As human beings we consider that we are conscious. Our consciousness depends on the input from our five senses, our emotions and thoughts. We can clearly see that animals are also conscious by the way they react to environmental stimuli.
Science though might draw the line when considering the plant kingdom. Plants too react to their surroundings but is that the same as being conscious? If we take a further step and look at the mineral kingdom the obvious conclusion would be that it is impossible for inanimate objects such as crystals and rocks to be conscious.
However, our conclusions are likely to be based on the assumption that plants and inanimate objects don’t have the faculties/senses we have. This is undoubtedly true but it doesn’t rule out the possibility of a different kind of awareness or consciousness.
Forces such as gravity and electromagnetism act between objects, which is a form of communication, even at great distances. Recently it has been found that trees can communicate by using their roots and a network of underground fungi. The latest theories about atoms suggest that they also seem to be able to influence each other using mechanisms we have yet to understand.
Let us take a bold step and suggest that if an entity or object can be influenced and reacts to external stimuli then in some way it is conscious.
From an esoteric point of view Consciousness might be understood as the mechanism by which God is aware of God. As human beings we are well equipped to be aware of our immediate environment. We also have the ability to contemplate the relationship between what we consider ourselves to be and our place in the universe.
When we start Meditating on Light and Sound we soon realize that we are more than we thought we were. The Spiritual Journey is an expansion of Consciousness which ultimately leads to Enlightenment.
Strangely, there is no Consciousness of any thing in the Enlightened State as that would require separation!
12th November 2021
You are asking about Consciousness.
This is a very good question. It is all to do with how humans relate to their surroundings. Some people would live their lives completely instinctively and all they are conscious of is set patterns that they live by. You could say that they are ruled by them and they would feel uncomfortable if challenged, they are “safe” within their limits.
There are others, however, who challenge. the limits society imposes on them and “break out” of the mould. They have their own ideas of how they should live their lives and so their consciousness expands accordingly. This is a very simplistic picture of quite a complicated issue. Each person is an individual who expands their consciousness in different ways, but it helps to understand human kind as those who accept the status quo and those who do not.
Now we have reached the interesting part…….
In the practice of Meditation it is possible to Be Conscious without being conscious of external stimuli. This happens when a person becomes at one with what they are Meditating on.
It is a hard concept for anyone to understand if they have not experienced this. How can it be possible to be totally aware, and yet there is no thing to be aware of!
But more and more people are Experiencing this outside of Meditation. Each time it happens their Consciousness expands Spiritually and their Knowledge of the Higher Realms increases. It is like breaking through a veil which they don’t know is there.
This can happen to anyone at any time, even to people who are not normally interested in being taken out of their comfort zone. It is awe inspiring and can be life changing – miraculously people can see the World completely differently and want to explore this new Knowledge.
Life on Earth has infinite possibilities. A person’s Consciousness can expand Spiritually to the Ultimate Expansion, when it is possible to Realize that there is only one Consciousness – Them!