The Many Forms of Consciousness
From the introductory article, we concluded the difference between our current awareness, and an expanded awareness, is exploring and accessing an unseen aspect of consciousness.
In this segment, we’ll suggest that consciousness takes many forms, that it’s inherent in everything. But note, we’re not saying consciousness is the same in all things. There’s a spectrum to consciousness, and here, we’ll discuss some of the different forms it takes. One of the most familiar forms is what we think. The 17th century French philosopher, Rene Descartes, famously said, “I think, therefore I am.” Although, Descartes may not have had the words to describe his meaning, he might have been trying to describe being self-aware.
Human beings reside at the top of the spectrum. This is characterized by the unique trait of being self-conscious. That is to say, we are aware of our actions, states, and of being unique individuals. Undoubtedly, this is the most common experience we have with the concept of consciousness. Our awareness is the foundation for everything we experience, think, and create. In other words, how we learn, grow, and expand, all happens through the medium of consciousness.
One way of viewing an expansion of awareness is to look back at history. What Western culture refers to as modern history, dates back to the mid-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1543, contrary to the then widely held belief, the mathematician and astronomer, Copernicus, theorized that the sun and other planets did not revolve around the earth. Bordering on heresy at the time, this example of expanded awareness marked the beginning of the era known as the Scientific Revolution. Over the next 150 years, science became the dominant force for making new discoveries about our physical existence. By the end of the 17th century, this era was being celebrated as the Age of Enlightenment.
The Scientific Revolution was just the beginning. The Industrial Age came next, starting in Great Britain around the mid-eighteenth century. In the relatively short 300 years since then, we can see how quickly human ingenuity has progressed. Starting with the invention of the Steam Engine, other inventions and advancements in our awareness would follow. These inventions required developing methods of manufacturing, and eventually for the mass production of goods. Since the turn of the 20th century, the rate at which we’ve developed, and enhanced technology, has progressed at an ever accelerating pace. Near the end of the 20th century, the Information Age was dawning, and our sense of change had become palpable. Change, we were told, had now become a constant. Faced with rapidly advancing technologies, businesses in particular, reacted to competitive pressures and kept the cycle of change on high. Harvard Developmental Psychologist, Robert Kegan, published a book in 1984 titled: In Over Our Heads, The Mental Demands of Modern Life. Indeed, the result of rapid change was, and is, information overload. And it’s more than that.
Constantly changing conditions wreak havoc on the human psyche. Unexpected or unwanted change increases stress by invoking fear of the unknown. This fear may be experienced as feelings of dis-ease, anxiety, depression, tension, even grief. This type of environment has major consequences in terms of our health and overall well-being. Today, change from continual technological advances infiltrates all aspects of our lives. At one time technology was a tool, now it borderlines on defining who we are.
The advancements made beginning with the Scientific Revolution are representative of an evolving conscious awareness. Imagine the reaction of settlers who crossed the country in covered wagons, if we were to show them a modern-day car. And an even greater degree of shock would apply to humans who lived 450 years ago. But we need to recognize that this evolution in consciousness is based on physical sensory perception. Science enhanced the physical senses to reveal deeper truths about our physical world. But our physical senses enhanced or otherwise are incapable of discovering the higher state of consciousness available to us.
Indeed, there are many mysteries of life that science is unable to explain. Take for example, the human maturation process. Sometime within the first four to nine months of life, a newborn is beginning to distinguish between self, and not-self. As children grow physically, their awareness is expanding, too. The minds of children are like sponges, soaking up everything in their surroundings. Formal schooling continues to expand their awareness. By the time children reach their teens, their awareness is filled with new thoughts and feelings. Our sensory awareness continues to expand, though less predictably, into adulthood through further education, work experience, relationships, and everyday life.
Yet, consciousness is not limited to the awareness of our thoughts and feelings, or the perceptions of our physical surroundings. Consider the autonomic functions of the human body. What is it that keeps our heart beating 60 or 70 times a minute? An adult at rest, breathes eight to sixteen times a minute. What causes these autonomic responses whether we’re awake or asleep? When we catch a cold, our immune system automatically responds to combat the virus. What explains the miraculous functioning of the mind, or the experience of emotions? We know how babies are made, but what explains the invisible design behind the growth and maturation process? We know that genetics plays a part in making us all uniquely different in appearance. But what explains genetics? Why do people who’ve had near-death experiences, report floating outside their body, or being drawn to an intensely bright light? Try as we might to explain these things, there is much about life that remains a mystery.
Being conscious is not limited to human beings. Everything in existence is on the spectrum of consciousness. Take, for example, the natural world. Beginning with the animal kingdom, there’s a life cycle, and many of the same basic life processes experienced by humans. Animals are guided by instinctual awareness, relying on sensory input to interact with the surroundings. Observing pets and domesticated animals leads us to rightly conclude many of them are intelligent—it’s easy to imagine they are thinking just like us. However, there are differences. Animals are not self-conscious, meaning they don’t make a distinction between self and not-self. The dog upon seeing itself in a reflection, doesn’t see itself, it sees another dog. Animals can be trained and conditioned to display certain behaviors, but are incapable of creating from thought, as we do. The horse standing in a winter pasture doesn’t think to itself, “It’s cold; I think I’ll build a fire.”
Insects perform many functions. But how do bees, for example, know it’s their job to pollinate plants and trees? We often see insects as pests, but they play a vital role in sustaining other forms of life. Science has proven trees and plants have rudimentary nervous systems that respond to energies around them. More importantly, green plants and trees perform a complex process called Photosynthesis, defined as: the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide, to create oxygen. How often are we grateful to trees and plants for the life sustaining benefits of oxygen?
Lower forms of consciousness can be seen in non-living elements of the earth. Minerals in the soil supply the nutrients needed to grow vegetation. Vegetation, in turn, contributes to feeding and sustaining all the kingdoms above it. In rock, we find different kinds of minerals, metals, and crystalline forms. The iron ore found in some rock is used to make steel, which can be fashioned into tools and building materials. Precious metals, like gold and silver, can be found in certain types of rock, while other forms of rock are mined for precious stones.
Water is essential to all living organisms on the planet. The oceans are bountiful sources of fresh water. Heat from the sun causes water from the oceans to evaporate, condense in clouds, and return fresh water in the form of rain and snow. In these many ways, nature is a demonstration of how consciousness manifests to create an intelligent, perpetual and self-sustaining, design.
For our last example, I want to discuss the aspect of consciousness that so far I’ve described as unseen. While some aspects of the spectrum of consciousness we’ve discussed so far, are unexplainable. That’s not the case here. We’re talking about a property of consciousness that is exclusive to human beings. It’s unseen because it can’t be detected by our physical senses. And yet, we’re not entirely without any familiarity.
As mentioned in the introductory article, just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean we are incapable of knowing and experiencing it. However, it does require that we direct our attention in another way. Consider that our physical senses direct our attention to the external environment. The sensory input absorbed from our surroundings forms the biggest part of our awareness. Focusing our attention on the outer environment, may be viewed as a mechanism necessary to survival. While there’s no danger of becoming dinner for a Saber-Tooth tiger in modern times, awareness of our surroundings is still very much an essential part of our existence.
What we’re much less accustomed to doing is diverting our attention from the outer environment, to the inner dimensions of our being. For instance, aren’t we all aware of the thoughts streaming through our mind? This speaks to that bit of ‘familiarity’ we have with an inner aspect of our consciousness. Awareness of our thoughts and feelings leads to the sense of having a voice in our head. It’s capable of creating feelings of fear and doubt, and a constant stream of other thoughts, too. It directs our choices based on sensory input from our surroundings. It uses the same input to confirm our beliefs and shape how we perceive ourselves. This aspect of our inner awareness makes it very difficult to change our thinking, habits, or way of living. What we’re describing is the Ego. It might also be characterized as the personality, or my preference—the lower-self. The lower-self is a necessary part of our consciousness—it has a purpose.
But there’s another part of our consciousness that most people have no idea exists. It’s an inner dimension that stays silent until we begin to seek it out. It’s difficult to know what to call it. Some may refer to it as God, or the Soul, or Divine Inspiration. My interpretation is it’s a higher form of consciousness. My preference is to refer to it as the higher-self. More important than what we call it is the realization that its real, a largely unexplored, untapped aspect of our consciousness. An aspect we are capable of knowing and connecting to through a deeper exploration of our inner dimension.
In the article, My Story, I describe how I’ve come to know and trust the higher-self. You’ll hear how the higher-self has made its presence known to me over and over. What I’m sharing in these articles is awareness that has come to me as a result of connecting with the higher-self. I make no claims of personal greatness, or of being all-knowing. I’m sharing my experience and some of the expanded views that have become known through those experiences. A new expansion in awareness came up as I was writing the section directly below.
Beginning with the newborn’s distinction between self, and not-self, this aspect of our inner awareness continuously affirms our separation from all else. It’s this conscious sense of separation that gives rise to the creation of systems and structures that are inherently competitive. From an early age, we become aware of being compared, and begin making comparisons between ourselves, our siblings and peers. As we get older, the competition to achieve in school, in sports, and for acceptance by our peers, intensifies. Rivalries instinctively arise. As we graduate into adulthood, we literally compete for employment, without which we are unable to meet even our basic needs.
The significance of being self-aware, and yet, not consciously aware of the consequences created by the belief in our separateness, is a huge blind spot in our awareness. How many of our inner thoughts and emotions are driven by our sense of being separate from all else? From an expanded view, our separateness places a fundamental limitation on our ability to thrive as a species. Why? Being separate leads to the base instinct that we must compete to survive. It gives rise to the mindset of ‘Us versus Them’ effectively pitting us against each other. This effectively keeps our attention focused outside of ourselves leading us to judge others, to control our surroundings, and to put self-interest ahead of the needs of others. An external focus also leads to the propensity to measure ourselves by external achievements: our education, the work we do, where we live, our possessions, how much money we have, and who we count as our family and friends. The point here is not for me to judge. I am simply pointing out how coming from a place of separateness leads us to create from that perspective. And ultimately, how the belief that our being is only physical limits the ability to realize the full potential inherent to our consciousness.
This limited perspective isn’t entirely our fault. There exists a powerful deterrent keeping the expanded view from naturally becoming part of our awareness. That deterrent is fear. Contrary to the “No Fear” theme, we are hard-wired to experience it. Though often disguised—fear goes undetected in many forms. Although its primary purpose is to protect us from danger, this instinctive reflex doesn’t distinguish between real and imagined danger. Meaning fear is triggered by any kind of ‘unknown.’ Make no mistake—it’s a very effective system for not only keeping us believing in our separateness, but also keeping our attention focused outside of ourselves. In fact, it so effectively limits our conscious awareness, that it never occurs to us to question it.
Going back to my comment that I experienced an expansion of awareness in writing the section above. You’re probably wondering what it was? It was the part about how a newborn between 4 and 9 months begins making the distinction between self and not-self. This happens before the newborn can identify itself from a picture or reflection—which doesn’t occur until between 15 and 24 months. In other words, our sensory perception of separation happens before we become self-conscious. It suddenly occurred to me this might play a significant role in our development. One that leads to an unquestioning belief in our separation.
Expanding on this awareness, I saw how we are driven by the assumption of individuality and separateness. How our lives are ruled by our individuality. Everything we’ve created and built emerges from this single paradigm. I saw why the pursuit of money and power is so seductive. And how the varying beliefs of different peoples became, and continues to be, the impetus for killing each other. I saw too how being unaware of this assumption unconsciously places limits on our ability to create a sustainable future.
But what if, we came to understand that Consciousness isn’t limited to our sensory perceptions of a purely physical existence? That all forms and formlessness originates from one Source and that intelligent light-energy unites us all? What would we do differently if we no longer believed ourselves to be separate from other humans, from nature, from all else?
Summary
What I wanted to bring out in this article is that Consciousness is present in many ways our sensory perceptions can’t detect. To know this requires tapping into the higher-self. As we are exposed to expanded views, we begin to get glimpses of the majesty and magnificence of the creation of which we are part. Our consciousness is not limited to the external input of our senses or the inner awareness of feelings and emotions. All along, we’ve possessed the keys to knowing and understanding the meaning of our existence. From an expanded view, we are all gifted with self-conscious awareness. By extension, this gift carries with it a responsibility—to discover the higher realms through an expansion of our individual awareness.
What I’ve been sharing about a higher form of conscious awareness that reveals the truer nature of human existence is not new. In fact, over the last several thousand years, tiny bands of human beings have been exploring consciousness and realizing a greater understanding of our existence. My journey of expanding awareness has led to experiences for which I had no explanation. Only later would I discover confirmations of my experience by ones more advanced than me. Mine is a journey that continues to unfold—I do not view it as having a finite destination. Today, growing numbers of individuals are similarly seeking to expand their conscious awareness. Might this be something you too should consider?