I’m the Johnny Appleseed of consciousness. I introduce people to an aspect of themselves they rarely pay attention to: the difference between their thoughts and the awareness OF their thoughts – the latter being their consciousness.
Consciousness is as distinct from our thoughts as our thoughts are from our bodies!
We have 4 Moving Parts…..
Three that perform a single function in sequence:
We all have four perpetually moving “parts”: two physical and two mental. The energetically densest three: our heartbeats, breaths, and thoughts all “function” similarly: singly, consecutively and hopefully constantly!
And one that does a myriad of things simultaneously:
Our second mental part is our sub-conscious mind: it runs silently in the background; it’s the part that runs the ship, and is responsible for sensory processing, bodily function, memory and the root or “I am” level of our ego. It takes care of the walking, talking, and chewing so that we don’t have to! Be thankful we can’t “hear” our sub-conscious mind because it’s doing countless things simultaneously – the cacophony of mental commands would literally dive us insane!
Recognizing the difference between Conscious and Sub-Conscious mind:
The initial phase of practicing mindfulness or Raja Yoga is learning to recognize – and experience – conscious and sub-conscious mind separately. The former we interact with; the latter is only verifiable by its actions. In other words, everything other than the thought in our head is evidence of our sub-conscious mind functioning.
For example, we know our sub-conscious mind is functioning when we see our fingers move as we type: our conscious mind thinks a word, and our subconscious mind – the silent part responsible for bodily function – receives and relays the message to our fingers. That energetic communication and processing is generally done largely without our awareness!
….And One Intangible Part
Consciousness is the awareness OF what we’re thinking – period.
Consciousness NEVER changes, though obviously, WHAT we’re aware of changes constantly. For all intents and purposes our individual consciousness is eternal (it’s the origin of what’s commonly referred to as our spirit or soul; however, the existence of consciousness is readily verifiable: without it, you wouldn’t know that you’re alive, let alone reading this!)
Raja Yoga – an Alternative View of Sacrifice
Raja Yoga predates religion as we know it. It developed at a point in human history when it was common to sacrifice living things to appease a litany of gods. We eventually we figured out that such “external” sacrifice only works 50% of the time (think flipping a penny). However, true “internal” sacrifice or literally giving of ourselves: our time, effort, blood, sweat and tears – is rewarding in a deeply meaningful way 100% of the time. Selfless givers gain.
At the end of the day, the biggest benefit to practicing Raja Yoga – living mindfully or consciously – is that with time, we begin to see ourselves differently. Accepting the reality of the distinction between thoughts and the awareness OF thoughts literally changes our paradigm of life: we realize the existence of another dimension – and that it’s a part of us!! Life seems more miraculous and deeply spiritual. As we meditate, we draw closer to our immutable essence experiencing a deepened sense of contentment, understanding and acceptance.
A New Way of Seeing Ourselves
As consciousness becomes a bigger part of our self-image, the reflection in the mirror and voice in our head occupy less of our attention – dropping stress levels precipitously!
Perhaps most importantly, realizing the intangible nature of our own consciousness engenders faith its source, and faith begets serenity, courage and wisdom!
Meditating isn’t easy, but neither is suffering.
Blessings, Allan
