Seems simple.
Many of us, at one point or another, ran to and fro in search of the next high. Many of us still do. Maybe the next one will be the one. There is so much out there. How can I commit to one?
But how do you feel running to and fro? To reach the peak of the mountain only to find that there is another peak. I wanted this so bad, but now I’m here and now I want something else. To always feel incomplete. To always need something else to be happy. To never be content with what you have or with yourself.
As you scale to peak after peak, do you hurt others along the way? Do you hurt yourself? The climb is hard; you are not the same after each summit. You have scars and you have left scars on the mountain that have left an eternal imprint on the both of you.
Well, let me tell you. No matter your situation, there will always be something else. Always. So choose. Do you want to be forever grasping, climbing to the peak before realizing you are at the bottom again, relying on external gratification? Or will you stand right where you are, with what you have and who you are, and Be Love?
What is knowledge? This is a tough one! This entry has been a long time coming. I began to think of it deeply after a conversation between myself and two of my best friends about a month ago in Ottawa. The conversation was about the origin of man. It got pretty heated!
I’m not even really sure where to begin. I think maybe a good place to start would be to start with things that I know, without a doubt.
1. I have brown hair.
2. I go to Ryerson University.
3. I went to St. Patrick’s High School.
4. I have had two year-long relationships in my life
5. It hurts to put your hand on a burning hot element.
6. Canada’s confederation was in 1867.
7. World War II was fought between 1939-1945.
8. Kevin Durant led the NBA in PPG in 2013-2014.
Now, let’s list a couple more that are a little… debatable.
9. Forgiveness heals more than grudges.
10. Material things don’t make me happy.
So now what we’ll do is try to find the trait that is common to all of these things that “I” “know”. Right away we would say that of course #1 is true. I currently have brown hair. All you have to do is to look at me, and you would know I have brown hair. So what makes that true is that it is directly observable. So, we can then “know” something when it is directly observable.
How about #2? I go to Ryerson University. Well, this one is not as directly observable as my having brown hair. If we were classmates together, you could know this to be true. What if we weren’t? What if we just met? You could come visit me right now as I type this entry at my home, and you would not know in the same way. In this case, you would need some type of proof. You could follow me around for a couple weeks to see if I go to class. But I could attend classes and not be a student of the university. I could also not attend classes and be a student of the University. You could ask me if I was a student. But I could lie. You could, though, ask me to look at my Ryerson student account. This would tell you if I was enrolled in any classes without any shadow of a doubt. Right? Well, if you wouldn’t take my word for it, why would you take the word of an institution? A very good question.
Well, the institution has good reason to give accurate information. That enrollment information has value. To register in courses costs thousands of dollars. An institution wouldn’t make the mistake of inaccurately portraying a student’s status. And even if they did, they have many employees that are paid to correct these mistakes. This is the case because problems caused for the students are also problems caused to the institution. The institution has a reputation to uphold. The institution stakes its reputation and its livelihood on the validity of its information. Because of that, we have enough reason to take the information that it presents as true knowledge.
We can obtain knowledge for #3 in much the same way. We can ask the institution for the information. What about #4? There is no institution that keeps records of all relationships. How could you come to “know” that I have had two year-long relationships in my life? I can know it, because I have experienced it. But what about you? Well once again, if we were best friends for my whole life, you would know the truth of matter. But what if we weren’t? What if we just met? How would you know this piece of information. You would have to cross-check with many other people throughout my life who experienced these relationships with me. I wouldn’t lie, but I easily could. Are you willing to say you know something based off the word of someone you just met? Even if a couple of other friends present confirm the information? Maybe there’s one relationship that we just don’t talk about. If you are a friend, rather than having just met me, it might be a little bit easier to confirm this information but it still takes a little bit more to say that you “know” this.
#5, you can easily come to know this by placing your hand on the element and experiencing it yourself. For #8, although this is in the past, I witnessed and experienced Kevin Durant lighting it up last year and I can once again cross-check the information with an institution.
For #’s 6 and 7, the answer is similar to the institutional responses given to #’s 2 and 3. This information has been presented by many sources who stake their reputation and livelihood on the validity of its information. Further, with WWII, our grandparents lived through and experienced it. The first-hand experiences they share with this give us some knowledge of the War. They remember family members going away and not coming back, or if they went themselves they remember the horror of it all, they remember the day it ended. With Confederation, the date and the separation travels further and further into the past. There may be people living whose parents told them their experience of the day, but there is no person living who experienced this event. The knowledge of this event comes from the fact that people once experienced this date. The date was recorded in history books. This information has passed along generations without changing, and so the information is trusted and known.
How far are you willing to go back? Would you say that you know something that was recorded in the 1700s. The 1500s? 1000s? 700s? 500s? BC? There are so many degrees of separation between the people who actually experienced the events to us, so much is lost in translation, that it is hard to say that we know these things.
Now what about #’s 9 and 10? Looking at these list of ten things that I know, #’s 9 and 10 definitely are the most important and most impactful on my day-to-day life, my outlook on life, my happiness. How do I know these things? Experience. I mean, I was taught by my parents and my Catholic school upbringing the power of forgiveness, but I could not say that I knew what they meant. It was not until I suffered, felt hatred, and suffered more. Then suffered again, felt more hatred, and suffered more. Then suffered again, felt hatred, forgave, and felt it for myself that I really knew.
With the material, it was the same thing. I had been conditioned some by our Western capitalist society that I needed to consume. I needed material things to be happy and satisfied. I also learned from other sources that it is only uprightness of spirit/ morals/ character (whatever you want to call it) that can make one happy. It was only through experience. Through my own feelings when I had and did not have material things, when I had and did not have uprightness that I came to know that material things do not make me happy.
I can know these things… How about you? Really, as much as you “take my word for it”, you can’t really know until you experience it yourself. Until you suffer, reflect, and understand yourself and your world.
***
There were ten things that I “know” on this list. Of those ten things I knew, there were eight that you could plausibly confirm. The things that are directly observable or experienced were the easiest to know. As the degrees of separation increase, it becomes more difficult. I want to raise another issue that can make it even more difficult. This is not to say that you cannot believe anything, it is merely something to think about.
For things that were not directly observable, that we weren’t able to experience, for the things that we checked with institutions. There is always a possibility that this information is not true. I am not a cynic at all and I am not promoting cynicism. But Ryerson University or St. Patrick’s High School or the publishers of history or whomever it may be could have reasons to give information that is not in line with reality. Just a quick example that was first to come to mind. A person can be a registered employee of a company. He could be being paid a wage for a full-time work week for a certain period of time per records. However, in reality, this worker was never on the job site. He was merely getting his dirty money laundered through the financial system back to him through a cooperating company. Institutions could have many reasons to misrepresent information.
Another thing to note is that out of all of these ten things, the two most important things on the list could not be known through the checking of facts. They could only be known through experience.
Conclusively, it wouldn’t be prudent to distrust all institutions but it should be remembered that true knowledge may not be the only agenda. This list of ten shows that knowledge comes, firstly, from experience. Further, it shows that the most important things can only be known through experience. It is my own opinion then, that we must value furthering our experiences if we want to increase not only our knowledge, but our knowledge of things of true value.
Lots of talk on consciousness, but let’s continue. Today, I would like to make a distinction. A distinction between growing one’s consciousness horizontally and growing one’s consciousness vertically.
Horizontal (or to broaden or narrow one’s consciousness)
I am going to use examples to illustrate this. There is a boy. This boy was born into a tough environment (although it is not an environment that necessarily holds down one’s conscious development) where the only thought is survival. (I’ve just come to a realization!!!). There is not much love on his mind, in his spirit. He is 8 years old, and all he knows is to aggressively pester his parents to feed him enough to survive, to give him enough warmth in the winter months.
He is now 15. He has yet to heighten his consciousness. But he has broadened it greatly. He retains his aggressive nature. He thinks only of his own survival, but now he is aware of much more within this (we will call it) plane. He knows how to hunt different prey. He knows how to steal when the timing is right. He knows how to build his own shelter for different kinds of weather.
He is now 22. A man. A man who compassionately realized that he has been completely selfish and that maybe he can spare some of his time (heart) for others. This man has grown his consciousness vertically. He is on a higher level where he begins to ponder different things. He begins to ask new questions. He begins to see the world in a new way.
He is now 29. After years of lending himself to others here and there, he has begun to see the inter-connectedness of it all. He begins to see that his old self of hatred and greed was primal. He realizes that that behaviour had ill-effects on his environment. On the earth, animals, and people he destroyed for his own physical pleasure. He knows there is something common amongst it all and he begins to examine and study deeper questions. He is now dedicating himself to furthering his people and his land. He has expanded his consciousness vertically again. Into a new plane of consciousness.
Within this plane, he studies. He studies all of the laws of nature. Of ecosystems. Of child development. Of sociology. He broadens his consciousness greatly. He spreads this knowledge to his community.
***
I hope I have made the distinction. I feel as if in recent centuries, we have very much focused on the broadening or widening of our consciousness, but have not grown it vertically. We continue to research and research on this plane of consciousness, but have forgotten about moving further upwards.
While writing this I came to the realization that what grows one’s consciousness vertically is Love. The boy could only grow when he was able to love himself, and the others around him. He grew more once he was able to love them more deeply. He grew even more when he was able to look past those closest to him and began to love his environment and nature.
Where is next? Loving strangers. Loving the world. Loving the Universe. Being Love.
I love you all!
I’ve touched a little bit on consciousness and the conscious. But what about the unconscious?
I defined consciousness as the totality of what we hold in awareness. Almost like the lens through which we see the world. The unconscious, on the other hand, are the automatic process which we do not hold in awareness. My recent readings have had me very interested in this “unconscious”.
We saw how our consciousness can shape our reality. But our consciousness, we hold in awareness. We know what it consists of. The unconscious, on the other hand, is out of our awareness. It, then, can shape our reality in ways unbeknownst to us, for better or for worse. That is, if we do not acknowledge and listen to it.
But what is contained in the unconscious?
One of my first writings 2014 and 2015 I spoke about how past occurrences in my life had begun to “build up”. These occurrences were manifesting themselves in my daily life for some time. They caused me to feel restricted, depressed, and anxious, among other things. These occurrences caused these types of reactions within me because I repressed them. I did not see the occurrences properly, they caused me feelings I did not want to experience, and so I repressed these feelings. Feelings of guilt, sadness, anger, and shame. Rather than become correctly conscious of these feelings, I chose to repress them and send them away.
These occurrences and feelings do not simply disappear. They instead, reside in the unconscious. These are all memories, fears, wishes, needs and duties which we have not been able to come to terms with that create a complex that can interfere with our conscious life in disturbing ways.
A couple of conclusions about the unconscious:
There is a little baby. It may be a baby girl, it might be a baby boy. It might be a family member, or the baby of a friend. Regardless, you kiss this baby! On the head, on the cheek, and often on the mouth.
When and why does this ever stop? At what age do we stop doling out kisses? There are few more powerful and lovely signs of affection than a kiss. When I kiss, I feel love and a strong bond. It is a great thing. Our adolescent or adult selves are not needing less love than a baby.
“But, Jacob, a kiss is an intimate thing. You don’t just go giving them out to anybody.”
But we give them out to babies?
“Babies are babies. They are so kissable and they can’t say no.”
Every baby becomes a man or woman. What makes a man or woman any more or less “kissable”? Do they not deserve the same love? Would the same love not help and strengthen them? And wouldn’t the fact that the baby can say no be a reason not to kiss them? They have no say in the matter and cannot resist. Is that not unfair? A man or woman can accept or decline the kiss. Is it maybe that we are afraid to give out such love to people that may reject us? That may be something to think about. Remember, Love has no fear.
“Well, now that I think of it. Different cultures do kiss on the mouth.”
So then it seems your belief may be one that has been the result of conditioning. Let us always remember to think for ourselves. My beliefs might not be the same as yours, maybe it is not you to give out kisses. But, we must always examine ourselves and why we do the things we do. In this matter and all others, I implore you to look within for answers. History has shown us that what has been socially accepted or unaccepted has not always been right.
***
I describe myself as spiritual but would not describe myself as religious at all. I was baptized as a Catholic and went through the Catholic school system, but have never practiced on my own (I have read the Bible once). However, Jesus is definitely someone I really look up to. When I was pondering this last night, I suddenly wondered, “Did Jesus kiss others on the mouth?”
After doing some research, I’ve found that Jesus and early Christians did greet each other with a “holy kiss”; a kiss on the mouth!
These findings are in no way confirmation of a view. It was merely a question that came to me (strange, because I can’t remember the last time the thought of Jesus came to me) and felt compelled to answer.
Things, generally, do not often upset me or cause me irritation. Lately, most often as I walk around my university campus, I admit that I find myself getting a little irritated with my peers. The reason for this irritation is the automated use of automatic doors designed for the less able.
I want to be clear that it is the automated use that disturbs me, Of course there are times when the arms and hands are full and the only option left is to push our bottoms or sides into this helpful button. There are also other examples of these kinds of instances.
I would guess that I am probably coming off a bit grouchy thus far, but let me explain.
The population that has been the source of my chosen irritation has been young, able-bodied students, aged 18-25. They walk towards the school building, backpacks on, usually phone in hand, headphones in ear, and straight-faced. They then press the button to activate the automatic door and enter.
“Okay, Jacob, that does not seem like the worst of deeds. You are forgiving of much worse on a daily basis.”
Well, let us think about this. Let us think about who these doors were made for. We needn’t think very hard. Clearly on all of these buttons is the symbol with which we identify those with physical disabilities. These are the people who this service has been intended to aid. These are people who may have lost use of or have completely lost a limb or several. They may have all of these, but lost motor skills. They may have lost their vision.
Whatever they have lost or never had possession of, I am sure that these people would give anything to be able. Anything. This is what pains me. Everyday, I see able-bodied students, fully healthy, taking what they have for granted. In every moment there is an opportunity for infinite joy and happiness. I have legs. I have arms. I have my vision. I am healthy. Within this matrix we live in, it is easy to forget these simple joys. You are alive. You are healthy and able. Embrace and love that.
As I wrote this post, I noticed a change in my energy. There is no longer even a hint of irritation. It has been replaced with a mix of gratitude and compassion.
Gratitude for being so lucky to have been born healthy to such a great family in a great country.
Compassion for those less fortunate. This is not even close to pity, but compassion. I know there are those less physically able that are living to the fullest, but I feel for their inability to experience certain things that I, personally, take so much joy in.
Compassion also for those in a period where life has become automated. I hope that you can awaken to realize the joys of simply being able to walk to class or open door. You are very lucky. I hope that in the future you may use the symbol we place on a button to bring you back to the present moment. The present moment in which you are filled with joy for your health and strength, and compassion for those less fortunate. I hope that joy and compassion spreads to every reach of your heart.
Lately, and by lately I mean in the past year or two, I have begun to feel some distance between us. There is the physical distance of not being near each other as much anymore, but there is also the distance that remains when we happen to be near, in person or over the phone. I feel like you have put this distance between us. But who did what does not have any significance to me. There are two sides to every relationship and I realize that I must have had an equal part to play. But I feel as if I have been misunderstood. That is okay. I have misunderstood and will continue to misunderstand myself. I hope that I can now explain myself.
We all live our own lives. We each will have to individually leave this Earth when we have to. We will do this alone. Consequently, only we as individuals can tell
ourselves how we want to lead the life that we have. I have spent and continue to spend a lot of my time thinking about how to live my life best. Thinking about… knowing that I will one day die, how will I have liked to have spent my moments here? In answering this question I have needed to ask myself others.
Who am I? What do I value? What am I passionate about? What makes me happy? What makes me unhappy?
As I answer these questions, my life has changed and will continue to change. I have manifested and will continue to manifest my life through my thoughts and my energy. As we all do.
We were all once younger and more together. Our lives afforded us that. We had amazing times together that we all still love and cherish. These times happened often. We were younger and even more inexperienced in our lives and our greatest joy was simply experiencing and learning together. So we did all of the same things. Had all of the same hobbies, desires, strengths, and vices. And there could be no suspicion of judgement because we all did it together.
As I have grown older I have realized that I face death everyday. Every moment is precious and I want to live it to MY fullest. Because of this, you may have noticed some changes in me. We now have different hobbies, different desires, different strengths, and different vices. This is where I think the distance has been created.
We are all different. We each have our own experience. I know myself and my own life and I am in a position to judge Things for myself. I am able to judge whether I want certain things in my life. For example, certain Things (among many) that I have let go, as everyone reading would know, would be eating animal products, smoking cigarettes, excessive (or what I deem, and this is only I that deems it so) partying, consumerism, grudges or hatred in any form, judging others, and negativity.
I have passed judgement on these things. I have. For Myself. Knowing that I, Jacob O’Connor, will one day have to face death, I judge these things as ill ways to pass my time.
But I must confess further. As we are all human, I believe that we are so spiritually similar. We are spiritual beings. I also judge these things to be ill ways for All humans to pass the time we have here.
Here is where I think the distance is.
Firstly, the proximal or more superficial distance. I am not seeing you as much as I used to. This is the manifestation of our differences as people and what we want in our lives. It started when I decided to leave Ottawa and come to Toronto. I was looking for and valuing something different. I didn’t value financial and emotional safety. I wanted to learn and I wanted to grow. For my friends in Ottawa, that has put miles between us. For those here in Toronto, we manifest through our thoughts what we do with our lives. If I am not seeing you as often, it is because we value and think about different things. This has nothing to do with what I think of you or what you think of me. I understand that. I hope you do too. Once again, we face death alone and so we all need to choose how we live our lives. I respect that.
Next, the more real distance. I think that my life choices (and obvious judgement of certain things that these choices imply) may have led you to believe that I may judge you or think myself above you. This is absolutely not the case. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I had to repeat it three times. Absolutely not. Four. Just as I only have the right to choose how I live my life, you only have the right to choose how to live yours. I completely respect that right. I also know that we are all different and that we all are going to live our lives differently. That is 100% certain. The choices I make about my life have no impact on how I feel about you. I love each and every one of you unconditionally. Unconditionally. When I say unconditionally I do not only mean regardless of what you do to yourself, but regardless of what you do to me or others I love. I love you all no matter what you do. I may not judge the Things you Do to be right for me. I may not judge the Things you Do to be right for humans in general. But I will never judge you and I will always love you and be here for you.
I hope you all understand.
Hi friends, I hope you are all well 🙂
As you all probably know, I am quite simple when it comes to my methods of communication. I much prefer a phone call to a text. Rather than using Facebook, Twitter, Tinder, or Instagram to communicate or keep in touch electronically, I would prefer exchanging emails.
Last week I was selling my partner’s iPhone for her. Saturday evening, I received some animated text messages from an eager potential buyer. I did not respond immediately (I am admittedly not overly mindful of responding to text messages).
Sunday, I was working on an assignment at the school library when I received a phone call from the same number. It was a young man who was quite polite. He informed me of his interest in the phone and that he was willing to match the listed price (which was some discount in my view). He was naught twenty minutes walking distance and he would come to me. Being that I was in the midst of an assignment and had been dealing with reading wonky text messages for the past week or two, I was ecstatic with the situation.
Two minutes after I hung up, still basking in the awesomeness of the situation, I received a text message. It was the same young man.
“Actually that crack is only going to get bigger. I’ll give you ($50 less then the price we had just kindly agreed over the phone two minutes earlier).”
I answered, “No. The crack will not get bigger. If it does you can fix it for under $50. The phone is already priced at 50% of what some sellers are advertising,” and got back to my assignment, shaking my head and furrowing my brow.
Another vibration. “Is there a charger or box?”
“No. As advertised. Just the phone.”
“So I have to buy a charger?”
I didn’t answer that one. Five minutes later, another vibration.
“Ok come to my house.” (He had mentioned in the phone conversation he was at Parliament and Dundas.)
“Lol. We went from you coming to me and paying the list price to you lowballing me and me coming to you. I’ll meet you halfway.”
“Ok, come to Tim Horton’s at Parliament and Dundas.”
At this point I am getting a little bit frustrated as these messages have now been interrupting my work for the past 15-20 minutes.
“That’s not halfway. That’s your house. I’ll meet you at the corner of Sherbourne and Dundas.”
“But there’s nowhere to meet there.”
At this point I had had enough and called him. We quickly agreed to meet at the corner of Sherbourne and Dundas in fifteen minutes. I let him know that I would ask Lisa if she had an extra charger, but that I didn’t believe she did. We met on time. We shook hands, had a brief but friendly conversation and parted ways.
***
From my own experience, the various types of instant messaging mediums inherently give the green light to indecently push the boundaries of the behaviors and character we would embody in person or on the phone. There is an impersonality to it that yields to our online avatars or desires in a way that could not happen otherwise.
In the past, I have acted in ways over these mediums that have directly and indirectly caused great harm to the person on the other end, other people in my life, and myself. Conversely, others have acted in ways over these mediums that have directly or indirectly caused great harm to me, others around them, and themselves. I am sure that these actions could not have taken place, been initiated or been ongoing in person or over the phone.
I am of the belief that all that we truly have in this world is the integrity of our own minds and so I do my best to stay away from anything that can increase the risks of losing this for myself or for others. Further, when it comes to those dearest to me, it always lifts my soul to hear their voices and enjoy a real, loving conversation (even if it is less than brief).
What does your “heaven” look like?
Blue Lagoon, Iceland
Northern Lights, Norway
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Victoria Falls, Zambia-Zimbabwe Border
Yosemite National Park
This is a thought I’ve reflected on quite a few times and one that came up in a brief but real conversation with a good friend, Kadeem, yesterday. A thought worth sharing, I deem.
How do we create our reality? How do we create our lives? Let’s look at the statement made in the title: consciousness = reality. What is consciousness? To me, consciousness is everything that we hold in our awareness that guides our interaction with the present moment. When we think of “to be conscious of”, we mean that we hold awareness or attention to the intended object. So, consciousness is the totality of everything that we hold in awareness or attention in every moment.
In every moment, there is a war on consciousness. There are forces in the media controlled by the powers that be that try to control your consciousness. If consciousness can be controlled, then beliefs, thought patterns, habits, and, finally, lives can be as well.
Let’s look at consciousness as the lens through which you see your reality. Right now, the corrupt powers that be (notice I refuse to call them leaders), are a group of optometrists. They have a monopoly on optometry. They are treating every single patient. The thing is, they are prescribing a lens that only lets their patients see what they want them to see, leaving everything else blurry. As a patient, everyone is going to these optometrists, so I am going to as well. But, as a result, there is a whole lot of stuff that I cannot see and, therefore, cannot hold in my awareness. I cannot be conscious of it. All that I can be conscious of is what the optometrists want me to see. Hang on, I don’t know if I want these lenses anymore!
This is exactly what is happening in our western, capitalist world. A group of people make trillions off of the general population’s continued consumption. All we are meant to be conscious of is the next dollar, the next new product, the next celebrity story, the next new distraction.
I got a little carried away on that tangent; I’m very passionate about this.
Let’s go back to the statement, consciousness = reality. I think we now have a deeper understanding of consciousness. But how does this create our reality? You might have been able to tell a bit from my definition of consciousness and the optometry example. Remember, we said that “consciousness is everything that we hold in our awareness that guides our interaction with the present moment”. The present moment is all we have. The present moment is when we act. Who we are today is the sum total of all of our interactions with the present moment. Now, if consciousness guides our interaction with these moments, then it can be said our consciousness guides the creation our reality.
Another example. One that I can speak on. Let’s talk about bacon and cheeseburgers. Actually, let’s talk about bacon cheeseburgers. I loved bacon cheeseburgers. And I mean loved them. I could mow down three or four of them at a time. This was something that I did completely unconsciously. I ate these things for almost twenty years never having thought about how they came to my plate and in to my belly. Since a young boy, the media pushed this “food” on me and drove me to consume more and more to put dollars in the pockets of greedy and value-less corporations. Never did I see the same type of media push showing the treatment of the poor cows and pigs I was eating. This was never talked about. It was and is not part of collective consciousness (a term we will see again). There was a war against my consciousness driving me to consume and not think about the morality behind my decisions and so I ran on auto-pilot as a slave to the dollar (and the bacon cheeseburger). Eventually, alternative news sites and books brought the horrific issues of mass production to my attention, and they are now ever-present in my consciousness. This informs my food choices every single day.
Let’s do one more. iPhones. Apple posted record corporate profits of $18B last quarter. Eighteen billion dollars. In four months. 65% of this was from iPhone sales. The clearest example of complete consumer consciousness there could be. Let’s think about this logically for a moment. There are BILLIONS of people hungry on our planet. Yet, Apple makes a yearly update to their phone and can consistently get millions on millions of people to shell out $700 a year. Wait, what?
Our consciousness creates our reality. If I am not holding these starving people in my consciousness, if I am not holding the people working in the factories in my consciousness, if I am not holding our dying planet in my consciousness, then I can spend $700 on a phone that does nothing to solve all of these pressing and most important issues. If I am holding my status highly in my consciousness, if I am holding money highly in my consciousness, if I am holding materialism in my consciousness, then I cannot wait to spend $700 on a phone that gives me all of these things. And who really “benefits” (on a completely monetary level)? The people pushing these ideas into our consciousness. Who are these people? See my post “some questions we should all be asking”.
I think I got carried away again. It happens.
Let’s get back to it. So, “consciousness is everything that we hold in our awareness that guides our interaction with the present moment” and it creates our reality because it is a lens through which we think and then act in the present. Let’s illustrate this two more times.
If my conscious if full of love and compassion for the world and all of its inhabitants, then I will not act in ways that harm the world and all of its inhabitants. It may begin by being a youth who loves to help others and finds a passion in working with children. This may lead to a university career in Social Work. This may lead to work with a not-for-profit. This may lead me back to school for a masters and PhD in sustainability or international development. This may lead to noble works.
I think this is closer to what is wanted of us. Let’s suppose my conscious is one of a consumer and a need for the newest products and material validation. This may begin as a youth who has all of the newest clothes and gadgets, but struggles focusing on his school work. This may lead to a university career in Business, but without the instant gratification, it doesn’t last. Instead, this may lead to a decent paying job, but one that can’t quite get all of the newest and shiniest things. This may lead to a perpetual state of balancing paying off piling loans and interest while attempting to find fulfillment in all the newest material offerings.
I think consciousness = reality should be hammered home now.
Now, let’s look at this on a grander scale. Our consciousness creates our reality, as individuals. Our individual realities collectively create our collective reality. Collective consciousness creates our collective reality.
When we look at our current reality here on earth, it is a marvel what the human mind can accomplish. Stunning and brilliant feats of architecture and technology. However, this was all created from a collective consciousness in disharmony with the ourselves and our planet. A few of my own words to describe the collective consciousness that has created our current reality would be: ambitious, resourceful, abusive, innovative, greedy, profit-driven, and deceptive. Because of this collective consciousness, we have created a reality here on Earth that reflects that. Our buildings and machines show our resourcefulness, ambition, and innovation, but they also deceptively abuse the Earth and its inhabitants because they are driven by greed and profit. Regardless, as I stated early, one can only marvel at our innovations.
Now, imagine… What if we could alter collective consciousness? What if we could couple man’s innovation and ambition with his love, compassion, and kindness? This shift in consciousness would yield Heaven on Earth. Look at the pictures at the beginning of the post. It is already here. All we have to do is change what is in our hearts and in our minds, and we could create something even more breath-takingly beautiful then what already exists.
Much Love.
Through Muses 