What if the mind is conscious, an extension of consciousness?

[MikeS80]

What if (mainstream) organized spirituality/religion is incorrect about separating mind (lower self) and also body from "the higher self" or spirit or atman?

What if mind, and body are extensions or aspects of our higher self, spirit or atman, thus all is and becomes oneness/wholeness?

I started to ask these questions to myself from a oneness/wholeness point of view, and now I ask you.

[Miss Hepburn]

Whatdoya mean 'if'?

Originally Posted by MikeS80

What if (mainstream) organized spirituality/religion is incorrect about separating mind (lower self) and also body from "the higher self" or spirit or atman?

What if mind, and body are extensions or aspects of our higher self, spirit or atman, thus all is and becomes oneness/wholeness?

I started to ask these questions to myself from a oneness/wholeness point of view, and now I ask you.

In Advaita that's just Step 1. Step 2 is there's nothing apart from Consciousness. What was "separated" in Step 1 via self-inquiry (Neti Neti) is then understood as nothing apart from Consciousness. Name, form and function of Consciousness appearing in Consciousness.

The reason for Step 1 is one of method. That is discernment between that which appears and That which it appears in and it's a necessary step on the Advaita path of self-realization. It's desuperimpostion of the superposition of the ego-self and Self.

Perhaps a way to think about it is one doesn't know how a clock works until one takes it apart, and then one understands the relationship between it's inner workings and the hands the workings move.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by MikeS80

What if mind, and body are extensions or aspects of our higher self, spirit or atman, thus all is and becomes oneness/wholeness?

Indeed, the mind, the emotions and the physical body are extensions of consciousness into form. How else can consciousness experience the worlds of form?

The problems come when consciousness identifies so closely with its extensions into form that consciousness forgets itself while in form.

The spiritual journey (at our present stage) is about consciousness releasing its identification with the extensions and identifying with itself while still in form.

Peace

Originally Posted by iamthat

Indeed, the mind, the emotions and the physical body are extensions of consciousness into form. How else can consciousness experience the worlds of form?

The problems come when consciousness identifies so closely with its extensions into form that consciousness forgets itself while in form.

The spiritual journey (at our present stage) is about consciousness releasing its identification with the extensions and identifying with itself while still in form.

Peace

Yup. In Advaita that's called superimposition (of Self and the self) and self-inquiry in the form of Neti Neti or as Ramana Maharshi put it "Who Am I" is a practice to desuperimpose the superimposition. That discernment is a necessary first step.

Originally Posted by MikeS80

What if mind, and body are extensions or aspects of our higher self, spirit or atman, thus all is and becomes oneness/wholeness?

What are the reasons they are not?

There's an old story about how God sat there, all alone in the night. Then he asked himself the one question that changed the Universe forever, he asked "Who am I?" In order to understand that he split himself into two so he could see himself, and so on until here we are today. As God has 'aspects' that perceive themselves as seperate or individual, as do we aspects of God. People suddenly become Spiritual Beings and leave their human aspects behind, or at least try to yet here they are just the same.

Does God ask the same question or has he resolved the paradox?

Then there's Gestalt Reality where the sum of the parts isn't greater than the whole, but the creation of a whole new being. That's an interesting take on who and what we think we are and puts us in a 'feedback loop' with the creation of God. Do both we and God 'split ourselves up' to become - perhaps on a level we can't perceive - a whole new being as the result of the sum of our parts? Is the Jungian self/Atman that whole new being, the one we seem to know is there but remains beyond our grasp?

Seems the first problem is to establish what "mind" is.

Does anyone know?

To me it's a process - but what sort of process?
.

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by Greenslade

What are the reasons they are not?

There's an old story about how God sat there, all alone in the night. Then he asked himself the one question that changed the Universe forever, he asked "Who am I?" In order to understand that he split himself into two so he could see himself, and so on until here we are today. As God has 'aspects' that perceive themselves as seperate or individual, as do we aspects of God. People suddenly become Spiritual Beings and leave their human aspects behind, or at least try to yet here they are just the same.

Does God ask the same question or has he resolved the paradox?

Then there's Gestalt Reality where the sum of the parts isn't greater than the whole, but the creation of a whole new being. That's an interesting take on who and what we think we are and puts us in a 'feedback loop' with the creation of God. Do both we and God 'split ourselves up' to become - perhaps on a level we can't perceive - a whole new being as the result of the sum of our parts? Is the Jungian self/Atman that whole new being, the one we seem to know is there but remains beyond our grasp?

I do not have reasons why they are not, I created this thread, because there is no reason why they are not.

The story of god asking himself "who am I", is the same exact thing as self-realization and the practice of neti neti that Justasimpleguy and I talked about. Self-realization or the neti neti practice of asking oneself "who am I" connects the contents of the center of us being conscious with atman, Because the center and the source of us being conscious, is in fact atman. Therfore, there is no paradox and no need or reason for god, atman and for one to keep asking the same old question of "who am I" over and over again, because he/she knows he/she is atman, thus knows he/she is god, since atman is god and god is atman.

This is the first time I heard about Gestalt Reality, and I don't think one is able to get any closer to truth than Gestalt Reality.

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by Lorelyen

Seems the first problem is to establish what "mind" is.

Does anyone know?

To me it's a process - but what sort of process?
.

The mind is where all of our mental and emotional processes take place.

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Yup. In Advaita that's called superimposition (of Self and the self) and self-inquiry in the form of Neti Neti or as Ramana Maharshi put it "Who Am I" is a practice to desuperimpose the superimposition. That discernment is a necessary first step.

Superimposition is when one puts or stacks his/her self on top of or above his/her Self/atman.

Desuperimposing is when one does not stacks his/her self on top of his/her Self/atman, which is an impossible thing to do, because the self and Self/atman are both at the center of him/her being conscious (but differently) or one stops putting his/her self above his/her Self/atman ie stops being self centered.