CONCIOUSNESS
“Everything you’ll ever need to know is within you; the secrets of the Universe are imprinted on the cells of your body.”[1]
Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior
The entire Universe is one gigantic web where every being, cell, particle and proton is connected to and in direct relation to each other, an entanglement of immaterial energy waves, as defined so beautifully by Albert Einstein. The Universe is a complex network of ultimate intelligence in its purest form. Consciousness is the way in which we, or any living thing or being, relates to this Intelligence. The word itself means the awareness of our existence, surroundings, thoughts and feelings both on an individual or collective level. On our mission to Awaken, it is this collective level of consciousness that we are interested in. Finding a perceptional shift in our consciousness that allows us to find, communicate, and just ‘be with’ this ultimate universal intelligence vibrating through everything we see and know in our material world. When our consciousness is constricted by limited beliefs presented to us by simple acceptance of the physical world in front of us, we also limit our own abilities to connect with the Universal energy flow.
The fluidity of that Universal Energy Flow is what creates Harmony, where obstacles stop or halt that flow, chaos is sure to ensue. The extent to which our consciousness is limited or expanded, is the extent to which we experience isolation or connectedness, a sense of being divided or Divine. But it’s not just the Universe that is intelligence, so too are you. For eons philosophers have been telling us that we are the creators of our experience and now too quantum physicists are not only in agreement with this, but are proving it to be true. We are living in unbelievably exciting times. Socrates in 5TH Century BC taught that the mind is everything, what you think, you become[2] and Plato reinforced this, declaring we can change our reality by changing our mind.[3] Every ounce of matter, including your body, is informed by the intelligence that has created the entire Universe, and continues to flow through the entire Universe and you.
Homo-sapiens have programmed each other to believe that we are separate from this huge, foreign thing, called the Universe, but this is not true. Let me say that again, it is not true that we are separate from it. We are part of it and through expanding our consciousness we can acknowledge, feel and embrace that connection fully to discover an entirely new sense of reality. It is through our limited beliefs, ie accepting only our perception of the material world and our man made taught beliefs, that we experience ourselves to be separate and feel the limitations of individual separation. There are many ways of expanding consciousness, but the primary ones are meditation, visualization, affirmations, prayer and simply knowing the spiritual truth. When we know the truth of who we are, divine spiritual beings, infinite innovators, pure potential, prosperity, abundance and vitality, we instantaneously loosen the chains of our limitations. As we expand our consciousness we allow the universal truths to stream in and flow through us, connecting us to that infinite intelligent web. This phenomenon can turn on such birthright abilities as, ‘ESP’ or extrasensory perceptions, empathic abilities, clairvoyance abilities, psychic abilities, mental telepathy and much, much more. For centuries we have been aware of the effect the physical world can have on our mind. Psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy dominated our interpretation and shifting perceptions of the human experience throughout the 19th and 20th century. It is still relatively new however, that the reverse notion is being given the same the level of attention; the concept, now consistently proven by scientific study that consciousness, the mind, can alter our material world. The incredible achievements of Nikola Tesla, world renowned inventor, electrical and mechanical engineer, physicist undoubtedly helped the material evolution of the human race. But his vision and genius physical achievement was also deeply rooted in his futurist beliefs that Science goes hand in hand with the modern day concept of spirituality. Tesla firmly believed the day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress, in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence, that to understand the true nature of the universe, we must think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.[4] Let us take a moment and consider consciousness from a scientific view point. Today, neuroscientists research and investigate to make sense of what ‘consciousness’ is. Spurred on by Descartes notion, cogito ergo sum[5], which locates the mind as separate from the body, validating the concept of mind body duality, two entities that interact with each other through consciousness. Neuroscientists have located what is perceived as an on/off switch for the brain; when the area of the brain called the claustrum is stimulated, immediate physical unconsciousness occurs but when the claustrum is left unstimulated, a person is awake, and physically conscious to perceive the world around them.[6] Scientists also know that interestingly, it is the cerebral cortex that provokes physical consciousness, even though it notably has less neurons than other parts of the brain. There are currently two scientific theories to aid our understanding of consciousness. The first belongs to neuroscientist, Guilio Tononi[7] and is referred to as Integrated Information Theory and asserts that the conscious experience is a direct result of sensory systems and cognitive processes receiving and integrating information and that this level of consciousness is irreducible, exists in all humans and animals and can exist in varying degrees.[8] The second theory comes from Bernard Baars, a neurologist based at the La Jolla Institute in California, called the Global Workspace Theory. Baars asserts that a kind of blackboard[9] exists in our brains, where information lands from our experience and perception of our surroundings, anything from a person’s face, or an early childhood memory can be written across the brain’s blackboard. From there it is then sent to other areas, possibly multiple areas of the brain for further processing and interpretation. This sending information around the brain, processing it is what Baars asserts to be ‘consciousness.’
How does this impact us? I am sure we are all familiar with that mind boggling question, what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Currently science and spirituality would say neither, the observer comes before the chicken and the egg. Science and spirituality are finally merging, both supporting some of the same truths. They now, both believe cause and effect is in the eye of the beholder. Quantum physics proves this, demonstrating how, when a particle is set into motion, it has multiple possibilities and will actually take on all potentials. However, and here’s what’s genius, the moment that a particle is observed it will display a completely different formation: its form changes. The scientific truth is that the observer doesn’t only effect reality, it creates it, affirming an inherently Divine notion. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.[10] Dr. William A. Tiller proves that human consciousness changes space itself. He took some very advance meditators and asked them to set intentions on metal devices. His results concluded that the intentions altered the PH level of the metal devices.[11] He also observed that the entire laboratory had a PH change in the metals over time, proving that if you set an intention consistently your habit of intention will become reality. No one could put more weight to this claim than the world famous Stephen Hawking; ‘The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.’[12]
There is undeniably a correlation and direct relationship between human consciousness and material matter. We understand in quantum physics that atoms are made up of vortices of energy that are constantly spinning and vibrating. In its smallest, observed form, physical matter is quite simply energy, and somehow, human consciousness is connected to this energy. Beyond that human consciousness can influence the behavior of that energy in those atoms with such strength that its form and structure is altered. That’s pretty amazing. So if this is the power our minds are capable of, to alter the reality in front of us, who on earth would not want to expand that consciousness and fully realize their connection to everything around them, within them and the energy flowing through them? That’s spirituality.
When we expand our consciousness, we are essentially erasing the limited beliefs, learned constructs of our physical world within our own minds. As we eradicate the things standing between our individual selves and our universally connected higher selves, we allow the possibility of revelation, and understanding the world on a whole new level, which is the streaming in of all the universal truths from our higher connected consciousness. It is at this level of consciousness we experience our true Divine nature and being one with our Universe. Enlightenment can’t be taught, it has to be experienced. Expanding our consciousness, allows us to experience the Divine, where we can begin to not only understand the potential of free will, allowing ourselves to fully play in this physical realm, but we begin also to embody it through being one with the Universe. This is what people are referring to when they speak of enlightenment.
When it comes to consciousness there is a spectrum, the experience of feeling Divided or Divine. In fact, every single human being has a unique individual use of consciousness. We condense and filter the one mind through our limited beliefs, leaving us with a divinely perfect relative experience. This spectrum is in perfect proportion to ones limited beliefs, limited perspectives and ones limited ways of being and responding to our environment. To be fully conscious means to be with the knowing of the entire universe. Awakening to this expansion of consciousness can be a slow process or strike us like a lightning bolt. We can simply and gradually become more aware of our surroundings or we can go into meditation and embrace an epiphany that changes our lives forever. Are there any immediate positive effects of expanding our consciousness on our bodies? You betcha! Our stress levels go down, our blood pressure decreases, our muscles relax, our heart beat regulates itself, and our blood sugar levels stabilize. Consciousness directly affects our health and well-being.
“If you look into your heart and you find nothing wrong there
What is there to worry about? What is there to fear?”
CONFUCIUS
[1] Way of the Peaceful Warrior, April 13th 2006, by Dan Millman
[2] Conversations of Socrates, Penquin Classics, July 3rd 1990, by Xenophon and Robert H. Waterfield.
[3] Essential Dialogues of Plato, Barnes and Nobles Classics, October 5th 2005, by Plato and Benjamin Jowett
[4] Nikola Tesla direct quote, Biography of a Genius, Citadel Book Press, February 1st 2001, by Marc Seifer
[5] Descartes
[6] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329762-700-consciousness-on-off-switch-discovered-deep-in-brain/
[7] http://centerforsleepandconsciousness.med.wisc.edu/people/tononi.html
[8] “The integrated information theory assigns a numerical value, “PHI” to the degree of irreducibility. If PHI is zero, the system is reducible to its individual parts but if PHI is large, the system is more than just the sum of its parts.” https://www.livescience.com/47096-theories-seek-to-explain-consciousness.html
[9] The term Blackboard is an old concept from artificial intelligence, a memory bank that different computer programs could access.
[10] Albert Einstein; https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/may/12/peopleinscience.religion
[11] Stanford Research Experiment: A White Paper on The Law of Cause and Effect by William A. Tiller
[12] Stephen Hawking, Brief History of Time, Bantam Books, March 1, 1988
