From the Unconscious to the Conscious
It’s pretty easy to acknowledge that the world in which we live is not a world birthed from consciousness but unconsciousness.
This isn’t a problem when you understand that unconsciousness is a part of the evolutionary process, as the spirit moves its way slowly through the crusts of ignorance, a singular term that serves as an umbrella for all forms of human unconsciousness.
There are too many of those forms to list. It’s also pretty easy to acknowledge that we have little knowledge of the rationale of the cosmos to create the opposite of itself in the form of ignorance and all forms of human unconsciousness. Because the mind is so deeply rooted in material and mental reductionism, it’s hard to convince the mind about a concept that states that the process of evolution, particularly your own unique, individual evolutionary process, is the divine seeking to realize itself in physical form. But that’s exactly what I’m trying to do and to say.
Because truth is never expressed in the negative, what other purpose could there be? I’m certainly not the first to suggest this. The infinitesimal number of problems on the planet sure doesn’t support this idea. In addition, there doesn’t seem to be any particular purpose or meaning to this magnificent play other than surviving, seeking pleasure over pain, comfort over suffering, life over death.
The variations are so immense that a deeper meaning and purpose to the game of life are completely hidden from view. If the things I speak about are true, then you would have no choice but to accept the truth that the creator of the variations lies hidden in the variations themselves...and that includes evil. If one examines that thought itself, that the Divine, God, the Absolute is hidden in the physical form, it could be rightly argued that apparently the Divine, God, the Absolute, must not have known what he or she was doing, and if he or she did, he or she could have done a much better job of creating the forms in which to hide.
But that is because you do not know the purpose or meaning as to why it would do that. If the purpose was explained to you, you would shrug your shoulders and say to yourself, “Oh, of course, now, I see.” Knowing the meaning and purpose would exempt you from having to understand the physical form itself. No matter what the physical form did or said, you would understand why it’s doing what it’s doing.
If you understood the meaning and purpose, you would no longer base your understanding and as a result, your behavior, on what you physically saw through your sense of sight.
You would base your understanding and as a result, your behavior, on what you saw through your sense of knowledge and wisdom. You’ve done this many times in your life.
When a child misbehaved, you saw through the misbehavior and saw the child for the child really was, not through the eyes of judgment but through the eyes of love. Now, while they are not exactly the same thing, in the example I provided, it does prove that you have acted before not through reaction and sensory response but through a greater “seeing,” a greater realization.
What you see with your eyes is only the appearance. The unconsciousness, the ignorance, is only an appearance.
However, it can nonetheless be a pretty painful experience everyone on the planet has experienced. If the idea, the hypothesis that the Divine, the vast consciousness, the creator of the physical world has created a multitude of forms with the purpose of realizing itself in physical form, to cause the spiritual to find its way in physical form and to transform the physical form into the form of the creator that created it, then whatever it was that happened, whatever event you experienced, it would make perfect sense...even if it was heartbreaking. In fact, you would begin to operate not out of your senses but out of your being. Nothing would be void of meaning and purpose. You would acknowledge God, the Divine, the Supreme, the Absolute, all around you...even when the transition of death was occurring.
In the meantime, you face the tremendous obstacles of the unconsciousness of the physical mind and body. In the past, the mind and body have warred against one another, have created division and pain in their dealings with the world.
Under these conditions, the mind would become an instrument of that new knowledge and as such, would begin to teach the old body new tricks. It would see stress as the signal to relax, to let go, to know that everything that was happening was happening for a reason, that what was happening was fulfilling a specific purpose, and probably a purpose that while unknown to you, could be accepted because you know that nothing is void of meaning and purpose.
I can’t stress enough to you that the mind cannot not respond. It cannot not remember and consequently, try as you might, struggle as you might, you end up working with the same old information, creating the same old outcomes. It is realization, knowledge, that causes the mind to change. Because knowledge and consciousness are functions of being, not doing, you realize that to fix the world, to fix others, you have to fix you and the only way to do it is through an acquisition of new knowledge and wisdom.
Once the mind forms the addictions to mental, physical, and emotional patterns, it uses its machinery to fulfill those addictions. What it fears, whether it is real or not, it attacks. What it loves, whether it is real or not, it seeks to own. So, there’s a vicious cycle, what we refer to as the closed tape loop that cannot be penetrated by using the same resources that created it in the first place. Thus, thinking is not a byproduct of truth but is a by-product of illusion, of make-believe but not knowing it is an illusion. You see where I’m going with this. Suffice it to say that you’ve got your work cut out for you.
The habitual day in and day out of mind, body, and emotions produces the closed tape loop and there, we remain, hoping and praying that the next day works out and the creek doesn’t rise. And while any individual probably possesses multiple “loops,” those “loops” don’t even really require any stimuli to be activated...they are so habitual and routine.
With this in mind, it’s so important to understand that all mental states reproduce themselves. That’s positive and negative. But I take it even further in saying that I make the assumption that if an individual behaves a certain way in public, I can bet that they behave that way in private times 100. The intensity is greater behind closed doors.
Now, within those loops, there are the fence posts, the parameters, the boundaries of that thinking. There are choices, actions, decisions, ideas, concepts, understandings, and thoughts that are simply beyond the scope of that framework that can be considered. If you don’t believe it, you won’t see it even when it’s standing right in front of you. And yet, no matter how much I keep going on with this and talking about behavior and the mind, you are not going to be able to make any progress. It’s just stuff and stuff moving around. Really, I want to say that again...it’s just stuff and stuff moving around. But, it’s your stuff.
So much of your evolutionary progress is dependent upon your willingness to simply being willing to open up to a different idea of reality, to be willing to say...maybe, there’s another way, maybe there’s a better way. Just maybe. If not, you are regulated to the rim of the wheel, one day up and one day down. The forces of Nature, of the evolutionary process, are intended to drive you to the center of the wheel and those forces will continue to act upon you until you do, which as you have observed, can take a very long time. Suffering is inherent in that kind of learning. This switching of gears can take time as you slowly begin to adjust to a different movement, a different rhythm, of listening to a different voice inside of you but this is where your progress will begin. You see, you don’t have to know the answers. You have only to want to know the answers.
Let me say that again: You don’t have to know the answers. You have only to want to know the answers.
But should you remain cemented in your refusal to look beyond the prison in which you live, then the outcomes are usually swift and predictable. And that’s certainly OK because there is no judgment...but there are consequences...and that’s natural law in the physical world. Cause and effect.
For each one of us, how you present yourself to the world through your personality, how you live, how you relate, your life is going to depend on that particular box in which you live, a box that is determined by the level of consciousness that is governing that box but the point I want to makes is that that level of consciousness is not static nor is it unchangeable.
The incomprehensibility of a purpose that for most people is nothing more than:
surviving and accumulating material goods,
the sheer meaninglessness of a life that is based upon nothing more than trying to figure out how to survive and how to avoid pain and suffering and be comfortable while doing it,
the inability to avoid that pain and suffering in a world where evil, strife, and destruction exist,
the idea that a secret will, a hidden purpose, a divinity, an omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent consciousness exists which is invisible to us is hard to accept.
If there is a law of unity (meaning) that is associated with the world of duality (meaninglessness), in other words, if there was purpose behind the apparent lack of purpose, then it would be a necessity that the purpose was hidden within the meaninglessness, within the pain and suffering, concealed from view and that the evolutionary process was the process of the individual finally reaching a point in his or her development in which he or she could become aware of that meaning and purpose.
And for each individual, the process is going to unfold differently and that truth is going to be viewed differently...as it should be. A reality of pain and suffering, of negation, of meaninglessness, pretending to be real cannot be reality, it cannot be the expression and purpose of existence. Therefore, the unconsciousness, the meaninglessness, the pain and suffering, these dynamics would be the very tools by which the consciousness grew aware of itself.
And now our difficulties and struggles, our pain and confusion, now, they have meaning and purpose. The physical is the spiritual in disguise! The infinite, the vast, the omnipotent, has found a home in the finite, the limited, the powerless. And if that was true...and it is...then everything has meaning and purpose.
Birthed by unconsciousness, your life is now awakened by consciousness.
If, and this is so important, if this was not true, that God was not within, then your life does not matter...but everything tells you it does...and now, a deeper reality, a deeper truth about who you are becomes possible, becomes not only conceivable but realizable. This journey, the realization of the consciousness that lies hidden in the unconsciousness, becomes the foundation upon which your mind can begin to suggest to your body and your emotions, that something else is available, attainable. It can begin to train your body to serve a new agenda, a new path, a new beginning. Your mind can teach your body to override and exceed previous limitations that were attached to and adhering to a previously learned pattern and concept that was based on falsehood and pain. Your mind can teach your emotions to create joy in the middle of everyday life, to move from the repression of the past to the expression of the future.
Most importantly, from this new realization, you can teach your mind to move beyond its addictions and fantasies to its physical and emotional needs, to its desire nature, and teach the mind not only to rise above them but to master them. Up to this point, your thinking, the truth of who you are has not been determined by you but has been determined by your unconscious mind, your past, your experiences, by others. And now, at last, the movement of truth can begin.
At this point, the HPA axis...hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenals, the body can come under the command of a mind that is not only adhering to a greater truth of itself but is translating that truth to the body. Your existence that is now founded upon this journey will create a framework where there is no room any longer for despair, depression, or regret.
This is the necessity.
This is the mandate, that you become an awakened, conscious human being and you can’t do anything about that.
What I am saying is that the unfolding of this truth, that at first is simply an awareness of a truth consciousness, a reality that is greater than the one you are practicing, that then evolves into your everyday existence is the only thing that is going on.
You can deny, pretend, project, placate, spend lifetime after lifetime in the drama of life, but eventually, in one lifetime, you will wake up and emerge from the prison of unconsciousness.
Because you have to wake up!
Because that’s the only game in town.
If you want to traffic in right vs. wrong, right versus left, drama, psychological distress, feeling discouraged, enraged, confused, powerless, that’s your choice but you don’t have to. There’s another game to play and that game is how conscious can you become in a singular lifetime. Now, remember, it’s unique to the individual. An inch of progress in one person’s lifetime is equal to a mile of progress in another person’s lifetime. But I insist that you know not only what that inch is but where that inch is. Inside of you, you know what needs to be done. You do. Because it is who you are...the knower beyond time, the doer beyond fate, the being beyond death.
And yet, you have your daily life to attend to, the chores that make up your daily life, and that, what that daily life is, is the daily life you have chosen. It seems as though the mind has been responsible for creating the universe in which you live but the mind is hidden behind the creation that created it in the first place. The artistry of the beauty of the world, the joy of being alive, the experience of being able to observe the workings of that universe, the wonder of the ongoing play of opposites that drive you absolutely insane...all of this, each moment, is a dynamic of the creative consciousness, the source of the universe itself.
And you are part of it!
In fact, you are it!
And it is this unfolding evolutionary experience that at a certain point of your development, of your unique process, that you will see this, witness this, become this. The outcome has already been achieved...how long it takes is totally up to you. Suffer as long as you want. Enrage as long as you want. Be confused as long as you want. Despair as long as you want. It’s OK because your awakening is part of destiny...how long it takes is up to you.
But remember that the truth that makes up that destination becomes a truth that the mind analyzes and reasons and hypothesizes and infers and for many individuals it is quite a daunting task to come to terms with a greater truth because of all of the many levels of mental content that have accumulated through the years.
Most individuals believe they are their minds and believe they are the content of their minds. Individuals are deeply invested in the content of their minds. Of course, you are not your mind but you have to take responsibility for your mind’s mental status and it is this condition of your mind that will be the greatest barrier to acquiring a greater truth of who you are and then, implementing that truth in your life. But then again, that’s true for everyone, so there’s no need to feel discouraged. It’s part of the process.
The origins of the unconsciousness of life, the ignorance and the stupidity, the mess of life, the origins are found in the consciousness of life, and the apparent and visible contradictions of one another create a duality that is difficult to breach through normal, mental operations, it being that the individual depends largely on his physical senses to determine what truth is by identifying what truth is not. I am this but I am not that. That person is this and apparently not that. This separative thinking creates significant problems for anyone but it doesn’t increase, only hinders, the individual’s ability to get beyond that limited thinking to a greater understanding of truth.
The purpose of the mind is not as the creator of the truth but an organizer of the truth, so, with this in mind, it’s easy to understand that the mind is not the creator of the transcendent realities that govern the universe but an observer of those transcendent realities. This is more often not accessed and understood not by your mind but by your intuition of the spiritual or for many, having had a direct experience with the Divine, establishing forever that there is an infinite and eternal transcendent reality, but it’s not mental. It’s beyond the mental. But the transcendent reality seeks to find its way into the physical reality and now you’re back to dealing with your greatest barrier which is your mind.
Knowledge or Truth in the invisible, absolute finds its way into the physical by creating the Knower (that’s you), the Knowledge itself, and that which is Known.
But then comes the mind that distorts the Knowledge, denies the Love, condemns the Joy as a process of self-discovery not only of itself in physical form as a human being, but as a process of awakening to that Truth that is the spiritual process itself.
That Truth, that Absolute, that Consciousness is not definable, that Truth that you seek that is simultaneously the Truth you are, is not definable for it is the source of all definitions in the physical experience. In other words, that Consciousness is the Is and the Is Not. It is the You and the Not You. Consciousness is the One that is the source of the Many...and that includes all of the people you don’t like, the ones your mind condemns, the ones who have hurt you. So, you can see that the unconsciousness, the ignorance, is a necessity for the time being in the unfolding of who you are. I say time being because there does come a point where you can choose to stop learning through pain and suffering and choose to start learning through love, joy, and the truth of who you are instead of who you are not.
The presence of the unconsciousness, the ignorance, the troubled mind, the everyday problems of life, these are the very validations of the spiritual experience, of the unfolding of the Truth, so it’s OK. It is the conscious ascent out of the negativity into a greater truth and a descent back into the everyday physical world that becomes a vital necessity for your growth and awakening. And if the ascent into a greater knowledge and truth is a spiritual necessity for you that is a predetermined aspect of humanity itself, and it is, then your movement at birth into the opposite of that, the unconsciousness, into the physical world of pain and self-oblivion, then that, too, was a spiritual necessity. Each of these unique barriers you face in your daily life in coming to terms with the meaning of your life, the explanation, and the purpose of all physical events, is the spiritual process that is in full display before your very eyes. This is the play of truth consciousness as it seeks the realization of itself in physical form...in other words, you.
Your pain and suffering are temporary conditions of your unconsciousness but they will change when you do, for nothing can exist that is not already allowed.
If you are willing to admit that the Divine, the Absolute, Truth Consciousness, God, is without definition and it is, then you may be willing to admit that you are, too. Beyond limitations, beyond the barriers created by your mind, body, and emotions, the indefinable and boundless you have taken birth in an imprisoned and the finite world plunged into a world of unconsciousness and ignorance...this is the spirit at work. Into the abyss you have willingly come, not just to know but to experience who you really are...slowly but inevitably emerging into who you really are.
So, don’t lose sight of the innate powers that lie inside of you and don’t lose sleep over the fact that the process can seem to take so long. It’s OK.
Patrizia Noreilli Bachelet said this about that process (the becoming process):
”For any of this [the Becoming] to make sense and to be compelling to an individual, there must be some intuition that one’s journey, and the journey of the collectivity, is a Super Consciousness in motion (through all forms and variations), progressing towards a victory or full expression of itself in the material world. There also must be some intuition that past, present and future are all part of the one body, one consciousness. If one detaches the present from the rest of the body of time (as is encouraged by many Buddhist flavored spiritual approaches), then one quickly loses the unified view of the one body and of the one consciousness.”
And that is a great starting point for anyone wishing to improve their life, to understand the dichotomy of everyday life and the ups and downs that comprise the journey.
Unify your perception to see that there are no victims and there are no villains and that is so difficult to do.
Pull away from the unconsciousness and the daily grind and just observe.
Just observe.
See the totality and the play of a greater Truth unfolding.
And when you do, you will see that you are not an individual but that you are part of that unfolding and yet, you must individualize in order to play your part, coming into the unconsciousness and the mess and not having a clue as to what you’re doing here.
Everything that unfolds in your life is an act of perfection and I know firsthand how difficult this can be to accept...but it is. You may not have anticipated the event but the event is never accidental, and neither are you.
Unconsciousness is the means by which you become conscious and when you do become conscious, you will understand and experience that a guru is not one who creates the answers but who discovers that the answers have always been there.
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