The Nature of Awareness
We are born into the physical realm as individual beings who have forgotten what we are: spirits seeking human experience in an infinite field of conscious, intelligent energy frequencies that are the source and supply of all things; the energy field that many have named God, but which I prefer to call the One Mind. We constantly receive these energy frequencies through receptors in our brains which have been programmed by inherited genetics, our thoughts, and our senses. Depending on our level of awareness, these receptors may attract low energy ego frequencies of fear, anger, guilt, and regret; or they may receive higher energy spiritual frequencies of love, health, and prosperity.
Our purpose in the physical realm is to experience separation from oneness with all things, and to encounter events and emotions that are only possible in the physical state. Our challenge is to regain awareness of the truth of what we are, so that when the body dies, our human consciousness can persist as one with our eternal consciousness in the spirit realm.
Beginning with infancy and on through adolescence, every child passes through stages of physical and emotional development that teach awareness of self, awareness of others, and awareness of and adjustment to the physical environment. Physical development is mostly automatic, requiring little or no input from ourselves. Emotional awareness development is more complex.
To regain forgotten consciousness of our true self, most of us must pass through three levels of increasing conscious awareness. Let’s call these the Narcissist, the Altruist, and the Deist. Almost everyone’s early history is as a dedicated Narcissist. The Narcissist is all about self, forever grasping, striving for ego gratification, with only lip service for the needs of others.
For the Narcissist, life is about pleasure seeking and approval. Approval from its self, yes, but mostly the Narcissist seeks approval from others. Most of us learned at a very young age that in order to protect ourselves from pain, and to satisfy our physical and emotional needs, we had to behave in ways that insured approval from the adults that held power over our lives. So being intelligent little pleasure seekers and pain avoiders, we adapted and became what THEY wanted.
Unfortunately some, maybe many, are so damaged by the traumas of childhood and adolescence that they come to believe they are responsible for every outcome. Because they hold themselves so fiercely accountable, life becomes a fearsome struggle to control and limit further damage. The pursuit of more stuff becomes a way to avoid admitting they are terrified of not being normal. Coping mechanisms may kick in: denial, anger, alcohol, drugs.
Many become stuck in Narcissistic awareness. But some begin to sense that grasping for more stuff, and continually struggling to avoid failure, is not the answer to their fears. When a soul reaches that stage it’s at the threshold of a higher level of awareness: the Altruist.
With meditative practice, the Narcissist can learn to shift its awareness from lower energy ego frequencies, and instead tune into higher energy Altruistic frequencies. With consistent meditation, the Narcissist can learn to receive Altruist energy and come to terms with ego. To think less of self and more of others. To be less concerned with how it is treated and more concerned with how it treats others. To apply more effort to understanding others’ motives, needs, and priorities rather than continually striving to satisfy its own desires.
The Altruist’s creed is forgiveness, gratitude, and selflessness. But the successful Altruist doesn’t aspire to live in a state of gratitude and to serve others in search of some heavenly reward. The Altruist’s motives are more pragmatic. It has come to realize that ego can never be satisfied or appeased. Ego will always seek more of everything: more power, more money, more stuff.
The Altruist knows that attitudes of forgiveness, gratitude, and selflessness are simply a less painful, more rewarding way to live. Attitudes that take away the fear of limitation and replace it with appreciation for what is given. Attitudes that replace the selfishness of ego with more selfless concern for the needs of others. Attitudes that replace anger, hate, and resentment, with compassion and forgiveness.
The successful Altruist has discovered a great but simple truth: Clinging to the exquisite demons of anger, hate, and resentment damages the clinger more than the clingee. The Altruist is determined to cast out the demons because it recognizes that even though the anger, hate, and resentments may seem oh so righteous, they’re a cancer that slowly but surely ravages the host, sacrificing both soul and body to an inferno of outraged passion. The Altruist strives to replace the demons with spiritual energies of love and abundance.
The Altruist recognizes the cycle of perpetual pain: hurt breeds anger, anger breeds cruelty, cruelty breeds revenge, revenge breeds yet more hurt. The aware Altruist realizes pain can lead to compassion. Compassion for the wounds of the one that caused our wounds. Compassion leads to forgiveness of the misguided perpetrators of our pain. Forgiveness sets us free to be grateful for the abundant gifts of life we unconsciously receive every moment of every day.
The Deist is the ultimate level of awareness. Many of us slog through life resenting the hardships that appear to be preventing us from the happiness we think we deserve. We muddle along, angry at a life that seems so indifferent to our suffering. We agonize over what might have been. We blame and accuse, and curse a fate that seems to delight in our misery. The Deist realizes the importance of embracing tragedy and pain. The Deist recognizes the struggles and pain of life are in fact blessings in disguise. Blessings which have the power to reveal the truth of its conscious oneness with One Mind.
If we’re going to become fully aware of what we are we need to change our perception that sees us as victims of a cruel and unforgiving world. Instead, we must learn to see ourselves as blessed beneficiaries of the most incredible gift imaginable; physical life,. A gift which can teach us that the freedom of forgiveness comes from experiencing the bondage of resentments and anger, then letting it go. A gift which can teach us that gratitude comes from experiencing the anguish of failure and loss, then letting it go. How can we fully understand joy unless we’ve experienced despair? How can we truly appreciate bliss unless we’ve known deep sorrow?
The adventure we call life is a fantastic imaginary playground we’ve been given so we can experience the human condition, then re-discover the truth of what we are. We are spirit beings having a human experience for the purpose of encountering adventures and emotions that are only possible in the physical state. Adventures and emotions which can re-awaken us to the ultimate realization that our human consciousness can persist beyond physical death, one with our eternal spirit consciousness.
For an individual consciousness to persist beyond physical death, it must have acquired the awareness that consciousness is continuous between the physical and spirit realms. When the body dies, our human consciousness has only to shift its attention to the spirit realm to become our eternal spirit consciousness.
How can we acquire this awareness that we so desperately seek? Focused meditation is the path to the higher energy Deist frequencies. Through meditation we can change the way our brain’s receptors receive life force energy, turning away from the ego frequencies of fear, anger, guilt, and regret, to the spiritual frequencies of love, health and prosperity.
There is no magic to meditation. Find a quiet place and close your eyes. Calm your chaotic thoughts and focus on silence. When your busy mind wants to intrude, gently return your attention to the silence. Patience and persistence are the keys.
We are spirit consciousness that separated from the oneness of everything, and came into the physical realm seeking individual human experience that can only be gained in the physical state. When the body dies, we can return our consciousness to the spirit realm by shifting our attention away from the physical realm of separation and back to the spirit realm, regaining the awareness of what we truly are: spirit beings, one with the eternal oneness of all things.
