Consciousness your definitions Jonathan's Thought for the Day Tuesday September 14th Barbara Occleshaw has written to me from Llanbedr-y-Cennin, Conwy, Gwynedd with her definition of consciousness. Thankfully, her letter is in English, even though her address is in Welsh! She says "Imagine standing on a step, quite content with the view when suddenly, you notice another step higher up. It must have been there all the time but you have only just become aware of it. You step up and the view is so much better. It makes you want to say 'wow' and 'Ahhhh!'" Put simply, Barbara feels that consciousness is an experience of the 'ahhh' factor! Thank you to everyone who wrote in. If you have anything to add please feel free to email us. LAST UPDATED TUESDAY NOVEMBER 16 1999 Diana from California sees dreams as the key to consciousness. She must agree with Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who wrote: �Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?� �Consciousness,� Diana contends, �is a constant and seemingly verifiable belief that one exists within a particular set of circumstances. This belief gives birth to impulse, energies associated with humankind such as will and desire. One may believe that one exists in a particular set of circumstances, e.g. flying with feathered wings, but discover that one is dreaming and therefore not conscious. The element of constancy is missing from a dream that one is flying, as is the ability to verify the perceptions in the dreamstate. Of course, the concept of constancy depends upon time, which is relative. This makes the requirement of verification paramount. Unfortunately, there is not yet a universally agreed upon standard for verifying the boundary between a dream and a reality. Which is why some of us are inclined to believe that others are not conscious. I think the only reasonable conclusion is that all of us are dreaming - dreaming that we are conscious, and yet none of us can ever reach that exalted state.� Wendy in Arizona says much depends on what we are ready and able to be conscious of to begin with. �A comfortable awareness of the integration and presence in body, mind and spirit; and an awareness of deep and peaceful connection of the individual to other human beings, animal beings, life forms, and higher source. Obviously, that only touches the surface, as we know it, since we can only be conscious of what we are ready and �able� to recognize and accept...� Marlene has a universal approach to her relativistic view. �Consciousness to me is knowing that everything I see, everything I own, everyone I know, everything I do, everyone I love, and every person I make contact with are all just thoughts in my mind and that I am free to choose and process my thoughts in every moment.� Toni from the States believes consciousness can be defined by �differences�. �I believe 'consciousness' is when you begin to notice differences. . . I believe consciousness may begin when we notice our existence. Question is, when does it or DID it begin - the noticing of ourselves? Michelle writes from the East Coast about awakening... �This morning, I read the New York Times coverage of the Greeks recovering from their most recent earthquake (I used to live there for a few years) - and began crying as I read how the Greeks were embracing the caring hands extended by their long-time 'enemy' - the Turks. People on both sides of the aged dispute have come together as they both recover from their most recent natural disasters... something neither side ever thought possible. It is an emotional time for both countries. In short, is not consciousness the mere awakening from our unconsciousness?� Cherril from Brighton in the UK believes consciousness is strictly an individual matter. �I believe 'consciousness' is unique to every individual. To me it is based on each person's own reality. We all see and interpret 'things' differently. Some of us strive for higher 'consciousness' and others are content with 'the way things are' and have no desire to know more. To them 'black is black'; to others of us 'black' might be purple. We only know our own truths.� John in Texas makes the case for consciousness being �all that there is.� �Nothing can be proven to exist or occur without the presence of consciousness. It could be submitted that consciousness, in a very real way, is all that there is.� Suzanne in Toronto says the key is acknowledgement. �Now, my definition of consciousness... Acknowledgement. Becoming conscious or getting insights also comes from good healthy living. Doing the things in life you love and requesting the knowledge. But most importantly, is to acknowledge all the little messages that come one's way. It's all around us if we're willing to open our eyes, our ears and our senses to all that speaks to us.� �Wow!� Tony. �Wow.� �Consciousness is only the �wow� you see before you. However, complete consciousness includes the �wow� behind you that you already saw.� Pamela thinks that Jonathan�s take on Barbara�s view is trivialising the issue of what consciousness is. �Your �put simply� comment on Barbara�s idea, I believe, missed the boat. She was describing another level of consciousness, one isn't aware of until one has it... I agree with her. Whatever this thing we call �consciousness� is, when we have more of it, our perception increases and we are more aware... Yes, higher consciousness experience evokes awe, but that does not define what it is. I think it is an increased sense of perception that enables us to be aware of ourselves and others in a way we haven't been before... to be able to see that we are, indeed, all ONE. To reduce all that to simply �an experience of the �ahhh� factor� shows a lack of perception, a lack of awareness, and puts the God experience in with beer commercials, skiing, mountain climbing, even sex.� P. Compton likes the awareness definition but comes up with an alternative of his own. �Your definition of consciousness as being �awareness� is very accurate. Another definition might be: �It is the ability to receive impressions and to respond thereto.� Both receiving and responding depends upon the perception and understanding level of the person. Therefore, awareness and consciousness vary greatly among people and in ourselves at various times.� David in the States gives an �American� definition. �Now for an American version of what it is that is this �consciousness�. Consciousness is akin to water, of many kinds and qualities. Muddy water; clear, cool water; hot, boiling water; raging, river rapids water; gentle, ocean wave water. Consciousness is not a level or a leap but all levels and leaps that are at least potentially aware of themselves. Consciousness is the totality of one's inner contents in a personal sense, and the totality of all subjectivity in a cosmic sense. Consciousness is neither completely confined nor constricted, completely expanded nor broadened, unless, of course, that is what consciousness is. Consciousness is, alas, perplexing; like trying to grasp water.� Joy from Missouri, USA, feel it takes an inner, evolving direction. �Consciousness - feeling, aware: awareness of feeling: evolving toward inner spirit and peace. Evolving is a key word, the learning process to becoming of conscious mind and spirit in this dawning of the New Era.� Rhonda says for consciousness you just need to accept an invitation - from the universe. �Consciousness is when the universe invites you over and you lose yourself in the oneness of the moment.� Don reckons: �T.S.Eliot said it well.� �Having consciousness... from the 4th Quadrant. �I shall never cease my exploring, and the end of my explorations will be to arrive at where I began, and see it for the first time.�� Janamejaya from Boston sums it up in elliptical style. �I'd say consciousness is what makes us try to define what it is.� Nadine from Virginia sees it as a message from soul to intuition. �Consciousness is your soul speaking to you, a constant awareness which �speaks� to your intuition.�. Peter from Sydney says consciousness is the answer to the big question. �For my money (wrong value system for such discussions isn't it!?), it is as simple and complicated as: �Consciousness is that which truly answers the question: Who am I?�� For Jim it is not a complicated issue - at all. �Some people talk such a load of old bo*****ks! Consciousness means exactly what it says; it is the opposite of unconscious - i.e. you are awake and physically aware of existing. Trying to read any more than that into it is just plain stupid.� Art teacher Linda from the States draws the distinction between merely �looking� and actually �seeing�. �Consciousness? It's �zenning in�... the difference between merely looking and actually �seeing�. As an art teacher, that is what I try to get my students to do when they draw - not just look at an object or person, but to become acutely aware of its shapes and contours and lights and shadows... to SEE it. It's the difference between listening and actually �hearing�... between touching and actually �feeling�... It is one step beyond reality. Like stopping to smell the flowers, not just noticing how pretty they are as you pass by...� Timothy in New Jersey describes how �faith and consciousness grow in the same garden.� �Regarding the issue of �consciousness�, it would seem to me to be fairly simple. Sort of. Astrology, itself, is a recognition of an order that exists and of which all things, ultimately, are a part. When we speak of �consciousness�, we actually refer to the surrender to that sense of order. Is it not, really, UN-consciousness in that it transcends thought and takes us to a realm of supra-human existence? In as much as we are part of the order of things, it is well above human understanding. Our only way to become part of �it� is to surrender completely and become subservient to �it�. Faith? Certainly. If we make consciousness, in part, a matter of the human mind, in addition to anything else we might want to throw into the mix, it becomes as flawed and fallible as any other mind-centered, or mind dependent process. Science, as we know it, has its roots in �fact�, which is actually something in the past tense... it has already happened and so can be studied and taken apart. Everything, then, becomes a matter of extrapolation. Because this happened... then that must be... And so it goes until things are proved, then disproved, and proved again. Faith, on the other hand, is the unconscious surrender to the moment. It requires neither reason, nor thought. All that is required is that one �gives in�. The order of things is perfect, and by giving ourselves to that order, we are able to enjoy sublime moments of perfection. In many ways, faith and consciousness grow in the same garden.� Emily in Indiana says consciousness is to be found in that �quiet, calm voice� within. �Consciousness is just one thing. It's when your head goes quiet all the sudden, and all you hear is one quiet, calm voice.� Alya writes to share her poem and gives some of her thoughts too. �To be conscious is to be aware (there are different levels of awareness) I feel that most people are unaware, but they are probably more content that way. There is simplicity in unawareness (a shield from the depths of pain). Awareness or consciousness brings one a great deal of pain (feelings of isolation, but also feelings of great joy and passion) You can't have one without the other. Once you have found awareness, or awareness finds you, at whatever age it is - you can never go back, you never feel the same, and it makes you 'different' from the masses - in this there is pain, but there is also truth. Like I said, I think 'consciousness' exists on many levels - it's a journey. I hope to one day, arrive at the 'Buddha' state - but then again, it could get really lonely. This particular poem can be seen as being a sort of criticism for the lack of society consciousness. Defining consciousness is difficult, it is a concept that is felt or known, but defined with abstracts. It is often easier to express what 'consciousness' isn't. I didn�t write this poem with the above theme(s) in mind, it sort of dawned on me later, after I read it. Such is the power of consciousness. Spoken For Trying to grapple with original thoughts Inspire devotion Cancel confusion I like confusion - It makes everything clear It makes ugliness- disappear I see my world Tinges of beauty here and there Representations of an exterior world What about the unspoken? And of the untouched? Who tells them they are beautiful? Who cradles them and lets them be? Another model on another magazine Beauty we crave - Beauty is seen Who ever said beauty has to be skin deep? Thus, as pretty eyes smile before us We nod and smile in agreement Of a foolish paradise created On our eternal need for escapism Alas, the true souls leave this world Untouched - Unspoken for - And� We nod and smile in agreement. * Do remember to pick up the next issue of People Magazine, citing the most beautiful people in the world. They really are �Oh so beautiful�.� Click here to go back