Baffled by Consciousness...

[wstein]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Did you read something? Did you have a moment of Insight or Cosmic Consciousness?

No. I place little stock in things read.
I have insights all the time, never took the time to classify them.

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Maybe I'm confusing Consciousness with the Higher Power, Infinite Knowledge, the Brilliant 'Something ' that is everywhere.
And if they are not the same thing ---what would separate them?

Those are all separate things, too long to explain it all here. However, I would more or less put them all in the same realm.

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I am coming from the perspective that experience is the mind’s interpretation of sensory input. Consciousness separately processes experience and other conceptual things.
As an example, let’s say a human hand touches a hot stove.
-The body’s senses receive heat and send a message via the nerves.
-The nervous system triggers a reflex to pull hand away and forwards pain to the brain.
-The brain alerts the mind that something bad has happened.
-The mind directs other senses to ‘see’ where this pain is coming from and what caused it
-The mind initiates what it deems appropriate action to deal with the situation.
-The whole event is stored into memory for future reference.
<EXPERIENCE COMPLETE>
At some point later, consciousness may review the experience for further meaning. Perhaps the ‘universe’ is telling it that using the stove while sleepy is not a good idea. Or maybe it’s just part of learning that rushing things causes accidents with possible damage to the body.


Note that any activity by the consciousness happens in a detached way from the event at a later time.

[wstein]

Originally Posted by iamthat

I agree. Consciousness is a big mystery, even though it is present at every moment in our lives.

My way of defining consciousnesses:
Consciousness is a process that combines concepts and creates new concepts.

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Maybe I'm confusing Consciousness with the Higher Power, Infinite Knowledge, the Brilliant 'Something ' that is everywhere.
And if they are not the same thing ---what would separate them?

I think it's like the words "ego" or "soul" or even "God." Everyone has their own definition of what these words are or what the words refer to.

This is a simple definition: consciousness

the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings.
"she failed to regain consciousness and died two days later"

It's interesting because I think in many ancient Buddhist texts, the word "consciousness" refers to something completely different than how we use or define the word in modern times. In some of Buddha's teachings he mentions consciousness as one more thing to abandon on the search for liberation and finding our true nature. Obviously not using the word to mean the state of being awake or aware. I think using it in the opposite way really to mean an identification with delusional mind or thought.

The way I define and use words I would say what Buddha called consciousness I call ego or the body mind. Buddha's "true nature" I would call conscious awareness. I would even call the soul or my true self consciousness. (Which I would say is all connected like a giant electrical spider web connecting back to the source or "God.") I think every living thing has this spiritual essence which is conscious awareness and each living thing is connected to every other living thing as all conscious awareness is connected and connected to the source.

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by wstein

My way of defining consciousnesses:
Consciousness is a process that combines concepts and creates new concepts.

I think that is very similar to the way Buddha defined consciousness. He saw consciousness as one more thing our true nature could stop identifying with.

[God-Like]

Originally Posted by iamthat

.But I suggest that the consciousness we are aware of in our daily existence is but a very limited fragment of Consciousness as our true nature. And we have no idea how magnificent we really are, because the limitations of the human form create a division between our experience and our true nature.

Sure enough, most don't realise the completeness of what they are in an individual experience of the flesh.

I find that peeps that start off on the wrong foot when they talk about consciousness as if they have realised it, to then use the term to then divide that from something else .

Makes no sense to me .

x daz x

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by Tamara

Given that our Essence (Consciousness) always stays the same and is not affected by anything e.g "our" emotions, feelings, thoughts etc, then how does it experience them, because to experience them it would have to feel them?

If Consciousness stays completely neutral all the time, then how is it experiencing everything that "we experience"?

If you are consciousness then there is you in all this..
Full immersion without reactions means all of you is open and experiencing, but you’re flowing with, rather than dictating what you’re experiencing through reactions, that come through a perceived separated experience. Neutrality is part of building stillness and presence with what is, fully open means you’re not contained and experiencing through that full immersion. Fully open, fully experiencing life in this way. Full feeling ..


The vessel we are allows us to experience through all our senses, but if they are conditioned, not fully integrated into wholeness or fullness of being, then your experience is just what you are open to as the experience, experiencing itself.


Being fully open, clear in feeling you gain a deeper and richer fullness of life in this way.

[hazada guess]

Baffled by Consciousness...

Why?........... Consciousness just is,It's your Brain that filters thoughts etc, that is responsible for any actions from your body.I suppose you could say that your consciousness is your soul.

[Tamara]

I've just finished reading a book about Conscousness - it is a big book (over 300 pages long) and it has left me a bit confused.

I need to give it a while and then go back and read it again to perhaps get a better understanding - I tend to overthink things which maybe I shouldn't do.....

[hazada guess]

People try to dress it up but at the end of the day we are just units of consciousness.
Consciousness can't be defined, it just is.

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by hazada guess

we are just units of consciousness.

A good simple answer - makes perfect sense