Consciousness Flashcards
Atmanic and Brahmanic Consciousness
Atmanic Consciousness is the ‘I Am’ point of awareness, our living reality. It is grounded in Brahmanic Consciousness, which is undifferentiated and absolute.
Brahmanic Consciousness is our absolute nature, without features or attributes. It has no conscience. It is not innately good or evil. It’s not moral or spiritual. It has no heart, no preference or skin in the game, it doesn’t take any sides. It doesn’t prefer that you be good or evolve, and doesn’t feed on praise or adoration, it doesn’t judge or care.
Love isn’t better than hate, goodness isn’t better than evil, pleasure isn’t better than pain. Brahmanic Consciousness is not just true, it’s Truth. There is only the otherless, attributeless, infinite is.
The idea “Brahman Is All”, means that is without attributes, and therefore precisely synonymous with any term we define without attributes, such as truth or consciousness.
Saying Brahman Is All, just means we’re using the word Brahman instead of Consciousness. Here we’re calling it Consciousness.
What is Consciousness?
Consciousness is the One, the whole and the only reality. Other than Consciousness, everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are false.
Consciousness is at best described as that infinite, omnipresent, incorporeal, impersonal, transcendent reality that is the divine ground of all Being.
Consciousness is often described as “not this, not this”, because Consciousness cannot be correctly described as this or that. In fact, Consciousness can never be known as an object of experience because it is the very subject that experiences everything.
Consciousness is the origin of this and that, the origin of forces, substances, all of existence, the undefined, the basis of all, unborn, the essential truth, unchanging, eternal, the absolute.
How can Consciousness be properly described as something in the material world when Consciousness itself is the basis of reality?
Consciousness is not the effect of the world, but its very cause. Consciousness is said to be the purest knowledge itself, and is illuminant like a source of infinite light. Due to ignorance, Consciousness is visible as the material world and its objects. Consciousness is attributeless and formless. It is the Self-existent, the Absolute and the Imperishable.
Consciousness Without an Object
Beside the Great Space
there is none other.
Truth exists,
untruth does not.
There is only truth.
- Merrell-Wolff’s -
The paradigm gap
Truth cannot be expressed or captured.
We can only talk about what’s not, not what is.
We can only speak in terms of duality, opposites. We cannot known or conceive anything outside of duality. We fail in trying to capture something that cannot be captured in terms of our experiencing structure, the dualistic reality.
You will never be able to express the truth, because it’s a movement and you cannot capture, contain or express it.
There’s consciousness, but no one can express it and no one can grasp it or point at it. You cannot find it because it isn’t lost. It’s everywhere at all times -never absent, never distant, but you cannot put words into it.
That is the paradigm gap. We can really only talk about what’s not, not what is.
The Ying-Yan symbol
So the Yin-Yang symbol represent the universal harmony and balance of duality -the dual opposite nature of reality, always in harmony- in a finite universe.
The circle represents containment which means the whole and the finiteness. Without the element of containment, the opposite elements could not exist, much less maintain their balance. The container is what defines the whole.
The illusion of opposites -good and bad, love and hate, should and shouldn’t -these aren’t available out in infinite reality, only in bubbles. Consciousness is beyond opposites. Duality is a dream.
Consciousness is. We can’t say more than that. Because Consciousness is infinite and without attribute, we can only say what it’s not, not what it is.
Consciousness is essence, not attribute.
Consciousness is what I am; essence, not attribute. To ask, “Why I am conscious?” is to assume a distinction between self and consciousness, to assume the possibility of one without the other.
Being conscious is not a facet of some larger, independent me, it’s my very me-ness and there is no larger anything. It’s not that I am conscious, it’s that I am Consciousness.
- Jed McKenna -
You are Conscious Awareness. Consciousness is not something happening to you, or something you posses or something you are doing. Awareness is. Presence is.
That’s the shift. And that happens just by giving your attention to consciousness. Not trying to figure out what it is, that’s not necessary, just giving your attention. That’s all you have to do.
- Adyashanti -
The empty nature of Awareness
We say Awareness is empty because there is no content. Awareness is not something you can grab a hold of. Awareness is.
And since there is no form to it, it’s empty. One could never observe Awareness just as the eyeball cannot see itself. It’s nature is emptiness.
Awareness just is, is non-local. You can’t find it. Not localized somewhere.
This is why we say awareness is empty. It is not in one location as opposed to another location. It is not inside your heart, or behind your head, or under your feet, just awareness is, is universal.
The self aware nature of Awareness
It’s nature, your nature, is self aware. A quality of lucidity. Awareness is self aware, it knows that it is. It is intelligent in other words. This quality is so familiar that people don’t notice it. The mere fact that awareness is self aware is amazing. Nothing else can do that.
Only awareness is aware of itself.
Only awareness is aware.
Nothing else is aware but awareness.
And without awareness nothing else is.
- Adyashanti -
The compassionate nature of Awareness
Awareness have a tremendous sense of love, compassion, a sense of goodness, well being. That’s why when you come into your true state as awareness, or spirit, there is a sense of well being, a great sense of all is well. Not only for oneself but a well being that builds over, that’s what love is, that’a what compassion is. It is in your nature.
Discovering real goodness comes from appreciating very simple experiences. We are speaking here of the basic goodness of being alive. The inherit goodness natural flow of existence. The compassionate flow of basic goodness.
The name of God is Truth
Truth Realization, Consciousness, Awareness, Non-dual abiding, No-self, All that is, God, The One, The Source of all, The One center of all, Truth.
These terms do not capture it, but at least they seem the least misleading terms. No one can tell you what it is. It’s not a thing, it’s not a concept, it’s not a place. Truth realization is that which cannot be simplified further.
The term Non-Dual Awareness is an attempt to capture the living reality of otherlessness in words. The best term might be Truth-Realization.
