Consciousness & Compassion

Saturday 26 May 2018

Consciousness is somewhat tricky to understand in a direct way because we are using it constantly to interpret our situation. It is so deeply ingrained into our being that we cannot easily see it directly without a sustained practice to realise its structure. A self-aware human mind can however be calibrated to become aware of the still consciousness that defines the present moment for everyone --- before it creates. This requires our mind to be calibrated to deeper and deeper levels until we can get to its limits in pure still consciousness. This pure stillness can then be cultivated as a datum to watch the movement of our mind as it builds into the apparent conditions we are so familiar with --- basic conditions at first, but building into the complexity that makes up our world. The still consciousness that is cultivated then defines the transcendent path to freedom. Every person has the potential to do this and realise what an absolute still mind is before it builds into the complexity defining them. Understanding this beyond any doubt offers us a pathway to unify our self with the world taking us beyond the dukkha (unsatisfactory nature) of conditions!

The most important thing to know about all of this is that our mind creates it all --- including our consciousness. It is our mind that creates the still consciousness that then shifts with past karma, and then go on to move and shape our experience --- in an evolutionary way that eventually fuses into the physical. Our karmic memories are built into consciousness which causes us to see and experience our world as we do. Each person has their own view of it all. In fact each individual part of us that builds to make us into the person that we are also has its own reality. This is a fundamental rule that is reflected in Quantum Mechanics, be it the “Copenhagen Convention” that looks mainly at the elementary particles that make us and our world, or indeed if we look at the “Many Worlds Model” that focusses mainly on universal cycles. In this model, all potential possibilities are offered, before we make our choices in life. They all remain surreal and exist in a super position that builds our mind. There is an apparent paradox at the heart of all this that is apparently separating our body and our mentality. It is only when we can see and use the datum of still consciousness that we can move to unify the physical part of us and the mentality that makes up our minds. The resolution of this paradox is something that we can all realise.  

It is very beneficial to see the structure of our minds in this way because it makes it easier to see that we have all had countless past lives. This is at the heart of the Buddha’s teachings. It is the still consciousness that connects it all into the present moment. When we cultivate still consciousness we find that we are watching a feedback loop that is bringing still consciousness from the external world “countless times in the blink of an eye”. We cannot escape it because our individual conditions are built into the consciousness that makes our universe. This external feedback loop is bringing possibilities and our karma to us, moment to moment, day to day, life to life. We see that our being is embedded into the fabric of the universe and the karmic consequence is rebirth and past lives that keep shaping this life and future lives. This is the reality of attaching to the conditions of our mind. It sets us up for us what the Buddha called dukkha or suffering which points to the unsatisfactory nature of never being free --- never being able to know true peace of mind.

Still consciousness has another very important quality that helps us see this truth. Still consciousness is fungible which means that it is all interchangeable and value free --- while it remains still. The still consciousness that shapes the conditions of my mind is exactly the same as the still consciousness that shapes yours. Every condition uses the same still consciousness be it a table a chair a tree a flower; then there are all of the animal creations including us. The consciousness of every condition develops to build its exquisite path in an evolutionary way using Newtonian physics and then Relativity physics at larger astronomical scales, all embedded in the physics of quantum mechanics. All of this creation floats, as it were on the same still fungible consciousness found in the heart of the present moment. When this realisation sinks in you see that the entire Universe is conscious and we are connected into it just the same as everything / anything that we can think of is.

Contrary to current dominant opinion, consciousness is not created by the “particles and form” that make up our brain and body. The “particles and form” are made from the consciousness. This misunderstanding is I believe the main reason we are able to be so cruel to animals. We think animal consciousness is less! The dis-service we do to animals is helped along with this antiquated and ignorant thinking, perpetuated often by science and religion, and we really do need to develop awareness for change. As people do become aware of the truth being outlined here, animals may get a better deal instead of being bred for food. The consciousness of animals is no different than ours --- it is not less! Consciousness is all pervading, it forms the matrix for everything we experience and know. It sits in its stillness inside the space and emptiness ready to create as our minds are moved. When we know consciousness beyond any doubt and can see that we are all connected into this world together, it naturally allows us to know “Compassion”. This state is known as the first divine abiding and this automatically gives access to the other three divine abiding’s on the Buddha’s list --- “Loving Kindness, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity”.

Still consciousness is the transcendental gateway to the true peace of enlightenment. When we can see still consciousness continuously in the present moment, we have cultivated mindfulness correctly. We can then realise that we are watching feedback from the world we see as separate from us. The Buddha described this as “Mundane” experience. As previously mentioned this feedback is fast. It feeds back “countless times in the blink an eye”. With mindfulness now fully in place we can now really focus on the stillness and cultivate it. Then as the purity of our mind grows we will eventually see it finish. We will notice that the feedback has stopped. We will know then that the universe has unified inside us. It is no longer external. The Buddha described this state as “Supra Mundane” experience. We also know that there will be no more re-birth if this condition is maintained at our death. Dukkha is finished and true peace will arise when the karma of this current life finishes at our death. Our work is done. “Sardu! ---Sardu! ---Sardu!”