There is an awareness which I call "the awareness" which, I believe, exists within each of us. Most of us are generally unaware of it and remain enmeshed and occupied by our thoughts and our feelings and our sensations. I hate waiting in lines and being stuck in traffic. Right in the midst of my irritable and impatient thoughts and feelings, "the awareness" comes into my mind, not as a thought or feeling, but as a sense of higher or greater being, as though I am above all the drama unfolding below, which includes myself in all my irritation and identity with myself as one who must wait in line and thus waste my very existence in the physical world in a physical body. This is how my thoughts go. But "the awareness" puts me in a state that might be described as "a sense of being it all," in which my definition of "myself" expands beyond any sense of individual or separate self. It is simply a different state of being in which "I" am not at the center of attention or awareness. It's not accompanied by any particular feelings of elation, though there is a sense of no tension held in place with stressed thoughts and feelings.
This "awareness" does "come upon" me, yes, but I also realize that it is always present and that I am perfectly able to "go there" or "let it in" whenever I want to. I also notice that sometimes I don't want to have it; that the distraction of the moment, of the deceit, of the pleasure, perhaps even of the pain, of the "lower" existence, is something I prefer, be it out of habit, comfort, pleasure, which are all chemical, physical "highs." A religious person might say, "The devil made me do it," and be quite accurate in a sense.
"The awareness" does have religious overtones; one could easily call it "the mind of God," though I prefer keeping it, to me, real, and much simpler; "God" gets too much credit and too much blame; let us look at ourselves squarely and honestly. Though I see that the notion of "God" covers all that area of which we are unconscious, which is of "mystery" (which leads to another discussion another time) and therefore fulfills a major function of life.
We have the capacity to call "the awareness," once consciously experienced, into our minds, our thoughts again and again. It is a state of being that encompasses what we see as ourselves and others and, really, everything. Imagine how life could be, how the world itself could be, if people were aware that they could participate in the level of existence whenever they chose. We would no longer be at the mercy of our fears and would even be able to transcend ourselves while still being able to be ourselves living our lives.
This "awareness" does "come upon" me, yes, but I also realize that it is always present and that I am perfectly able to "go there" or "let it in" whenever I want to. I also notice that sometimes I don't want to have it; that the distraction of the moment, of the deceit, of the pleasure, perhaps even of the pain, of the "lower" existence, is something I prefer, be it out of habit, comfort, pleasure, which are all chemical, physical "highs." A religious person might say, "The devil made me do it," and be quite accurate in a sense.
"The awareness" does have religious overtones; one could easily call it "the mind of God," though I prefer keeping it, to me, real, and much simpler; "God" gets too much credit and too much blame; let us look at ourselves squarely and honestly. Though I see that the notion of "God" covers all that area of which we are unconscious, which is of "mystery" (which leads to another discussion another time) and therefore fulfills a major function of life.
We have the capacity to call "the awareness," once consciously experienced, into our minds, our thoughts again and again. It is a state of being that encompasses what we see as ourselves and others and, really, everything. Imagine how life could be, how the world itself could be, if people were aware that they could participate in the level of existence whenever they chose. We would no longer be at the mercy of our fears and would even be able to transcend ourselves while still being able to be ourselves living our lives.
