13-05-2015, 11:04 PM
|
|
|
Another book, another remarkably similar explanation:
Quote:
“Consciousness is what gives you awareness, Josh. *Consciousness is awareness. *It is the divine spark inside us. *It is your true nature. *Our character's ego tells us that we are really the character and our mind believes it. **This is delusion. *Our ego is the great deceiver.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, trying to follow all of this, “So if this divine spark is me; if my true nature is consciousness, then what is your true nature?”
“Same as yours,” said Daniel. *“All sentient beings have the divine spark of consciousness.”
“Does consciousness have a personality?” I asked.
“Perhaps, but not individually, no.”
My head was swimming, “You're making my brain bleed, Daniel.”
“Well,” he said, with a grin in my direction, “at least it's nothing important.”
I tried to rally for one more go at it, “So if individual pieces of consciousness’s don't have a personality and my true nature is this divine spark of consciousness and your true nature is this divine spark of consciousness and everyone's true nature is a divine spark of consciousness...” I paused to take a breath, “then what you are saying is that we are all the same?”
Daniel took a second before answering, “That is exactly what I'm saying. *Consider it from another perspective; traditional Native Americans believe that everyone has a spirit and they refer to their god as the Great Spirit.” *I sat listening, curious as to where this was going. *“Let's say we looked up at the sky and noticed a bunch of, let's say ten, small clouds. *How many clouds would there be?”
“That's a real question?” I asked after a moment's silence. *Daniel nodded and I really thought this must be a trick question but I bit, “Ten?”
“Outstanding!” Daniel exclaimed sarcastically, “After all that time thinking about it I wasn't sure you'd get it right.” *He continued before I could object. *“Now, what if the wind blows all those little clouds in such a way as they all come together? *How many clouds would you have then?”
“One,” I ventured.
“Outstanding, again!” Daniel cried, “You are getting so much faster at answering these questions! *So what you're saying is that the number of clouds is really dependent upon how many times it's been divided and that no matter how many times it's divided, it remains a cloud.”
“Yeah,” I said a little cautiously because it seemed too obvious.
“That is, in a nutshell, if you ignore the oversimplification, is what the traditional Native Americans understood that modern man has forgotten. *Each of us has a part of the Great Spirit within us and together, we are the Great Spirit. *But we aren't talking together like you and I and your mom and Sensei Li, we're talking our true natures coming together – the divine spark in you and in me and in your mom and in Sensei Li and every sentient being the world over.”
|
|