Consciousness in Motion

The image to the right is of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh receiving the Ankh, or symbol of life, from the gods

Prologue / Declaration of Amazement

I'm always shocked, and instilled with vigor, when I glance at how many other human beings seem to give a damn about what I'm blathering about on Twitter - over 1800 people now. I honestly still remember signing up for the first time wondering how in the world I would ever reach anyone if I needed followers to share what I was talking about with a whopping 0 followers, or if I even should be bothered with in the first place. I intended to simply try to speak the truth, speak my mind, and see what would happen. Oh how times have changed - I've since gotten hold of Tweet Deck (which is a Chrome browser add-on or whatever they're called) and become sortof a 'pro' twitter-er person. At any rate, I find that the most attention stems not from when I'm spamming my Podcast episodes, but when I'm spewing out some malarky about Consciousness; my handle is Conscious Awareness on there, afterall.

With that being said, I think I'll take a bit of time and further explain what I mean when I talk about shedding the EGO, losing one's MATERIALISM, and taking the next step up the Consciousness ladder. First, though, it's prudent that I begin at the beginning, and assume that you, the reader, are as ignorant as I am myself, and just keep it as simple as possible for the time being. Rest assured, this will curve upwards faster than an 18 year old Prom Queen's bust in relative short time...

What Is Consciousness?

Consciousness is still not defined officially by mainstream researchers, scientists, and spiritual gurus, but one thing's certain: it's excessively important to the advancement of human life as we know it. We literally are at a standstill in terms of evolution because of a few different reasons.

• We have no natural predators other than our own kind; we do not require physical evolution.
• We have no natural rivals intellectually; we do not require mental evolution.
• We are caught in a never-ending string of distractions; mainstream media, politics, entertainment, electronics - the list goes on and on.

A few ancient philosophers even claimed openly that human beings had not only stopped evolving, but were in a process of DEvolution; in their eyes the majority of people were actually reverting back into a state of an animalistic mindset! Were they so full of themselves that they looked down on everyone else so, or were they absolute geniuses who nailed it right on the head?

I can't possibly make such a brazen claim as to be able to define what exactly consciousness is, but I can, however, claim to understand the various stages of it, and how to at least get the biggest leap done and over with, from spiritual adolescence into spiritual adulthood. Yes, I just said spiritual instead of consciousness - to me, they're very similar if not one and the same.

The Five Stages of Consciousness

1. The Infant / Toddler

This, as you might imagine without me even saying anything about it, is the lowest form of consciousness known to mankind. Most children - and even some adults! -  are stuck in this level, for obvious reasons. Just in case they're not as obvious to you as they are to me, though, I'll do my best to explain.

In this level, it's all about numero uno - me, me, me, me, me...now, now, now, now, now! Nothing else matters but instant self-gratification. Nothing. The personal bubble of reality is so small that it encompasses only the self and the immediate surroundings - one who finds themselves stuck in this hell on earth existence literally cannot see past their own nose. Obviously, as I stated just a few words back, this state of reality is normally reserved for children only, and that's what it's intended for. The natural, and expected, progression is that as we age physically we are also aging mentally, consciously, becoming ever more aware of the world we live in and how it works. Unfortunately, some adolescent humans, and even in rare occasions some fully-grown adults are still stuck here for one reason or another.

Here, the ego dominates entirely. Emotional knee-jerk reactions are overpowering and cannot be ignored and subsequently acted upon. Complete and total irrationality and a lack of the ability to form coherent intelligent thought defines this level of being. Again, nothing else matters but the self, and the gratification of self. If it isn't pleasurable, one here wants nothing to do with it. Material possessions are top priority, and other human beings are simply that - other human beings. They mean nothing to one stuck here, aside from some form of entertainment from time to time to achieve more instant self-gratification. Here are a small number of examples of types of people stuck here:

• The teenager who thinks they'll literally perish if they don't get the new whatever they saw on TV.
• A few ancient Roman rulers such as Nero, Caligula.
• Any child under the age of 5.
• Any person who seems to emotionally overreact to almost anything trivial.

2. The Adolescent

You may be picking up a pattern already about how these stages will play out - they're much like the bodily aging of we humans. The problem is that as we grow physically into adulthood, our minds simply don't come with us anymore like they used to thousands of years ago.

Quite simply put, this stage of consciousness is where most adults (and by most I mean there are only a handful of humans in ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY who've gotten past this stage!) dwell for the entirety of their physically adult lives. This was only supposed to be a short stop-off on our intellectual journey of conscious awareness as humans as we pass into physical AND mental adulthood. Unfortunately, society as it is in this day and age makes it almost impossible to transition from here into the third stage.

In this level of being, a person is more rational, more able to form coherent intelligent thought, but is still mostly dominated by egoism, materialism, and emotional knee-jerk reaction based thinking and doing. Here resides 99.999...% of humanity. Here I reside, as well, I'm reluctant to admit, but admit it I must, and admit it I shall. I may have a foot in the door to the next level of consciousness, but so long as any part of me still resides here, all of my being resides here. I am going to spend most of this post in explaining this section and how I believe we can move from here into the next stage; also how this seems to be the most difficult stage to exit upward from, and from there things seems to just flow like a river.

What's Holding You, Me, and Everyone Else Here?

For starters, our ego - again - holds us here. If you've noticed that the ego seems to be the recipient of a lot of my angst, you'd be correct. If one doesn't hold their ego to the ground, that's exactly what one's ego does to one's self; holds you to the ground, not letting you ascend upwards. We learn from a very young age that material possessions are top priority: getting a job and buying 'things' is what every adult around us is focused on more than anything else, and we humans are cursed with the mammalian trait of learning by example. The ego, wanting to "keep up with the Joneses" so to speak brings us straight into materialism and puts a value on every 'thing' around us. We're bombarded with advertisements on TV - which literally every household has now - telling us how happy and fulfilled we'll be if we just go to the store and buy some 'thing' that we don't really NEED, but we now suddenly WANT.

Which brings me to the next major issue with this level of consciousness. Need vs want - do you know the difference? I'm certain your answer just now was yes, as would most say. First, what I want you to do within the next few days, when you can get time away from the materialism-induced rat race of this world, is to make a list of the top 20 'things' (include people there, too; the mere fact that other people can be included in that statement is part of the problem!) that are important to you. Next, halve it - break that list down to 10 things. Again, halve it - now have only 5 things that are most important to you. Then make it 3, then 2, and then force yourself to decide between the last two and narrow the list to the truly most important thing in your entire life here on this planet. Now you know what you merely WANTed but thought you absolutely NEEDed previously, and can start to focus in on those two or three top things in your world.

Another bigtime issue we have in this world, in trying to exit upwards into the next state of consciousness, is simple - very cleverly studied and designed - distractions. I'm typing on one of them right now: my laptop connected to the internet. Our distraction box, otherwise known as the television, is possibly the biggest proponent that keeps us stuck down here in dumbass-ville. Make no mistake, millions are spent per year by major marketing firms to understand (through surveys) how the consumer's mind works and then transition that into (through advertisements) specially designed processes by which to literally brainwash the average human being into thinking they NEED something that they only, in reality, WANT. If you don't think this is the case, just look at how ecstatic everyone in every commercial ever is, and then think about what you see when you go to the store - nothing but blank, thoughtless consumers who don't smile, don't make eye contact, and don't strike up a conversation even though they're passing by probably 50-100 other human beings during that one trip to the store.

Sports, the mainstream media, politics, commercials, even peer pressure are all key elements in this admixture of insanity we call reality. Our personal bubble is now larger, yes, but only as large as the TV tells us it should be. Want to hear about how many Americans died overseas today? You'd have a better chance of winning the lottery with your first ticket ever purchased than hearing about that on the news. Want to know the details about the new gun control executive orders President Obama just signed? Turn on the news and you won't get details, you'll get "expert analysis" from people you've never heard of, nor who show any credentials of their expertise.

How Can We Get Up And Out?

I think the most ironic of things is the fact that I fully understand from observation how to move on to the next level of consciousness, to get "up and out" of the state of being I'm currently in, and yet I still don't do it. Even more ironic is that I'm now going to endeavor to explain to you how to do it, as well.

Unfortunately, this is the most difficult - if not outright impossible while being trapped in the society that we live in today - thing to do. The first step is very clear to me, and that is to gain full control over your own emotions and emotional states. This can be achieved by simply turning your head into something more than a hat rack, and turning that brain thing to the "ON" setting, and not allowing it to turn off again. I affectionately call this the process of reaching up and ripping the blinders off your face, because quite literally in this state of being we're simply focused on what's right in front of our faces, unable to see anything to either side and put the puzzle pieces together. I've been accused of not having any emotions at times, because of the simple fact that I don't react in ways people expect; if they're telling me about the big sporting event that's got nearly everyone cranked up to the ceiling over, I simply shrug and ask them why I should care about something like that. When given bad news, usually my comment is, "Oh well..." and I move on and don't seem to worry about it at all. While this is true outwardly, there are emotional responses firing off just like anyone else has, but instead of a knee-jerk response, my mind takes the information, processes it all instantly, and then determines that (most of the time) it's irrelevant and isn't worth bothering with.

Secondly, material attachments must be tossed aside. The "American dream" is literally a consciousness trap in this level - we all want that nice house we can be proud of, the good-paying career that gives us financial security, the beautiful spouse we can show off at company events and social gatherings, and all the trinkets and electronic gadgetry that shows that we've "made it". This MUST be cast aside if we are to ever reach a higher state of being.

Thirdly, we as humans must understand that racism, sexism, speciesism, and the like must all be completely forgotten in order to move forward as a unit. Individually, we can forget these things and move past them, but the glaring evidence of their existence pops up to remind us that as a whole, we humans haven't gone too far past the caves in all reality.

3. Adulthood / Maturity

There have only been a smattering of humans in all of our recorded history that one could possibly point to and say, "That's an ascended being." and not be joking. This level of consciousness is literally so difficult to achieve that even claimed gurus are not here yet entirely. As I said before, if even a small part of you is still attached to any sort of ego or material thing, you're still down there in either level 2 or 1. As much as you don't want to hear it and as much as I don't like admitting it, if ANY part of us is attached to those finite things that don't matter in the grand scheme of things, we're still stuck down there.

Only a very few names come to my mind right off the top of my head:

• Plato / Socrates
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Homer

That's pretty much all I can come up with without looking more individuals up - you get the point; they're very few and extremely far between. The hallmarks of someone who is experiencing this level of being include, but are not limited to:

1. Expressions of "This is me, and this is me enjoying myself" without a care in the world of who bears witness to them or their actions.
2. A child-like enthusiasm and wonder towards all things.
3. The supreme disregard of all material objects and things.
4. The ability to truly offer help to anyone who may need it without expecting a return. (This is next to impossible for most, including myself)
5. Not worrying in the slightest of what others may think of them - they are themselves in all places.

I sometimes refer to people as wearing "masks" in public; those individuals who are themselves at home, where they're surrounded by people they trust and care about - but when they set foot outside where the general mass of humanity can look upon them, they play the "keeping up appearances" routine, put their mask on, and are a completely different person. These people cannot possibly obtain this level of consciousness until they lose that trait altogether.

This is a sublime existence. Persons who are here seem to be able to travel freely in this physical, material world and just as easily pass into what's referred to as the Astral world. Out of body experiences during meditation are frequent, and sometimes the individual can even communicate their experiences in the other, more spiritual, realm to others upon returning to their physical state.

The ego does not exist here, it has been completely shed and tossed aside like so much refuse. Materialism doesn't even invade their thoughts. This is where one goes when one exits Plato's Cave and walks out into the upper world. I could never, even verbatim quoting the document, give justice to the story as written down by Plato himself, so read the story and understand for yourself how blatantly obvious the metaphor is, describing the transition from adolescent consciousness into this stage of adult consciousness or maturity of the mind.

4. Transcendent / Ascended

Clearly, I mentioned the above state of being as "ascended" for the 3rd level of consciousness, however, that's simply how the rest of us view someone who's traversed into that state - they're so foreign from what we generally call "normal" that they appear to be an ascended being, but in reality they're simply the example that all of we humans should be striving for in our adulthood.

If there are only a small handful of humans who've ever reached the previous state, I can say with certainty there would only be enough to count on one hand in this level of consciousness. Oddly enough, the first President of the United States and General of the Union Army, George Washington, is depicted inside the White House in an artists rendering as an ascended being. He is depicted as having ascended upon his physical death and moved upwards to dwell with the gods.

This isn't a bad example of what an ascended being would be doing, to be honest. In ancient Hellenic philosophy, the afterlife was a sort of previous life/lives judgement process by which the noblest, most just souls would literally skip the whole reincarnation process for a number of years (in the hundreds) and be invited to join the gods in their most highest of dwellings. The rest of the souls - the ones who hadn't gained understanding and this level of consciousness, this level of wisdom, in their previous earthly lives would have to restart the entire process again; they would, though, get to choose what life they would have, whether it be man or animal. The "best of the rest" would get first dibbs on the lives to choose from, giving them the best chance to make the best decision this time around and possibly achieve the ultimate goal and join the gods in their next time through. The rest would get the leftover lives, so to speak, and be stuck with what they got which means that if a man was particularly evil and nasty in his previous life, he'd be one of the last in line to pick from the next life choices, and be stuck with perhaps a life which was doomed to misery, ridicule, poverty, and the like.

I can only name one human being who I'm certain has ever achieved this state of consciousness in recorded history, and that would be a blind woman by the name of Mary Ann Schinfield. I'll give you a bit of an excerpt about her from another author:

"I'm in communication right now with someone who's aware of many levels at once. The scientists who are studying her are speechless; they cannot understand how she is doing what she's doing. She might be sitting in a room, yet she claims to be watching from outer space. NASA checked her out by asking her to "see" a specific satellite and give specific information that could only be known if someone was actually there. She gave them readings off their instruments, which I'm sure seemed impossible to the scientists. She said she was flying alongside the satellite and simply read them. Her name is Mary Ann Schinfield. She is legally blind, yet she can walk around a room and noone would know that she cannot see. 

"...she asked if I would like to see through her eyes. Of course I said yes. Within a few breaths, my field of vision opened up and I was looking at or through what looked like a huge television screen that FILLED MY FIELD OF VISION. What I saw was astounding. It seemed that I was moving very fast through space without a body. I could see the stars, and at that moment Mary Ann and I, seeing through her eyes, were moving alongside a string of comets. She was very close to one of them."

- Excerpt from "The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life" by Drunvalo

So you can see why I say this individual is a shocking example of what can be accomplished by the human mind. The most startling claim here is that the author described being in continual long-range telepathic communication with this woman; this very simply means that the author's mind was capable of the same things, but wasn't "unlocked" so to speak. I know next to nothing about this level of consciousness as I've experienced none of it, so I won't dilute myself by continuing.

5. The "Christ Consciousness"

I will say this, and only this, about the highest known level of consciousness to mankind - I know literally nothing about it, and seek answers DAILY to the question of, "What is this?" I suggest you do the same, my friends, and if you have any insights I very much would love for you to share them with me.

In closing, know that we can do this together - all we need is to mutually respect, love, and nurture one another to the point of absolute perfection in our imperfections - and the acceptance, without hesitation, of all of them. I don't know if you gleaned anything from this posting, but I think that I taught myself something during writing it, and hope that you at least enjoyed my staggering attempt at understanding things which I simply do not. Much love, and stay safe out there.

- CA

Inducing Consciousness: On the Way to Cognition by Davidson, Glen [Pap (Google Affiliate Ad)