Thursday, 31 July 2008
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
What is consciousness? by Andrew Schneider
What is consciousness?
One of the most difficult issues of life to define and understand is consciousness. Yet it is a word that is used everyday and people don’t think much about it. Self-help books and personal growth courses often use the terminology of consciousness but frequently don’t really understand what it is all about. Most confuse consciousness with awareness. They are similar ideas but in some ways opposite each other.
Clarity about consciousness is all important. If we cannot properly name something we do not know it. And not knowing it, we have no influence over it. I wish to share with you a few basic insights about consciousness.
We are entering a period of human growth and development where consciousness needs to be a priority focus for each of us if we are to live a meaningful and purposeful life. Meaning and purpose are the primary fruits of consciousness development.
Consciousness is what makes something what it is. It is what defines a person as to who they are. It is the essence of a thing which reveals both its universal truth and its unique individual characteristics. Consciousness is the soul of any reality, it is its essence.
Everyone and everything has an essence or a soul and everyone and everything has consciousness. Each person or thing is unique as individuals. But we are all part of something greater as well. It is consciousness or soul which links us to our greater, universal nature, sometimes called the Divine.
When you have consciousness you are using your heart, your intuition, or your faculties of knowing that transcend the mind. Heart, intuition and these other faculties exist in the realm of soul. So when you know with consciousness you are not separate from what you know. You merge with it. You identify with it as you experience it. It moves you in a way that you experience it as a part of your greater self.
When you have awareness you are using your mind to know something in an objective way. You know something about something. You possess or have knowledge, but as the one who knows you are separate from the thing you know. Awareness happens as a mental reflex whenever the mind is exposed to something, The only choice involved is what we want to pay attention to, or the extent to which we want to learn more about something.
You could call consciousness ‘soul knowing’. The beauty of soul knowing is that soul is not separate from what it knows or contacts. It sees itself in the other. In knowing it fully we touch its essence, and in doing so we love what we know. As soul beings we are essentially love. And through this knowing with soul we grow and expand our sense of who we are as soul beings. We find peace and harmony in our relationships with those people and situations that we approach with this consciousness.
Can we change our consciousness?
We cannot change who we are, but we can shift our identity from being the personality to being the soul. This is a shift from identifying oneself as one’s self-image to identifying with one’s essence. In truth, we really ARE the essence, the soul. And we HAVE the self-image or personality.
To say that we ARE the personality is tantamount to saying that we are our sensations, our emotions, and our thoughts – which we are not. We do not HAVE a soul. We ARE soul and HAVE a personality.
In ages past, people did not speak of changing consciousness. It was not relevant. Consciousness is identity. In the past, people were their personality. And still today, the majority of people identify with their personality as who they are. However, there are more and more people able to disidentify from their personality and identify with their essence, the soul.
In many ways, these two levels of self, of ‘I,’ are opposites. It requires an extremely radical shift in perspectives to make the change from identifying with the personality to identify with the soul. One must re-evaluate all previous ways of understanding, of thinking, of acting, and of being motivated.
The change in consciousness from personality identity to soul consciousness can only occur when a person is ready. Readiness is determined by:
Having sufficient experience from which one has learned a great deal about oneself.
Being willing and able to face the subconscious realities that one has previously repressed.
Having built up a strong ego, so one is able to withstand the vicissitudes of life.
Being independent and responsible for one’s own well-being. Taking responsibility for the consequences of one’s choices.
Can you help someone else change consciousness?
Changing consciousness is not a matter of a desire that can be fulfilled. Instead, it’s a growth process that occurs from within. You cannot make a flower bloom – it will bloom when it gets to that particular stage of unfoldment. But just as the flower needs nourishing and support to get to that stage, so too every person needs nurturing and support to move through the stages of unfoldment.
We can assist people to fulfill their needs. If a person is dependent, we can help them to become more independent by supporting them to recognize and meet their own needs. We cannot help people take responsibility for their choices, which is part of the process of becoming independent, but we can encourage them to take responsibility.
If a person is independent, and is ready to move on to soul growth, we can assist them to understand what those stages of growth involve. We can also invite them to participate in group activities that are soul-based. This might involve group meditation or service of some kind. We can also exemplify through our living the qualities of soul consciousness, which then creates a resonance within others.
Every step of the soul journey necessitates a free and conscious choice for GREATER INCLUSIVENESS. And therefore, there is a letting go or sacrificing of something personal that might inhibit one from being more inclusive. This would be some thoughts, ideas, attitudes, or behaviors that are exclusive, separative, self-centered or judgmental.
No one can help another to make such shifts of perspective. We cannot force such shifts in ourselves, either. One arrives at that stage when the choice is a natural step based on the loving, intelligent unfoldment of heart and mind.
The step toward inclusiveness is inspired and supported by the soul within rather than based solely on personality efforts. When the personality releases its blocks to soul expression, the choice is simply a consciousness assent to the life and impulse of the soul within.
How long does it take to shift in consciousness?
This is a personality-based question that really has no answer in terms of length of time. It takes as long as one lives. Change is a fundamental reality of life in time and space. Change is occurring constantly, but often we don’t recognize it as it may be quite subtle.
The personality is also always trying to keep things the same. Often changes are occurring but we are unconsciously living as if they were not. When this happens, we tend to be out of step with what is happening in our life and in our psyche. As a result something does not work, things go awry and we are not content.
Sometimes the changes that are going on within us and around us are not the changes we want or like. This is because we do not understand them. And this is why they exist.
There are basically two causes for the changes we experience.
1. One cause is the necessity of subconscious, repressed content to surface into consciousness. These are frequently what we would consider to be negative things – something that exists within us that we are not aware of. It is something that we reject and do not own as ours, something for which we have not taken responsibility.
Because we are not aware of some aspect of ourselves and it wants to come into our consciousness, it is therefore causing many things to occur. We usually become aware of it by projecting it onto people or situations outside of ourselves so that we have the opportunity to see it.
It is a fact of psychological life that whatever is unconscious must in time become conscious. So there is always something from the psyche’s shadows seeking the light of awareness. If we do not pay attention to it, it will then get our attention through negative expression of symptoms.
In the Soul Journey, we explore hidden content deliberately so that it no longer controls us, and so that new pathways for soul development and expression can be created.
2. The other cause of the changes we experience is the soul’s activity within us. The soul is constantly emanating its presence in the endless forms of love, intelligence and power. It is the soul’s power or pressure that triggers the subconscious content to surface, because if there is something blocking the soul’s expression within the subconscious then a pathway for expression in conscious life must be cleared. The principle involved is that the soul can only express itself through the path of least resistance. Removing the subconscious blocks that are selfish, ignorant and fearful eliminates specific resistance to the soul’s expression.
When there is no or little resistance within us, the soul will express itself based on our awareness of need within ourselves or around us. The changes we experience through soul expression at those times are greater integration between personality and soul. We inevitably then experience aspects of Beauty, Truth or Goodness. We become more the true Self that we are.
Developing Soul Consciousness and Overcoming Challenges
In his book, Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore says that the greatest illness of modern times is ‘loss of soul.’ I do not think that we have lost soul, but simply have not yet discovered it, and therefore live in a soulless way.
The new consciousness on the planet today demands that we no longer neglect this vital aspect of who we are. Ignoring this reality has dire consequences, as Moore points out: “When soul is neglected, it doesn’t just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning. Our temptation is to isolate these symptoms or to try to eradicate them one by one; but the root problem is that we have lost our wisdom about the soul, even our interest in it.”
Becoming soul-conscious or expanding consciousness is not a choice. It is a deep and natural urge within all of us that is being emphasized by the needs in the world today. The only choice is whether or not we will cooperate or resist the expansion of consciousness once it begins happening. And consciousness expands in all aspects of life where we have gained sufficient awareness and learning.
When we resist this movement of soul within we become ill, we have accidents, we are unhappy, we have money problems, emotional pain is experienced, relationships don’t work well. In general, our life sends us signals to which we must pay attention. Through developing soul consciousness, we learn what these signals are, how to interpret them, and then what to do about them. The Soul Journey will assist you with this.
The evidence of the drive for expanded consciousness, or soul, is found in everyone’s deep yearning to be free. The liberation we want is the release from duality – the very stuff that the challenges of life are made of. But we cannot find this freedom unless we deal effectively with the challenges.
All challenges that we experience are initiated by the soul, even though it can appear that the challenges come from other people, the world around us, society, circumstances and situations. What is the nature of these challenges? What is their purpose? How can we master them?
(Andrew’s e-book ‘Water into Wine’ identifies the basic 9 challenges of life, shows us their purpose, and gives us the understanding we need to master them.)
As we master our challenges, we gain in wisdom and develop the power, love and intelligence that is characteristic of soul consciousness. When we incorporate the mastery into our identity, we transform and experience greater liberation.
To find out more about the Soul Journey and other consciousness related materials of Andrew Schneider, please visit http://www.thesouljourney.com
One of the most difficult issues of life to define and understand is consciousness. Yet it is a word that is used everyday and people don’t think much about it. Self-help books and personal growth courses often use the terminology of consciousness but frequently don’t really understand what it is all about. Most confuse consciousness with awareness. They are similar ideas but in some ways opposite each other.
Clarity about consciousness is all important. If we cannot properly name something we do not know it. And not knowing it, we have no influence over it. I wish to share with you a few basic insights about consciousness.
We are entering a period of human growth and development where consciousness needs to be a priority focus for each of us if we are to live a meaningful and purposeful life. Meaning and purpose are the primary fruits of consciousness development.
Consciousness is what makes something what it is. It is what defines a person as to who they are. It is the essence of a thing which reveals both its universal truth and its unique individual characteristics. Consciousness is the soul of any reality, it is its essence.
Everyone and everything has an essence or a soul and everyone and everything has consciousness. Each person or thing is unique as individuals. But we are all part of something greater as well. It is consciousness or soul which links us to our greater, universal nature, sometimes called the Divine.
When you have consciousness you are using your heart, your intuition, or your faculties of knowing that transcend the mind. Heart, intuition and these other faculties exist in the realm of soul. So when you know with consciousness you are not separate from what you know. You merge with it. You identify with it as you experience it. It moves you in a way that you experience it as a part of your greater self.
When you have awareness you are using your mind to know something in an objective way. You know something about something. You possess or have knowledge, but as the one who knows you are separate from the thing you know. Awareness happens as a mental reflex whenever the mind is exposed to something, The only choice involved is what we want to pay attention to, or the extent to which we want to learn more about something.
You could call consciousness ‘soul knowing’. The beauty of soul knowing is that soul is not separate from what it knows or contacts. It sees itself in the other. In knowing it fully we touch its essence, and in doing so we love what we know. As soul beings we are essentially love. And through this knowing with soul we grow and expand our sense of who we are as soul beings. We find peace and harmony in our relationships with those people and situations that we approach with this consciousness.
Can we change our consciousness?
We cannot change who we are, but we can shift our identity from being the personality to being the soul. This is a shift from identifying oneself as one’s self-image to identifying with one’s essence. In truth, we really ARE the essence, the soul. And we HAVE the self-image or personality.
To say that we ARE the personality is tantamount to saying that we are our sensations, our emotions, and our thoughts – which we are not. We do not HAVE a soul. We ARE soul and HAVE a personality.
In ages past, people did not speak of changing consciousness. It was not relevant. Consciousness is identity. In the past, people were their personality. And still today, the majority of people identify with their personality as who they are. However, there are more and more people able to disidentify from their personality and identify with their essence, the soul.
In many ways, these two levels of self, of ‘I,’ are opposites. It requires an extremely radical shift in perspectives to make the change from identifying with the personality to identify with the soul. One must re-evaluate all previous ways of understanding, of thinking, of acting, and of being motivated.
The change in consciousness from personality identity to soul consciousness can only occur when a person is ready. Readiness is determined by:
Having sufficient experience from which one has learned a great deal about oneself.
Being willing and able to face the subconscious realities that one has previously repressed.
Having built up a strong ego, so one is able to withstand the vicissitudes of life.
Being independent and responsible for one’s own well-being. Taking responsibility for the consequences of one’s choices.
Can you help someone else change consciousness?
Changing consciousness is not a matter of a desire that can be fulfilled. Instead, it’s a growth process that occurs from within. You cannot make a flower bloom – it will bloom when it gets to that particular stage of unfoldment. But just as the flower needs nourishing and support to get to that stage, so too every person needs nurturing and support to move through the stages of unfoldment.
We can assist people to fulfill their needs. If a person is dependent, we can help them to become more independent by supporting them to recognize and meet their own needs. We cannot help people take responsibility for their choices, which is part of the process of becoming independent, but we can encourage them to take responsibility.
If a person is independent, and is ready to move on to soul growth, we can assist them to understand what those stages of growth involve. We can also invite them to participate in group activities that are soul-based. This might involve group meditation or service of some kind. We can also exemplify through our living the qualities of soul consciousness, which then creates a resonance within others.
Every step of the soul journey necessitates a free and conscious choice for GREATER INCLUSIVENESS. And therefore, there is a letting go or sacrificing of something personal that might inhibit one from being more inclusive. This would be some thoughts, ideas, attitudes, or behaviors that are exclusive, separative, self-centered or judgmental.
No one can help another to make such shifts of perspective. We cannot force such shifts in ourselves, either. One arrives at that stage when the choice is a natural step based on the loving, intelligent unfoldment of heart and mind.
The step toward inclusiveness is inspired and supported by the soul within rather than based solely on personality efforts. When the personality releases its blocks to soul expression, the choice is simply a consciousness assent to the life and impulse of the soul within.
How long does it take to shift in consciousness?
This is a personality-based question that really has no answer in terms of length of time. It takes as long as one lives. Change is a fundamental reality of life in time and space. Change is occurring constantly, but often we don’t recognize it as it may be quite subtle.
The personality is also always trying to keep things the same. Often changes are occurring but we are unconsciously living as if they were not. When this happens, we tend to be out of step with what is happening in our life and in our psyche. As a result something does not work, things go awry and we are not content.
Sometimes the changes that are going on within us and around us are not the changes we want or like. This is because we do not understand them. And this is why they exist.
There are basically two causes for the changes we experience.
1. One cause is the necessity of subconscious, repressed content to surface into consciousness. These are frequently what we would consider to be negative things – something that exists within us that we are not aware of. It is something that we reject and do not own as ours, something for which we have not taken responsibility.
Because we are not aware of some aspect of ourselves and it wants to come into our consciousness, it is therefore causing many things to occur. We usually become aware of it by projecting it onto people or situations outside of ourselves so that we have the opportunity to see it.
It is a fact of psychological life that whatever is unconscious must in time become conscious. So there is always something from the psyche’s shadows seeking the light of awareness. If we do not pay attention to it, it will then get our attention through negative expression of symptoms.
In the Soul Journey, we explore hidden content deliberately so that it no longer controls us, and so that new pathways for soul development and expression can be created.
2. The other cause of the changes we experience is the soul’s activity within us. The soul is constantly emanating its presence in the endless forms of love, intelligence and power. It is the soul’s power or pressure that triggers the subconscious content to surface, because if there is something blocking the soul’s expression within the subconscious then a pathway for expression in conscious life must be cleared. The principle involved is that the soul can only express itself through the path of least resistance. Removing the subconscious blocks that are selfish, ignorant and fearful eliminates specific resistance to the soul’s expression.
When there is no or little resistance within us, the soul will express itself based on our awareness of need within ourselves or around us. The changes we experience through soul expression at those times are greater integration between personality and soul. We inevitably then experience aspects of Beauty, Truth or Goodness. We become more the true Self that we are.
Developing Soul Consciousness and Overcoming Challenges
In his book, Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore says that the greatest illness of modern times is ‘loss of soul.’ I do not think that we have lost soul, but simply have not yet discovered it, and therefore live in a soulless way.
The new consciousness on the planet today demands that we no longer neglect this vital aspect of who we are. Ignoring this reality has dire consequences, as Moore points out: “When soul is neglected, it doesn’t just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning. Our temptation is to isolate these symptoms or to try to eradicate them one by one; but the root problem is that we have lost our wisdom about the soul, even our interest in it.”
Becoming soul-conscious or expanding consciousness is not a choice. It is a deep and natural urge within all of us that is being emphasized by the needs in the world today. The only choice is whether or not we will cooperate or resist the expansion of consciousness once it begins happening. And consciousness expands in all aspects of life where we have gained sufficient awareness and learning.
When we resist this movement of soul within we become ill, we have accidents, we are unhappy, we have money problems, emotional pain is experienced, relationships don’t work well. In general, our life sends us signals to which we must pay attention. Through developing soul consciousness, we learn what these signals are, how to interpret them, and then what to do about them. The Soul Journey will assist you with this.
The evidence of the drive for expanded consciousness, or soul, is found in everyone’s deep yearning to be free. The liberation we want is the release from duality – the very stuff that the challenges of life are made of. But we cannot find this freedom unless we deal effectively with the challenges.
All challenges that we experience are initiated by the soul, even though it can appear that the challenges come from other people, the world around us, society, circumstances and situations. What is the nature of these challenges? What is their purpose? How can we master them?
(Andrew’s e-book ‘Water into Wine’ identifies the basic 9 challenges of life, shows us their purpose, and gives us the understanding we need to master them.)
As we master our challenges, we gain in wisdom and develop the power, love and intelligence that is characteristic of soul consciousness. When we incorporate the mastery into our identity, we transform and experience greater liberation.
To find out more about the Soul Journey and other consciousness related materials of Andrew Schneider, please visit http://www.thesouljourney.com
Saturday, 26 July 2008
What's Right or left
What's Right or left!
Filled with joy from the moments
days of dance, song.
Remembering the joy that's been had
if I can
when I can.
knowing it's not me
but off course ME
Again I smile
a hopeful smile
through the tears and pain
that remain
Sitting up once more, slowly
silently
Willing myself to go on
to create, to nurture
the heart of my family
all that family.
Grieving
the ones we have lost
Where is their heart?
I'm not sure at all.
Maybe I shouldn't compare
as they are not I or us.
Three soldiers left to fight the rest.
Many guards, unique their dress
Do we have to fight?
To struggle long and hard
so far into the night
every night.
How many crossings
rivers, seas
mountains to climb?
A friend who asks what do you want?
My friend it's what I need
a want I will not demand.
He's deaf and blind
so what does he see?
The luxury of what I want was many seeds
Preparing the soil
tending the weeds
Still aspiring to the same, but my
how all has changed
Knowing we are all connected
Enjoying new family
ones who care
for more than themselves, like I.
Not afraid to feel
to touch
to say
or to bask
in the sun with I love you
And how much I miss you
The you that was
each and every day
Every beautiful sight and feeling
shared with you silently
every step of the way.
Although you may not of heard
or felt
but know, I knew
although comprehension few.
The times when prayer
is all we have left
and Love and Hope
the treasures we share
invisible
to the naked eye
but naked
to you and I.
by Lorna Cameron
Saturday, 19 July 2008
We shall not ceace from exploration
We shall not ceace from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
shall be to arrive where we have started
and to know the place for the first time
Play It Again Sam
Play It Again Sam
An expression commonly used when asking for a repeat performance or recap of something THAT HAS BEEN SAID. The Sam in question is the pianist in the 1942 film classic Casablanca....Starring Humfrey Bogart and Ingrid Berman, with Dooley Wilson taking the part of Sam. It refers to a scene in the film where the Bogart character Rick Blaine supposedly asks the pianist to play 'As Time Goes BY' once more. However the line does not appear in the film. What Rick Blaine does say is 'If she can stand it, I can!'...Play it. There is also dialogue between the Ingrid Bergman character and the pianist on the same subject....'Play it once more Sam'...Play as time goes by. It is though that the popular misquotation of the line comes from its use as the title of a Woody Allen film of 1972.
Pandora's Box
PANDORA'S BOX
According to Greek Mythology Pandora was the first human woman "All Gifts". The father of the Gods Zeus ordered her creation as a punishment for man have been given the gift of fire. Pandora brought with her from Olympus a box which contained all the evils of the world, and when she finally opened the casket all the ills escaped! Leaving HOPE alone at the bottom. 'Pandora's Box' as a colloquial expression is used to describe either serious of disasters or something that appears to be beneficial but turns out to be the complete opposite.
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Human kind
For tens of thousands of years cultures developed in close attunement with the elemental energies of the cosmos. The chinese recognized five primal elements Fire, earth, metal, water and wood....Native Americans included sacred sound while the Greeks identified the four energies of Earth, air water and fire. These weren't simply ideas or metaphors. Their power was experienced as real. Rivers, mountains, fire, lightning and hurricanes all spoke of the grandeur of the universe and the importance of living in right relation with these elemental forces. To stay in touch with this power, it was common to celebrate or pray to these basic elements of life.
My Words are tied in one
with the great mountains
with the great rocks
with the great trees
I am one with my body
And My heart
And now for this exquisite poem see if it moves your heart and touches you as deeply as it did I. I don't even have to look at the words now and my eyes glisten in response to my hearts call.
Hear, O humankind, the prayer of my heart
For are we not one, have we not one desire
to heal our mother earth and bind her wounds
to hear again from dark forests and flashing rivers
the varied ever changing song of creation?
Oh humankind are we not all brothers and sisters
are we not the grandchildren of the great mystery?
Do we not all want to love and be loved, to work
and to play, to sing and dance together?
But we live with fear. Fear that is hate
Fear that is mistrust, envy, greed, vanity,
Fear that is ambition, competition, aggression
Fear that is lonliness, anger, biterness, cruelty....
..and Yet fear is only twisted LOVE...love turned back on itself
love that was denied, love that was rejected..and LOVE
Love is life....creation, seed and leaf and blossom
and fruit and seed, love is growth
and search and reach and touch and dance.
Love is nurture and succor and feed and pleasure
Love is pleasuring ourselves, pleasuring each other
Love is life believing in itself...
...And LIFE...
Life is the sacred mystery singing to itself, dancing
to its drum, telling tales, improvising, playing
and WE are all that spirit, our stories all
but one cosmic story that we are love indeed
that perfect love in me seeks the love in you
and if our eyes could ever meet without fear
we would recongnise each other and rejoice,
for love is life believing in itself!
WOW!!!
MANITONGQUAT
My Words are tied in one
with the great mountains
with the great rocks
with the great trees
I am one with my body
And My heart
And now for this exquisite poem see if it moves your heart and touches you as deeply as it did I. I don't even have to look at the words now and my eyes glisten in response to my hearts call.
Hear, O humankind, the prayer of my heart
For are we not one, have we not one desire
to heal our mother earth and bind her wounds
to hear again from dark forests and flashing rivers
the varied ever changing song of creation?
Oh humankind are we not all brothers and sisters
are we not the grandchildren of the great mystery?
Do we not all want to love and be loved, to work
and to play, to sing and dance together?
But we live with fear. Fear that is hate
Fear that is mistrust, envy, greed, vanity,
Fear that is ambition, competition, aggression
Fear that is lonliness, anger, biterness, cruelty....
..and Yet fear is only twisted LOVE...love turned back on itself
love that was denied, love that was rejected..and LOVE
Love is life....creation, seed and leaf and blossom
and fruit and seed, love is growth
and search and reach and touch and dance.
Love is nurture and succor and feed and pleasure
Love is pleasuring ourselves, pleasuring each other
Love is life believing in itself...
...And LIFE...
Life is the sacred mystery singing to itself, dancing
to its drum, telling tales, improvising, playing
and WE are all that spirit, our stories all
but one cosmic story that we are love indeed
that perfect love in me seeks the love in you
and if our eyes could ever meet without fear
we would recongnise each other and rejoice,
for love is life believing in itself!
WOW!!!
MANITONGQUAT
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