall see what none yet understands; God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep; For man shall not know the coming till its hourAnd belief shall be not till the work is done.”

So, the process continues to unfold, your life continues to unfold with little understanding of the why and the purpose. And that’s OK because that’s the process.

Nothing is wrong. Everything is perfect just the way it is.

I invite you to know, to understand, to become a student of your life and work. Consciousness picks up where everything else leaves off, and that includes therapy, philosophy, psychology, and all schools of thought. Consciousness is not a school of thought but a condition of being. The Mind divides, the soul unites. Your Mind spends all its time seeking, the soul spends all its time enjoying the finding. The deeper you go into consciousness, the fewer words you have to describe your experience. The heaviness of daily life evolves into the lightness of eternity, and words are no longer accurate or appropriate. But, to be clear, those words have been left for the great masters who have walked the earth to guide the rest of us. Those words are available to you if you so choose. The way is known, and if that’s true, then why is the world infested with ignorance and greed and corruption that is flaunted today in the US as if it’s a cleaver skill or, even worse, a virtue?

I have an idea I want to share with you. I want you to imagine that you’re not here but there. And don’t make this complicated...you know what I’m talking about.

You’re not here on earth in a human body; you’ve passed away and moved on to the next journey, and maybe you stopped there for a while to ponder and reflect and rest. And while you’re sitting there in utter perfection, nothing but an all-pervading love and safety and eternal being, you ask yourself, “I wonder what if...I wonder...what would happen if I...I wonder...what would happen if I chose...” and your curiosity is heightened by an infinity of possibilities, none any more or less desirable or attractive than the other. To be loved, to be abandoned, to live rich, to live in poverty, all the while knowing that both serve the goal of awakening, of becoming, knowing that the way up and the way down are one and the same, knowing that there that are no external conditions that define who you are.

In this realm, the infinite possibilities are play toys of the soul to enact the process of evolution...but there’s a hitch. The hitch is you can follow your curiosity to whatever ends you choose, but you have to agree to forget that you chose it; you have to agree not to remember being who you really are. Now, because you already know who you are in metaphysical truth-consciousness, the idea of forgetting who you are in the world of physical ignorance is not that big of a deal, and oh, the possibilities.

God, I wonder what it would feel like to skydive and find that the parachute doesn’t open?
I wonder what it would be like to become richer and richer but the richer I got, the more unhappy I became?
I wonder what it would be like to be able to heal others? I can’t help but imagine that consciousness has a curiosity and that curiosity is the spark behind your decision to take birth, to come into a physical being because you’re certainly not obligated to be here. You’re not being punished. You’re here out of choice, and you know that. So, what did you choose and how’s that going?

Do you think this would be a good time to remember that you chose this, that you drew this life to you as a tool of your unfolding? And if you don’t like it, would you like to stop and create something else, except this time, consciously, deliberately, and instead of needing to learn from pain and suffering, would you like to use your curiosity to figure out how to be happy, fulfilled, just hanging around, falling in love with the daily grind, hardly able to sleep from the excitement of being you, the real you?

Curiosity drives the soul to manifest in a physical body because what could be more delicious? You know that you are an eternal being, threatenable, nothing but love. But now, you don’t just get to know it; you get to experience it. But the soul makes no judgments and creates no division. It experiences as much joy from good as it does evil and I know this sounds ludicrous! The soul embraces, the Mind rejects. If there is but one consciousness, then all things are of that consciousness, including everything the Mind rejects. That’s why it’s essential to honor and embrace every failure, every setback, every rejection. It is God disguised.

You are not limited in any way by anything outside of yourself, no matter what they do to you, and once again, if the one consciousness houses all forms and manifestations, then whatever it is you experience that is contrary to, opposite of, or even hostile to your being, could not be in any too much for you to handle for it is you! Whoa, that’s a tough one!

Life is not a contradiction nor a puzzle, nor a journey. It is a remembering of who and what you are, and that’s nothing short of not being able to find the words to describe.

Underneath the crust of your unreal self lies the real you. But how many times in your life has your curiosity gotten you in trouble? What if I...I wonder what would happen if I...If I...

The only difference between the curiosity of the Mind is one is conscious, and one is not. One is living out purpose, the other is living out confusion. One knows who it is; the other doesn’t. One lives out of truth; one lives in the abyss. One ends up in the emergency room; one doesn’t. And this is the draw; this is the excitement of the role of curiosity. Although fulfilled in the perfection of eternal life, the soul wonders and ponders and becomes curious.

Being Curious, being mischievous, being unpredictable, never knowing exactly what’s going to happen, it is the play of the soul in physical form. But, once the path of curiosity is played out, you will find yourself gravitating no longer to the play of the real vs. unreal but to the truth of who you are.

MariaAlfassa Richard, known as the Mother, said in 1972, “Before dying, falsehood rises in full swing. Still, people understand only the lesson of Catastrophe. Will it have to come before they open their eyes to the truth? I ask an effort from all so that it has not to be. It is only the truth that can save us; truth in words, truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between serving the truth or being destroyed.”

Her words seem as relevant today as nearly 50 years ago. Truth in words, truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. The soul has the luxury, knowing precisely who it is, of waiting patiently to be remembered, is accepting of all matters, but I would suggest to you that you do not have this luxury.

In matters of eternity, the soul sees the joy of becoming even in suffering and ignorance. But in matters of time, suffering and ignorance are painful and deadly. And yet, the constant yearning to become will cause the individual to take chances, to be curious. It’s part of the dichotomy of living.

Without taking chances, without being curious, you take the risk of remaining the same, remaining static and inert. So, there is a positive side to curiosity. But curiosity should easily be associated with wandering around. This today, that tomorrow. Jack of all trades, master of known. And there’s nothing wrong with that. As I said that is part of the process of becoming, but I would invite you to a more disciplined path.

Robert Wilkinson, speaking to the poet Yeats, said in 2004,

“Like all seers, Yeats understood the dynamics of chaos and could easily see the signs of a civilizational collapse brought about by the inherent contradictions within the mental consciousness. He was aware that Mind has only a limited range of effectiveness. When it reaches its vibrational ceiling, so to speak, we begin to see a breakdown that manifests in three stages: Polarization, Contradiction, and finally, Paralysis. When we see these symptoms appearing in the world through events such as mounting political and social polarization, systemic economic collapse, violent religious fundamentalism, and escalating tensions between races and classes, it is clear that certain dangerous limits are being reached. Moreover, the growing passions of these oppositional camps and the almost equal division of their numbers testify that the process is quickly approaching a critical mass. These chaotic events are indisputable signs of an approaching mental apocalypse. Mind is being dislodged from its ruling position of many thousands of years, and from all indications, these are its' last days, perhaps its last hours. And without a radical change in the sphere of human consciousness the global catastrophe toward which we are rapidly moving will be unavoidable.”

So, choosing a path, what I refer to as pursuing the yoga of your life and remaining curious, are contradictions of one another, and yet, we must acknowledge the ever-seeking goal of fulfillment and self-realization through curiosity. But that path, the path of struggle, is mitigated through a greater consciousness and understanding of the truth, and this is not centered on the dynamic of curiosity. And as I have said before, the definition of consciousness is the discovery of truth in physical matter. And that includes the truth of who you are in a physical body in a physical world.

When I was young and captivated by French literature, I took on the characteristic of the central figures in the works I was reading. If the protagonist drank white wine, so did I. As soon as I completed the book and discovered that the next protagonist in the next book I read drank red wine, so did I. When I began to travel to France when I was young, I would take on a bohemian lifestyle if only for a few months. I did a lot of wandering and pursued my curiosity with a deeply held belief that sooner or later, I would find “it.” What is “it?” You know. It’s the same it as your “it,” just different but it’s still the same “it.”

And when you think you’ve found “it” in the material world, outside of yourself, you will know disappointment and pain, for the“it” you seek lies inside of you and nowhere else. This doesn’t encourage a rejection of the physical world but a celebration of not only the physical world but a celebration of your life in a physical body.

The new consciousness that is being born is not a rapture and exit but a new seeing that establishes the earth as a chosen planet of the divine becoming realized in the physical, and that’s where you come into the picture. It’s happening through individual transformation.