The Art of Living Consciously Flashcards
Living Consciously IS intelligence
Living consciously is intelligence taking joy in its own function. It is seeking to be aware of everything that bears on our own interests, actions, values, purposes, and goals. It is the willingness to confronts facts, both pleasant or unpleasant. It is the way to be IN the world. It is the commitment to be intelligent. It is intelligence itself.
If you are not living consciously, you have no contact with anything in reality
If you are not living in reality, you have no real relationship with anything in it. I.E, if you are in a marriage and are not living in reality, you are living with, and loving someone in your head and not loving nor experiencing the person you are married with.
Many of us sleep through life
Many times, when we look back on our lives, we realize we were sleeping rather than being awake.
I am committed to exercise full consciousness at all times
It is impossible to be conscious of everything all at once, although you can commit to operate at the fullest level of consciousness at all times. We are more likely to be directly conscious of things that serve an interest to us.
Consciousness is a life need
We NEED to live consciously. It is a normal need and function.
A life committed to learning (similar to: a life committed to being conscious)
We live in the age of the mind-worker. We use our minds and work hard with our minds. Therefore, if we are to be adaptive, we must be committed to continuous learning as a way of life. To be asleep at the wheel during a time when the mind and mental awareness is OVERTLY needed, is disastrous and cannot succeed. Living consciously has its roots in respect for facts and truths.
The Age of Independence
We live in a time when we must choose everything for ourselves and make our own lives. In the past, everything was decided for us and handed down through tradition. Independence is what our lives naturally require, regardless of what time period you are born in.
You must work to be conscious
Although living in awareness is a normal need, you are not born with reality orientation. It must be learned and taught. If you are not taught or have influences that influence you to avoid reality, you will be steered in to or erroneously end up in, disaster, and you therefore could not have high self esteem nor a healthy life. We must CHOOSE to think, guide, and monitor our mental processes. We must also CHOOSE to check our conclusions against all available evidence. Our minds and rationality do not HAVE to operate optimally, it is a choice; it takes effort.
The child needs a rational universe
Children NEED the experience of living in a rational universe. They will feel confident. They NEED this confidence.
You can become repressed due to innocent error
The choice of living an unconscious existence does not have to always come from traumatic childhood experiences, you can be influenced to avoid the facts of reality by encountering daily everyday and harmless irrationalities that occur within the normal, day to day, experiences within the child’s life. The broken promises, rules that always seem to be made and always broken, inconsistent behavior from adults, etc.
The Basic Laws of Logic
Normal; living in awareness gives us the confidence and constant assurance that things are what they are. This is the ultimate statement about existence and the first law of logic. The law of Identity, A is A. A thing is itself. Nothing is more certain, nothing is more fundamental. The law of Causality; a thing must act in accordance with its nature. What it will do is determined-caused- by what it is (*it cannot act outside of itself).Then there is: Existence and nonexistence, also known as, something and nothing. To be, is to be something. That which does not exist, is nothing…, nonexistence…, literal void. Nothing pertains exclusively to a relation: it has meaning only in relation to something and denotes its (something’s) absence. Nothing by itself, could not exist (there would be non-existence).; it could not exist on its own. It only has existence because something exists. The law of Identity,is the basis of all rational thought. Try to defy it, and thought has no coherence. The law of non-contradiction states that nothing can be A and not A. Right and not right. These laws are protectors of our sanity. These basic laws of logic cannot be escaped. The same implies to internal facts, as to external ones: for example, If I am feeling fear, hurt, anger, envy- I am feeling it, the fact is a fact. Contradictions cannot exist. Logical formation is the only possibility. If something is true, it cannot simultaneously be false.
You ARE aware
You are always aware of what you are doing and of truth. You always know, at some level of your awareness. If you are not consciously aware, you KNOW, at the very least, at a deeper level.
You cannot alter reality
The function of consciousness if to perceive reality; that which exists. Blindness cannot annihilate reality, you are being illogical. Blindness does not change the facts.
Choosing to live in consciousness guarantees success
In aligning with reality, you have to succeed. In living in awareness, we accept that if we go against reality, we create inevitable failure and destruction i.e., if a husband in a marriage has problems, and decides that if they don’t talk about their issues, the issues will not exist: he is sure to cause the end of his marriage because he is not willing to cooperate with his partner and participate in the union, he is also creating more problems and simultaneously, making things get worse.
Everything in the Universe is part of reality
Our inner world, too, is part of reality. Our needs, motives, thoughts, mental states, emotions, and bodily feelings.
Conscious contact with the Inner and Outer world
**If we are to function effectively, we must preserve contact with the outer world and internal self. For example, if we are to achieve some particular goal, we need to know the objective requirements of a given situation and its emotional meaning to us. We must know the personal significance of situations.
Total awareness or none
Awareness must flow in all directions or it does not flow at all. SO, I HAVE NOT BEEN LIVING IN REALITY AT ALL, SINCE ELEMENTARY.
How to have self esteem
Self esteem depends on self awareness. ** ALL YOU NEED IS SELF AWARENESS FOR HIGH SELF ESTEEM. It is this simple. You were blocking so THIS, AND THIS ALONE, CAUSED LOW SELF ESTEEM (and alll of its symptoms). It was not your parents, your move to Washington, it wasn’t you, culture shock, etc. Again, it is very simple.
