~ ღ ~ Living Awareness ~ ((( ॐ ))) ~ The Fountain of Youth ~ ღ ~

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~ ∞ ~
~ ॐ ~ Awaken to ~ ॐ ~
• Living Awareness •
~ ∞ ~

And now, we can delve deeper into Living Awareness itself. As we learned from the previous chapter, Living Awareness is a term that describes expanded and focused state of being, or simply “pure awareness”; it builds upon the idea of an Omnipresent Awareness – residing beyond consciousness, transcending space and time. Living Awareness creates Living Consciousness through which we perceive the world around us; consciousness arises when Living Awareness observes itself through its many emanations.

So it could very well be said that Living Awareness – Pure Alive Presence, is the very nature of Life itself; sometimes this presence is also called as God, Spirit, or simply just the Source of All Being – whatever name suits your fancy, for you see, it matters not what name we call it – in essence, at the deepest level, they all mean the same.

Living Awareness is the creative ground of intention and intuition, and at the same time, it is the source of the sparkle, joy and vitality that we enjoy when we are in touch with our own being; it is our bridge to the creative ground, in which all things abide and from which they spring. Living Awareness is shared with every particle within All Life, and thus Living Awareness is the Heart of Living Life.

This eternal, Infinite Awareness observes every part of the Creation by utilizing Living Consciousness as the means; consciousness arises when awareness observes the Creation or any part of its many emanations – so in this sense, Living Awareness is also aware of itself as the other (mirror). In order for the Infinite to know itself as something that is finite, it has to pretend to be separate from itself – this is the way in which the Living Awareness creates consciousness through which we perceive the world around us.

Living Awareness provides the key to the nature’s secrets and its natural, normative way of life that is inherently invisible, inaudible, and intangible. In nature, Life’s secrets and the containers are invariably intertwined and paired together – answers lie hidden beneath appearances, which means that the questions and answers, the problems and solutions, are separated only by imagination and abstraction.

And these are connected and linked together by awareness, and what keeps them seemingly separate is the level of awareness, you see? This is the clue to understanding all existence. Everything is disclosed only to those who can get rid of their personal biases, opinions, wishes or prejudices about life and existence, which goes on to say that one comes to grips with it by aligning with the core of all being – simply by being more aware of what is.

If one were to ask how does Living Awareness differ from awareness, they would get an answer along the lines of: not by much, other than that of emphasis being placed on the experiential aspect of it – to differentiate between mere idea and something truly alive. Living Awareness is all about experiencing our core essence, experiencing life directly, experiencing reality directly.

This type of experiencing is beyond all indirect methods we commonly depend on for knowing about our experience – such as thinking, sensing, reasoning, feeling, and believing. Just in the same way as intuition doesn’t need reasoning for it to work, so in the same way is the case with direct experiencing, you see?

Hence, it goes without saying that indirect experiencing is limiting in more ways than one. You see, our senses only give us indirect information, which means that we filter in the things that we are familiar with, and filter out the things that we have no prior knowledge or comprehension. And so it goes that the mind and the senses filter out the reality of pure presence – that of Living Awareness.

And this is where the difficulty comes in: there is more to experiencing direct connection to all Life than any language could ever describe – language can only convey an idea of what direct experiencing is like, and because language cannot ever describe the true essence of our existence and our experience of it, we are forced to use sounds, signs and symbols in an effort to re-connect with the Life-force that runs through everything.

Furthermore, even though language is a process of free creation – its laws and principles are fixed, and also the interpretation of words are infinitely varied. Therefore, one can only do their best in conveying even a minor portion of the essence of it, in conveying an explanation that is both understandable and easily approachable, yet precise and comprehensive enough to cover the essentials.

And so it goes that of all the words we have in our vocabulary, Living Awareness is best suited to describe our True Essence, which is just pure beingness, pure awareness – unchanging state free from all ideas, concepts, and definitions. In that sense, it can be said that Living Awareness differs from awareness in the way that it’s a state of being that includes everything and does not exclude anything; this kind of state can be seen as non-dual, which means that there’s no judgment of any kind because there’s no thinking process involved.

By virtue of the aforementioned, it can be said that embodying the present moment by being a fully conscious witness is the same as Living Awareness – it is a pure state of being in this direct experiencing, you see? When Living Awareness embodies our existence – we feel truly alive, in harmony with ourselves and with the world around us; we know who we are, and what we should do in any given moment; we are balanced and effective in ourselves, and hence others appreciate our coherence.

When we are open to Living Awareness, everything we experience is fresh and full with new possibilities. Living Awareness brings into balance the conflicting needs of the different parts of our life – feelings and emotions, mind and body, Soul and Spirit.

This type of pure presence aligns all parts of ourselves and takes us to a place where we discover with absolute certainty exactly what is appropriate for any given situation – with greater awareness we can make better choices, picking options that genuinely enrich our life. It is quite interesting that although this should be our normal state of life, our normal state of being, we mostly settle for less. Intriguing, isn’t it?

We all have within us the capability of becoming aware of this innate connection to all Life, but somehow, we as the collective humanity have learned to forget it. And yet, in spite of this, there seems to be some kind of innate driving force within every human being that seeks to remind us of this lost connection.

Some people have immersed themselves so deeply into forgetfulness that they have fallen to oblivion, like a ship lost at sea at night without the guiding light from a lighthouse, drifting farther and farther off course. This disconnection has caused the experience of separation, and further polarized the individual into a completely opposite direction from the Living Life. The separation itself causes the basic feeling of emptiness that drives us to seek fulfillment from the outside sources.

Spiritually oriented people are often searching for the connection to this pure Living Awareness outside of themselves, which happens in countless different forms like self-help books, podcasts, videos, websites, workshops, workouts, lectures, courses and retreats, but also with many different kinds of healing modalities.

In a similar way, also scientifically oriented individuals are searching for the answers from outside of themselves, through microscopes and particle accelerators; likewise, mathematicians are trying to solve the mystery of life with their ever-complicated formulas; theoretical and quantum physicists are doing this with their mind-based theories which are sometimes so obscure that even they themselves don’t seem to understand their own theories – mainly because these various theories have no basis on the actuality of reality, on how the multidimensional, simultaneous, eternal existence is actually working.

The only reason why people feel the need to return to Living Awareness through these various methods is because they think that they have left from somewhere as Spirit. In all actuality, there is no distance between Living Awareness and itself, nor time where something can occur; Living Awareness never becomes anything else than Living Awareness, it never leaves anywhere – Living Awareness just is. If the individuated self could comprehend this on a conscious level – that realization alone would set it free.

You see, knowing that you have never been anything else than pure Living Awareness – is true peace and happiness; the clear, deep inner knowing that I am whole, all experience is made out of myself, I need nothing but I am everything – is fulfillment in and of itself – see? This we can call an “Awakening,” which is something that takes place within each of us whenever we are ready to remember our eternal nature, whenever we are ready to take that first step in remembering who we are at the deepest level of our being, whenever we are ready to know our core essence as Spirit.

Awakening to Living Awareness is simply becoming aware; and being aware, each moment, of what we are doing as we are doing it, of what we are thinking as we are thinking it, and how we are feeling as we are feeling it, you see? Thus, the quality of our consciousness is elevated, the quality of our mind is elevated, and in turn, the quality of our thoughts, words, and actions is elevated. Mindfulness, meditation, concentration, and contemplation are the keys through which, and by which, one can make real progress – see? It is through these methods that one is able to discover their True Essence as Spirit.

This brings us to the conclusion: at this point in our evolvement as a species, with this level of collective consciousness and understanding, with this level of spiritual development – it is almost pure impossibility to understand the mystery of life from the view-point of the mind. This is because the human mind – as we know it today, is the limiting factor; the dualistic human mind with linear programming cannot understand something that is very much non-linear, beyond words, ideas, concepts, and definitions.

This goes on to say that philosophical pondering will only feed the mind with more pondering and thinking; religions will always create debate with their differing and opposing views; scientific methods will always provide an outside representation of what IS, and eventually what IS – can only be experienced subjectively in perfect symmetry, harmony, and balance of light/dark, female/male aspects of ourselves; and ultimately, what IS – can only be experienced subjectively in full harmony, here and now » within « from where we can transform polarity back into a Non-Dual state of Unity with all Life.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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Extra Material: Video: Live Fully Now - Alan Watts. Video description: "Live Fully Now: An inspirational and profound speech from the late philosopher Alan Watts."

~ ღ ~ Living Awareness ~ ((( ॐ ))) ~ The Heart of Living Life ~ ღ ~

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~ ॐ ~ Awaken to Living Awareness ~ ॐ ~

As a natural continuation of the previous chapter, where we talked about Self-Awareness, this and the following two chapters will deepen our understanding of awareness – more specifically, Living Awareness. This is because we have used the term Living Awareness here and there throughout this book, to differentiate between mere idea and something experiential, truly alive; and now it’s time to delve deeper into it.

Living Awareness is a term that I coined back in 2014 to refer the deeper levels of awareness, which I began to experience at that time. In a nutshell, Living Awareness means of a direct connection to Source of All Living Life – it is a state of pure awareness beyond the limitations of space, time, and form – the union of opposites, in which self and non-self are realized as one.

In other words, Living Awareness is a pure state of being that passes beyond the boundaries of our personal existence – a deep inner knowing, an instant realization, recognition and acknowledgment in every moment that the observer and the observed, subject and the object – are the very same thing – One Interconnected Whole.

Before we can delve deeper into Living Awareness itself, it would be beneficial to explain the basic idea behind awareness, so that we can expand upon it later; and by doing so, we can ease the process of understanding when it comes to Living Awareness. Undoubtedly, awareness is one of the greatest gifts that existence has given to human beings – we all experience it, even if we don’t have a true understanding of what it is or how it works.

With increasing awareness, one does find life to be more fulfilling – we will learn more about this in the following chapters. So what is awareness? Beyond definitions related to having consciousness, knowledge or understanding of something, awareness is the quality of being awake, with the recognition that there are different ways in which we may or may not be awake.

Awareness is the state or ability to feel, to perceive, to know, and to be conscious of our own existence – within and without. As such, awareness is closely linked to, and intimately connected with consciousness that makes us conscious of our body and mind, our environment and the world around us. This, in turn, makes us aware of our beingness as a living and breathing expression of life. The physical level of awareness is represented by the body and its sensations of the world.

Although our sensations are experienced through the body, this awareness is distinct from awareness of sensation within the body itself, which goes on to say that there is more to awareness than meets the eye – a spiritual dimension or component, if you will. The spiritual level of awareness goes much deeper than the ordinary everyday states of wakefulness – it can be said to be a direct connection to all that is – knowing reality, knowing existence, knowing one’s being, and ultimately, knowing God, you see?

Furthermore, all life has awareness in varying degrees, or more aptly, all Life is Awareness – Living Awareness that comes from Spirit. Our current level of awareness separates us from rocks, plants and animals; as human beings, in a human level, we have expanded our awareness to a certain level of self-awareness, which allows us to express sapience – the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight.

It is this very self-awareness that allows us to think, wonder, ponder, and contemplate topics concerning existence itself; it allows us to conceptualize deeper or larger questions about human existence, to pose and ponder questions about life, death, and ultimate realities. This expansion has not yet reached the level where we would be fully self-realized beings, although we are well on our way towards it.

More broadly speaking, there are two broad categories of awareness: internal awareness, which is all about gaining insight through introspection, meditation, concentration, contemplation, and self-inquiry; and external awareness – which, by contrast, requires one to gather insights from the world around them. As such, awareness is the state or quality of being aware of not only ourselves, but also our surroundings, others in the world, events, and objects.

Awareness, in and of itself, is not something that we have to attain or achieve – awareness is our core essence, and since we are awareness – there is no need to cultivate it; all we have to do is to become more aware of this awareness. This happens by giving up being aware of other things that blind us from seeing that we are awareness itself. In other words, unlearning and unbecoming everything we are not. By doing so, only pure awareness remains. You see, awareness doesn’t have to practice being awareness any more than the Sun has to practice illuminating itself.

That said, it is worth pointing out that there are definite levels of wakefulness, though. We can become more wakeful, more aware by simply being more of ourselves in the present moment. And so you see, by being more aware of what is – we can help ourselves to expand our level of consciousness to house more awareness, which goes on to say that the more we want to become aware – the more we become aware; the more we become aware – the more our consciousness expands. This, in turn, brings more wakefulness and more alertness – an experience of immediate connection to all Living Life.

This direct connection increases our overall energy frequency levels, and thus we can become even more aware of the pure Living Awareness within Living Life itself. This kind of awareness, or pure presence – has immense practical value. Expanded awareness takes us into a deeper relation with the underlying pattern of life, it takes us beyond the limitations of linear mental thinking – into a place of greater wisdom.

When we enter into a deep relation with our own awareness, we go to the heart of the universal pattern which connects all things – seen and unseen. We find ourselves part of a set of relationships, in which whatever happens is connected to everything else. This is how our perspective changes, and our inner understanding (Innerstanding) deepens.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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Extra Material: Video: Live Fully Now - Alan Watts. Video description: "Live Fully Now: An inspirational and profound speech from the late philosopher Alan Watts."

~ ღ ~ What Is Self-Awareness - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ღ ~

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Perhaps it is best to start the discussion about this topic with the following truth: one doesn’t have to look very far to see that we are merely semi-conscious beings – it is premature at best, and the height of hubris at worst, to assume otherwise. Let us clarify the previous, shall we? As ordinary human beings, we are not fully awake or fully conscious, even though many want to believe otherwise. Due to our semi-conscious state, our level of Self-Awareness is relatively low.

This is because our thoughts and behavior are conditioned by ignorance, confusion, misunderstanding, and lack of insight. According to cognitive neuroscience, we are conscious of only about 5 percent of our cognitive activity, which means that most of our decisions, actions, behavior, and also emotions depends on that 95 percent of the brain activity that goes beyond our conscious awareness.

Furthermore, we often think that our decisions are conscious, but the data from cognitive neuroscience says otherwise – our brain makes up its mind up to ten seconds before we realize it, which goes on to say that most of the time our experience of life is created by our subconscious mind. This can easily be compared to a situation where we are on a passenger’s seat instead of driving ourselves. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask the question: Are you driving your life, or is life driving you?

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*1 The subconscious mind is a composite of everything that the mind collects by using the senses of the human body. In other words, it is a collection of everything that we have experienced. The subconscious mind stores information that the conscious mind may not immediately process with full understanding, but it stores the information for later retrieval when ”recalled” by the conscious mind.

The subconscious mind consists also with different kinds of processes – such as thought processes, behavioral patterns, habits, and programs that occur automatically. Most often these processes are not available for introspection, but with a certain level of self-awareness, one can become aware of their existence, modify, and even remove some of the processes that are no longer needed.

There is a saying that our lives are the sum total of our choices, or more aptly, sum of our responses to the choices we have made. This brings about the question: If most people live their lives in ‘autopilot’ mode, based on the contents and programs that are stored within their subconscious minds – how many conscious choices have they really made throughout their lives?

To make a significant change to correct this situation, we would need to become conscious of the present moment, conscious of the world around us, conscious of reality, and most of all, conscious of ourselves to reclaim our own lives and to take control into our own hands, so to speak. This is possible with a certain level of Self-Awareness, which is attained by using different mindfulness practices.

And now we can move the conversation forward by answering the question of “What is Self-Awareness?” In a nutshell, Self-Awareness is the capacity for introspection – conscious knowledge of oneself; therefore, it is the ability to recognize oneself as an individual and separate from the environment and other individuals. Self-Awareness involves being aware of different aspects of the self, including traits, behaviors, feelings and emotions – it is the ability to see yourself clearly and objectively through reflection and introspection.

In other words, Self-Awareness is having a clear perception of one’s personality or individuality, including strengths and weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, triggers, motivators, and other characteristics. More broadly, Self-Awareness means of being aware of the things one should be aware of and paying more attention to that – this allows one to see where their thoughts and emotions are taking them.

When individuals are aware of themselves, they are more calm and responsive to what is happening. To be conscious of who we are, how we think, and what we do – is invaluable because it leads to Self-Knowledge, and in turn, to change that could eventually lead to Self-Mastery, to Self-Realization – realizing one’s deepest desires and capacities, fulfilling the possibilities of one’s potential, and to Self-Actualization – expressing one’s creativity, quest for spiritual enlightenment, pursuit of knowledge, and desire to give to society.

By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to Self-Knowledge – the desire to seek knowledge that guide the development of the self, it is worth highlighting the following: Self-Knowledge requires ongoing Self-Awareness and Self-Consciousness. Likewise, the pursuit of Self-Awareness requires dedication and effort, which are the first steps in mastering one’s life.

You see, it is only through one’s conscious effort, dedication and will, through which one strives towards higher evolution, towards inner transformation, by which inner peace, happiness, contentment and fulfillment is attained and maintained, meaning found, and purpose realized. Are these not the things many people in the world seeks after, alongside with health, happiness, and love? Are these not the reasons why one seeks to develop the self in the first place?

Self-Awareness is developed through practices in focusing one’s attention on the details of one’s personality and behavior, in focusing one’s attention on the present moment, you see? It is through mindful awareness of the present moment that we can become aware of thoughts, emotions, feelings, physical sensations, behaviors, and speech. The practice of mindfulness is therefore more important than ever before – it is the aliveness we bring to our everyday lives that makes all the difference.

Having a developed sense of Self-Awareness allows us to understand other people, how they perceive us, our attitude and our responses to them in the moment. Self-Awareness allows us to sense that we are separated from each other, resulting in the perception of individuated consciousness, which goes on to say that while consciousness is being aware of one’s environment, body, and lifestyle, Self-Awareness is the recognition of that awareness.

Therefore, Self-Awareness is the ability to recognize oneself as an individual and separate from the environment and other individuals. This brings us face to face with another aspect, far too rarely or infrequently discussed or written about with regard to Self-Awareness. We may be different on the surface, we may be different in terms of our upbringing, beliefs, personality, and so on, but underneath, at the very core, we are all the same – human, awareness, consciousness – see?

On a larger scale, this means that there’s no separation because we are made of the same primordial substance, we are made of the same substance as the universe – having one supreme energy with an Infinite number of manifestations of Life. So in this sense, having the ability to feel separated from each other and the rest of Creation gives us the illusion of having a sense of freedom.

This, in turn, enables us to perceive life in more variety – making it seem more interesting, if you will; this is because we have the power to choose due to our free will (or sense of it), which, in turn, allows us to explore reality in our own unique ways.

In closing, when we become truly conscious (Self-Aware), we immediately step into the present moment. And to that, some would say: to what extent we as individuals are aware, is the extent we are alive. You see, our Self-Awareness and consciousness are closely linked together. As such, our consciousness is connected with time, and very much into now (what is here and now in this very moment).

The more we become truly conscious – the more we can realize that what was in the past is actually upheld in the now. We all have memories that need healing, which goes on to say that they must be healed as they arise, you see? This is also the reason why it may be difficult for some people to live in the present moment (ability of being mindful).

To stay conscious in the present, the memories of the past experiences must be brought back into alignment with the Eternal Now. When we become aware of the past, present and future events (all are happening at once – simultaneously), we can consciously change our thought patterns, emotions, and also our actions toward what we actually would like to see and experience in our reality.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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~ ღ ~ Awakening From the Dream of Life 2/2 ~ ღ ~

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During several subsequent years, I began to observe my surroundings even closer than before, and what I found was shocking to say the least. Whenever I looked around, no matter where I looked, I saw people sleepwalking through their lives, with each passing day, fervently and relentlessly running in the “rat race,” denying themselves of what they really wanted on the inside.

What I mean by the idiom “rat race,” is that most people seem to be so deeply immersed in their busy daily lives, running against time and keeping pace with time and deadlines, tough competition, latest trends and what is popular that they have very little, if any, thought of the deeper aspects of life — or time and interest for that matter, you see?

As years went by, it became ever so clear to me that most people live through their lives in an unconscious state, which means that such people aren’t aware of their life as part of a bigger context within a larger whole; they repeat the same activities daily with little or no conscious control over them.

Now, having said that, it is paramount to emphasize that being conscious is not about being physically awake — many people are physically awake, yet living unconsciously; to live consciously means being aware of everything that may have an influence on one’s life. And, yes, whilst living unconsciously, these people are part and parcel of society, and they fulfill that purpose and function exceedingly well, if not too well — being part of a machine that grinds mercilessly day after day, week after week.

This, in turn, helps keeping people’s focus on the endless and pointless pursuit of material satisfactions, which inevitably always, ultimately, without fail, ends up with disappointment, thereby strengthening and deepening the vicious cycle.

The conclusion being: one doesn’t need to have a keen eye for detail to see that most people seem to live their daily lives with little thought of who they are, why they are here, or where they are going. One can easily get the impression that most people are, indeed, moving through their lives completely unconscious, without present moment awareness.

Isn’t it fascinating that all too many accept the work-eat-entertainment-sleep-and-repeat-cycle as life and have no desire for a deeper understanding of it? Isn’t it intriguing that hardly anyone is wondering what we are actually doing in this world? Isn’t it interesting that all too many have no desire for a deeper understanding of our purpose in this universe? Isn’t it intriguing that all too many accept the status-quo and settle for less?

Indeed, from cradle to grave, people are sleepwalking through their lives — as though this would be the default setting, as it were. Whether unable or unwilling to wake up, people are slumbering in an illusory dream, day after day, week after week. It’s like people in droves would go about their day in ‘autopilot’ mode, as though people would voluntarily prefer to live their lives in an unconscious state.

It is no wonder, then, that the cycle of repeated birth into mundane existence prevails. As we have learned earlier in the book, this chain of lives or “samsara” as it is called in Sanskrit, refers to the idea that human life is a repeated story, or a series of stories that are more or less related, intertwined and interconnected; the one we all have been caught up — a dream from which we are unable or unwilling to wake up.

This perpetual cycle of interconnected and interrelated chain of lives is caused by a lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, and most of all, ignorance that is caused by our desire for fulfillment outside of ourselves, grasping at fleeting experiences. Now, let me ask you this: Is it not true that we all want the same things in life: health, happiness, and love — very much in that order, and most of all, contentment and fulfillment?

Is it not also true that none of them are dependent upon external factors such as money or belongings? Yet, the peculiar thing is that most people seek these things from the world outside themselves through various means, methods, and activities. And so you see, when people are looking outside, they never have to look inside. And so it goes that yearning for fulfillment outside of ourselves only generates more desire, making the cycle of desire a continuous, perpetual self-sustaining loop.

As such, we continue to embody ourselves, or be reborn in this infinite and eternal universe as a result of these unfulfilled desires — the chain of births lets us resume the pursuit, until such time when we can become aware enough to awaken from this never-ending dream, and realize that we ourselves hold the key that can end this perpetual cycle, resulting in the cessation of suffering that arises from our ignorance of the true nature of reality, and which is caused by our desire and attachments — see?

Influenced by external stimuli, external circumstances, primal drives and desires, people don’t really understand how precious human life really is — far too many take it for granted — failing to see, recognize, and acknowledge the immeasurable value of human life. Whether people don’t have the time or interest, or they are just simply ignorant.

Either way, their attitude and actions are keeping the vicious cycle alive — keeping them distracted, keeping their minds focused on anything but the true nature of their existence — preventing them from seeing the true value of their lives. As a result, most people have never realized the True Self — our innate Spiritual Nature, the Living Essence beyond name and form, words, ideas and thinking.

All this leads us to conclude that, it is, indeed, possible to Awaken From the Dream of Life; it is, indeed, possible to realize our True Self, and it is, indeed, possible to become free of suffering. Awakening from the dream of life is simply becoming aware; and being aware, each moment, of what we are doing as we are doing it, of what we are thinking as we are thinking it, and how we are feeling as we are feeling it, you see?

Remaining aware each moment is Self-Mastery, which can eventually lead to Self-Realization and Self-Actualization. Thus, if we awake from the illusory aspect of life (dream — unconscious, unaware state), the quality of our consciousness is elevated; likewise, the quality of our mind is elevated, and in turn, the quality of our thoughts, words, and actions is elevated.

It is only by becoming more aware, more conscious, of ourselves and our surroundings, which will lead us to grow and evolve, realize our true potential, and fulfill the telos of human existence. This is something that can only be achieved through awareness, and hence it is important to highlight the following truth: all development and progress, growth and maturation — whether spiritual, mental, or physical, comes from within the individual.

This goes on to say that spiritual development is a process like any other — it arises from discipline and continuous self-improvement. Mindfulness, meditation, concentration, and contemplation are the keys through which, and by which, one can make real progress — see? It is through these methods that one is able to discover their true essence, which is just pure beingness, pure awareness — unchanging state free from all ideas, concepts, and definitions.

And so it goes that of all the words we have in our vocabulary, awareness is best suited to describe our core essence, for you see, whatsoever you can see, whatsoever you can understand, and whatsoever you can interpret — will not be of much use.

This is because the seer is not the seen, which goes on to say that whatsoever you can see — you are not that. This includes thoughts, feelings, dreams, desires, memories, imaginations, projections, and so on and so forth. What you are, though, is awareness; and awareness is transcendental to all that it can see — the observer is beyond the observed.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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~ ღ ~ Awakening From the Dream fo Life 1/2 ~ ღ ~

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Perhaps it is best to start this chapter with the following thought: so far in our journey through this book, we have encountered many different aspects of life in several of its sections, each exploring different facets of the same, with a variety of topics, ideas, concepts, perspectives and approaches. In so doing, we have learned something new from each section and chapter — the core of our focus remaining much the same: Awakening From the Dream of Life.

This chapter serves as a perfect bridge between everything discussed thus far, and everything awareness related, such as presence, self-awareness, and mindfulness, which are all essential for awakening, and are explored in more detail in the following few chapters. Awakening itself is something that takes place within each of us whenever we are ready to remember our eternal nature, whenever we are ready to take that first step in remembering who we are at the deepest level of our being, whenever we are ready to know our core essence as Spirit.

Now, let me ask you this: What if life is a dream, and when we die — we wake up? To stretch this even further, let us consider for a moment, that the individuated experience of life can be seen as a form of simulacra, in which the existence simulates the possibility of limitation, separation, and ultimately, its crescendo — that of death, where the individuated, finite expression of life is revealed to be part of a larger whole, to be part of the continuity that transcends all concepts and definitions.

And now, let me ask you this: What if, it is, indeed, possible to awaken from the dream of life, whilst being alive in material reality inhabiting physical body? When we investigate this idea, we find that on a deeper level, our shared “reality” seems to resemble, quite indeed, more of a collective dream than anything else. In this bigger dream, what we often call “life,” we ourselves are both the dreamer and the dream at the same time. This goes on to say that there is nothing outside of ourselves, even though it may appear to be so.

This is because everything within the dream comes from the dreamer’s mind, from the dreamer’s consciousness, and therefore the whole dream can be seen as a projection from our unconscious mind. In this respect, the whole dream world is simulated from the contents of the mind — originating from deeper levels of consciousness.

Now, if we are to suppose for a moment that life is, indeed — a dream, wouldn’t that mean, then, that eventually, the dream itself is dreaming the dream and creating reality? And if so, wouldn’t that mean, then, that reality is creating you as you dream? Now, if that is indeed the case, wouldn’t that mean, then, that essentially, we are dream characters in each other’s dreams? In that respect, this is my dream from my perspective, that is your dream from your perspective, and our dreams are entangled — isn’t that fascinating?

This brings us to conclude that life is a dream, and the dream is very much real and tangible. Every once in a while, it happens that we wake up to know that we are dreaming; every once in a while, it happens that we wake up to a higher spectrum of awareness where the dream is happening.

In this higher spectrum of awareness, it is possible to know how truly mysterious life really is. And so you see, while we are at it — we may as well dream lucidly, become awake and aware in a dream, and make the most out of it. But alas, unfortunately, most humans are dreamers who are not aware of the dream they are dreaming.

Naturally, taking all the aforementioned into consideration, it brings about the question: How is it possible to awaken from the dream of life? How is it possible to become more aware? Well, you see, there are three classical paths that lead towards being more aware, towards higher consciousness: meditation, concentration, and contemplation. Even though each path is different, they all lead to the same final goal or destination — absorption of Self into the Ultimate Reality; like a river flowing into the sea, the Soul returns to its Source, becoming one with the Ultimate Truth, you see?

There is another side of the coin, though: just like the water from the river flows to the ocean, evaporates from it, and falls as a rain to gather to streams and rivers again, likewise is the nature of human existence — cyclic, you see? Without being present, without awareness, without higher consciousness, one is destined to repeat the patterns again and again, unless, of course, one is able to break the cycle and Awaken from the Dream of Life.

By virtue of the aforementioned, with regard to the dream of life, it is worth highlighting the following: this dream is so deep, so strong, and so captivating in its essence that it makes us continue to sleep. As majority of the people are sleepwalking through their lives, slumbering in an illusory dream, it goes without saying that it is a challenging process to awaken from this dream; it is difficult to go against the stream, if you will.

In this context, the collective humanity represents that stream — most humans are not ready to awaken or to be awakened. Blinded by groupthink, people function like a flock of birds or herd of sheep, nearly all of them running at a given time in the same direction — this is that stream, you see?

It is for this reason why the spiritual path is often a lonesome one — only a few are able to awaken, and even fewer can become aware that such path even exists; of those who do, only very few recognize, acknowledge and appreciate the possibility it represents, even fewer contemplate and reflect upon it, and finally, a rare few have the capacity, tenacity and resilience, perseverance and will to embark on a spiritual path.

In other words, as we have learned throughout this book, the whole of humanity is a single being, having a collective consciousness — the sum total of all human life, having a collective direction and destiny; each life is a link in a chain of lives, bound together by cause and effect, different, yet the same. All things — both seen and unseen, are intertwined and bound together in ways incomprehensible to most, which poses a huge challenge when it comes to awakening — one must go against the stream, if you will — to awaken, you see?

It is a wide-ranging process that each individual must go through by themselves; no one else can do it for us — we ourselves are responsible for our own awakening, our processes of unlearning and unbecoming everything we are not, our processes of relearning, growth, development, and maturation. When we are talking about the spiritual awakening, it is worth pointing out that it is a complete surrender — a process of harsh self-honesty.

It’s a path of complete acceptance of the truth — no matter how difficult it is to bear; this is also the main reason why only so few individuals embark on a spiritual journey — it is challenging, demanding, and time-consuming — yes, but it is also exhilarating and rewarding, you see?

That said, a brief insight from personal experience might shed some light on this, after which we will circle back to the topic at hand with a wider perspective. So, here we go. When I reflect back several years, I can see in hindsight that the awakening happened in stages. It began with a deep inner feeling that there is something wrong with the world, or more precisely, the way in which people interact with the world and with each other.

As I spent time observing the world and people around me, an overwhelming sense of emptiness or soullessness washed over me, sending shivers down my spine — it was almost eerie-like feeling, if you catch my drift? Something essential and fundamental was missing. It was like people were hollow empty shells — like there was no one home, you see?

Although you could see an occasional smile in people’s faces, there was a certain something that was missing — you could see it in their eyes: people were lost, wandering through life like a ship lost at sea, drifting in search for hope and meaning.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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~ ღ ~ Living Consciousness ~ ((( ॐ ))) ~ Vibrant Interconnected Reality ~ ღ ~

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As an extension of the previous chapters, this chapter expands upon the information on consciousness and its relation to awareness. In this chapter, we will take a dive into the deeper waters of consciousness – it goes in tandem with another chapter titled “Living Awareness – The Heart of Living Life,” which comes up in the next section.

The terms Living Consciousness and Living Awareness arise from personal experience that best describe the aliveness of the experience of being alive, of being fully awake and aware whilst exploring the physical reality, the world around us, and the possibilities of human life by occupying the vehicle better known as the human body.

Living Awareness is all about experiencing our core essence, experiencing life directly, experiencing reality directly, experiencing humanness in the most direct way possible; and Living Consciousness is all those experiences put together – from cosmic to galactic, to human, animal, plant, and so on.

In short, Living Consciousness builds upon the idea of Interconnectedness of Everything through shared consciousness – it shows that we live in an Interconnected Reality. More broadly, if described using humanly intelligible words, terms, shapes and forms, one would describe Interconnected Reality as follows: it is made up of Interconnected Nested Multiverses within the Innerverse – these beautiful tree-like structures resemble Apollonian Gasket Fractals in multitude of dimensions.

This type of Interconnected Reality is Vibrant, Flowy & Malleable – everything and everyone is connected to each other and nothing is separate from the whole; each of us is part of this bigger whole – like water drops in the ocean; individualized but interconnected, independent but also interdependent of the whole.

~ Interconnected Nested Multiverses within the Innerverse - Beautiful tree-like structures resemble Apollonian Gasket Fractals in Multitudes of Dimensions ~

When we take the previous into consideration and delve deeper into the idea of Interconnected Living Consciousness, we can find that someone who is on a path toward self-knowledge, will eventually come to the realization that the highest endeavour of the mind is the investigation of its own nature. Thereby, as one delves into their own nature through self-inquiry – turning their attention and curiosity inwards towards oneself and towards the truth of one’s nature, one can understand how everything else connects to the whole.

You see, just in the same way as we are part of the whole, so in the same way the whole is part of us. It is through self-inquiry – the constant attention to the inner awareness of “I,” that it is possible to see the parts as well as the whole; as one delves into this, one realizes that Self is Awareness, that everything is ultimately One Interconnected Whole. It is by self-inquiry, through which, and by which, one can better understand themselves, and in turn grow, ripe and mature.

As one grows in understanding of oneself, the Mystery of Life unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals. The deeper investigation and understanding happens through the processes of Self-Realization & Self-Actualization – realizing one’s deepest desires and capacities, fulfilling the possibilities of one’s potential; expressing one’s creativity, quest for spiritual enlightenment, pursuit of knowledge, and desire to give to society.

On that note, the highest possible desire is to know thyself – in other words, Self-Realization and its natural progression, Self-Actualization. Eventually this inward focus can lead to an experience of one’s ultimate true nature – such as Kensho and Satori; and even beyond experience itself to a dimension that is empty of any experience or sense of self, such as Samadhi and Enlightenment. And so you see, when one becomes realized and actualized, one does not simply know life – one is life, one is existence, one is awareness, one is knowledge, one is wisdom – without any sense of separation.

Furthermore, in terms of consciousness, at the deepest level, there is but Oneself – One undivided Self; hence Oneself. There is but One all pervading Spirit; there is but one First Cause that has its Being of itself, and on which all other beings depend; there is but one Infinite Being, so there is but One Awareness – see?

This is where Living Awareness comes in, for you see, both the individuation – the experience of being an individuated human being – a person, as well as Oneness of Life, Oneness of Reality, are experienced through Omnipresent Awareness. In this respect, Living Awareness knows itself by itself, in itself, as itself, through itself. It is this very recognition and acknowledgment through many different facets of the same that can be called Living Consciousness.

And because both Living Consciousness and Living Awareness are closely related to Self-Realization and its natural progression, Self-Actualization, let us add a little more perspective and context.

Advaita Vedanta (Ancient Non-Duality Tradition) defines Self-Realization as the knowledge of the True Self – beyond both delusion and identification with material phenomena, defining the manifest material world to be temporal – an eternal play of shakti or energy; the immutable principle or the Ultimate Reality is beyond space, time, and form – therefore, it cannot be described, quantified, reasoned, or explained – all that exists on a differentiated basis can only be directly experienced as itself.

Hence, the “outside” world that we perceive with our senses as being solid, and believe to be made out of a dense material – is actually existing in consciousness, which goes on to say that everything is happening within consciousness where the mind appears. In other words, the mind is a localization of consciousness – believed to be located in the brain and situated in the head, which in turn is a part of the human body. The body itself is an image in the mind, and everything in the mind is happening inside consciousness.

Therefore, the individuated, solid, dense, located entity called “I” – is the manifestation of an idea – created by the mind as a form of an image; this, in turn, takes place inside the mind – residing in consciousness, inside which a flame of Living Awareness infinitely flickers, you see?

And if one pursues to find the ultimate nature of the mind, they would end up realizing that the ultimate nature of mind is that aspect of the mind which remains constantly present in its experience – this is the Eternal Essence that cannot be removed or excluded in any circumstances; in other words, it is pure presence – Infinite Living Awareness.

Living Awareness is too close to itself to know itself as Infinite Living Awareness, and therefore the only way to know itself is through individuation and the creation of the finite mind. The finite mind isn’t an entity as such, but rather an activity through which the Infinite is able to know the world.

Therefore, the finite mind is the activity of Infinite Living Awareness, which has the ability to vibrate within itself – creating the form of the finite mind. This activity then makes it possible for the Infinite to know the objective experience – enabling the Infinite to know itself through the finite mind. This knowing is Living Consciousness, you see?

To summarize, Living Consciousness is that which is present and aware – Infinite Consciousness knowing its own being; the knowing of our own being is Infinite Living Awareness. In other words, Living Consciousness is the tool for Living Awareness to know itself – the container of all experience. Living Consciousness is that in which all experience appears, with which all experience is known, and out of which all experience is made.

All that IS, or could ever be known – is experience; all experience is mind – thinking, imagining, feeling, sensing, perceiving. Therefore, it can be said that the mind’s knowledge of whatever it knows or perceives is only ever as good as its knowledge of itself.

– Living Consciousness is that which is present and aware.
– Living Consciousness is that in which all experience appears.
– Living Consciousness never knows anything other than its own being.
– Living Consciousness is the being of every cell and every particle.
– Living Consciousness is the Living Awareness of All That Is.
– Living Consciousness is the real you, or the one to experience the wondrous and wonderful presence within the human body.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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~ ∞ ~ Panpsychism – An Easy Escape From the Dilemma of Consciousness ~ ∞ ~

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To further our discussion about consciousness, it is imperative to briefly dip our toes into something that may or may not shed some light on the complexity of understanding consciousness, and why consciousness is so difficult subject matter, especially to Western people.

As a way of introduction, let us call this something “an easy escape from the dilemma of consciousness.” It concerns a revival of an old philosophical theory known as panpsychism – emphasis on the revival aspect of it. You see, in recent years, we have seen science leaning towards the idea of panpsychism, which entails that everything has a degree of consciousness.

The view of panpsychism has recently been making a comeback in the philosophy of mind, because it is seen as one possible solution to the so-called “hard problem of consciousness.” But the catch is, that this “new wave” of panpsychism lacks the mystical connotations of previous forms of the view. In a nutshell, it is a sugarcoated, cherry-picked and watered-down version of the original.

Panpsychism, in philosophy of mind, is the view that mind or a mind-like aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality. In this revival, there is only matter; and there is mind, in the sense that mind is matter.

Hence, there is nothing spiritual, supernatural, or mystical about it. It’s like the advocates of this “new wave” of panpsychism are cherry-picking only those things that best fit the standard scientific paradigm with its materialist foundation for the purposes of finding an easy escape from the dilemma of consciousness.

The ultimate goal of Western science is nothing more or less than the “theory of everything,” which is a hypothetical single, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical framework that fully explains and links together all physical aspects of the universe. But alas, without solving the “hard problem of consciousness,” such theory is unattainable.

The undeniable truth is that science alone cannot solve the ultimate mystery of life, because we ourselves are an intrinsic part of the mystery we are trying to solve – unless we add ourselves to the equation, we will never solve any of the major problems, nor will we solve the mysteries of life, either.

It goes without saying that we should not be surprised that our standard scientific method struggles to deal with consciousness. You see, it seems as though, modern science was explicitly designed to exclude consciousness. It seems that there is – still, at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, a great taboo against querying the mysterious inner world of consciousness. For some reason, it is not considered to be a fitting topic for “serious science.”

As such, some have convinced themselves that the only practical solution would be the revival of panpsychism; that this cherry-picked “new wave” of panpsychism would be the magic bullet that would solve all the problems regarding consciousness. But alas, the problem of consciousness, however, is radically unlike any other scientific problem.

Even though panpsychism is one of the oldest philosophical theories concerning mind, reaching far back into pre-Socratic times, it is paramount to highlight the fact that this “new wave” specifically deals with the mental aspect of it all – covering only a tiny fraction of the spectrum of consciousness. Therefore, it is unfortunate that with the rise in interest in the “hard problem of consciousness” in Western science, it has misleadingly become synonymous with consciousness, resulting in a lot of ensuing confusion and misunderstanding.

You see, the claim is that “I – the body am conscious,” and because “I am composed of physical matter,” therefore also the physical universe (matter) must be conscious. Panpsychism is often considered to be equivalent to the Non-Dual understanding of consciousness, which entails that consciousness pervades everything; and herein lies both the problem and misunderstanding. You see, the core of this misunderstanding lies at the very beginning of the statement – the mistake is: “I – the body am conscious.” And so you see, when you build on this ground, every other step also contains this initial misunderstanding.

Even though there is similarity to Non-Dual understanding of consciousness, there is also a profound and distinct difference: from the panpsychist’s perspective – mind exists in matter. In contrast, from the Non-Dual perspective – material world exists in mind. Panpsychism, therefore – is a form of materialism, in which the world is seen as separate from our core essence – that of awareness. A key problem with materialism is that it has been unable to explain how arrangements of matter can possibly generate subjective experience.

This problem is so incomprehensible that some materialist philosophers even try to deny the very existence of consciousness altogether, and find an easy escape from the dilemma of consciousness. As such, panpsychism provides an easy escape route for the materialist – it magically “solves” the hard problem of consciousness, simply by declaring consciousness to be either an irreducible property or the intrinsic nature of matter.

All that panpsychism does – is that it maintains the current belief that matter is either in substance or in structure the primary aspect of reality, which goes on to say that panpsychism gives us the sugarcoated version of materialism which doesn’t actually solve anything.

In panpsychism, consciousness is fundamentally fragmented in the same way as matter appears to be; consciousness is just one more irreducible property of matter at a subatomic level – just like mass, charge, spin and momentum. In other words, all matter is thought to have consciousness at a fundamental level – matter, however – remains the broader and more primary aspect of reality.

And so you see, to the panpsychist, “the real world” consists of matter and energy fields – which are, allegedly, outside, and independent of, consciousness. The presumption that the physical body has consciousness comes from the observation that because we are able to experience and to perceive the world, therefore we must also have consciousness – making us conscious; identifying ourselves with the physical body.

And yet, in all actuality, we don’t have consciousness – we are consciousness made manifest by Living Awareness; there is a fundamental difference between the two – see? In our observations of the world, we have also noticed that animals seem to express certain level of consciousness, and hence we have applied this same presumption to animals as well.

By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to levels of consciousness, one can pose the following questions: Where do we draw the line and say that something is conscious and something is not? When does matter become conscious, or can it ever become conscious at all?

If we really tune into this idea, we can find that in all actuality, only consciousness is conscious, and only awareness is aware; and that our ability to be aware, enables us to express consciousness through which we experience the world. We also find that there is a precursor to consciousness – that of sentience; which means “capable of feeling.” This is what makes the distinction between humans and other sentient beings like animals – it is quite different to be conscious than only capable of feeling.

When we’re talking about sentience, it is noteworthy that the meaning of sentience in Buddhism is far more sophisticated than in Western thought – it is described as the state of having senses, not limited to physical ones, but also including the subjective experience of the mind; sentience in Buddhism is awareness prior to the arising of Skandha*1 – thus, an animal, plants, trees, and even water qualifies as a sentient being.

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*1 Skandha in Buddhism, refers to the concept of five aggregates, which asserts five elements that constitute and explain a living being’s mental and physical existence: 1.) form or matter (rupa), 2.) sensation or feeling (vedana), 3.) perception (samjna), 4.) mental formations (sankhara), 5.) consciousness (vijnana).

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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