What Is Consciousness?
And Why It Matters That You Know The Difference Between Thinking and The One Doing The Thinking
My sister got the call. Dad, who’d been in the ICU, was in cardiac arrest. He was dying.
We arrived in time to witness the brutal attempt at resuscitation. It was clear he was gone.
I felt the earth shift. So vivid the experience remains that I can feel it now. The ground became both incredibly still and enormously solid. It was as if I’d been at sea for a month and then stepped to a giant slab of motionless marble.
There was no place to go. Yet, we know that leaving was step one. I recall how odd it was to look at my feet and consciously will my right foot to move. Then my left.
My sis and I found ourselves on this mid-afternoon weekday at a restaurant in Cherry Creek. The waitress came over and asked, “Are you having a great day?”
To which I replied, “Different. For sure.”
She had no idea how insane the question was from our view. To her it was just Wednesday afternoon.
Even if you still have both your parents you have known a moment like this. From time to time we all get ejected from our general sleepwalking state and tossed onto the cold, hard floor of reality.
It need not be a tragic loss. A euphoric event can have the same effect. The birth of my children is one that comes to mind.
Heck, I recall writing a story about Drew Brees a few years back where he was holding his young son on the field after a Superbowl victory. You could see they were both just there… taking it all in. In awe and deep wonder of the endless moment.
“Why am I talking about these extreme experiences and what does this have to do with consciousness?,” you may be asking. (I hope you are)
I’ll tell you. Because consciousness is an important topic. One that gets thrown around a lot — not the least of which by yours truly here.
Yet, in my experience, in all but a few crowds, it’s not a term that is well understood. Let’s say it’s a little on the “fluffy” side. You know, that sort of “elitist” shit that yoga pant wearing people use.
My purpose here is to offer you a more tangible idea — a meaningful sense of what it really is. And what or why a shift in consciousness may matter to you.
One thing I have come to recognize is, that when we talk about “the C-word” it’s most often from one head to another. In other words, I offer a definition of it. Something rather clinical and you read or listen then sort of think about it. And lightly or politely acknowledge it and we move on.
In this case nothing in the sense of real wisdom has been exchanged. It just a head thought to another head and both heads move on.
I call on the above example, of my father’s death because it’s visceral. It’s real. It’s a very sudden, in the moment experience that you can feel.
Death of someone close is one of those events where you come in one way and walk out with a completely new world view. And in this way my hope is that you can not just think about what the C-Word means but what it is. How a shift changes things.
You see, amidst all the definitions of consciousness, the simple one that I rely on is:
Consciousness is a set of deeply held values and beliefs that create the lens with which you view the world — and thus, how the world is reflected back at you. It is your lens on life. Your world view.
And when your consciousness changes, the world around you changes. Not because it changed but because you opened to see it more completely, more clearly, more openly or more wholly.
When you are in the moment of a dramatic life shift, you are usually gifted with a dramatic increase in awareness. A million tiny things that your senses have learned to tune out are suddenly alive. In your face. All happening at once.
This sort of dramatic shift is very tangible. You feel it. You smell it. You can taste it.
Hence, it’s a good example. Yet, it’s important to know that this sudden awakening is called a “state” experience. Meaning that it’s a state which is here but is passing. Most likely in a few weeks the system will begin to settle. You will start to feel more “normal.”
The larger, yet less dramatic of the consciousness shifts is called the “stage.” Meaning that it’s a new level of making meaning — seeing the world.
Consider, for example, when a child goes from believing in Santa to accepting the less fantastic truth about Christmas. This move from the fantasy to the more mature teen is one we most all pass through.
This is a stage and a stage does not reverse. You don’t get up one day and suddenly revert back to head elf of the Santa support team.
Why Consciousness is Important
I know… that’s all well and good but so f’n what? I can hear you…
As, in the simplest terms, consciousness is the lens you use to view and judge the world, you can see how absolutely key it is to your life. To your success, happiness, relationships… to quite literally everything.
It holds the code that makes the world safe or scary, makes you a success or suffer, makes you inclined to laugh, smile or frown.
Yet, the first most important thing to understand about consciousness is that it is. That it exists in some form. And that means to understand and accept that the world you see is not the world. It is the world reflected off the lens of your consciousness — your thoughts, beliefs, experience and fears.
That means that you are the one creating it.
Think about that. Yes, like the Matrix but I’d stop short of trying to stop a bullet.
Why is this key?
Because in all absolute truth, most people who walk this earth today see only the world as they see it. What they see is what they absolutely believe to be real and true.
Now imagine that you make the shift from seeing the world as a hard set reality to knowing that you have an active role in how that information forms after it comes in through your senses.
You get to make the meaning rather than simply react to the meaning that once seemed to be made “out there.”
In that instant you go from powerless to powerful. The hopeless situations of life are transformed by the fire of hope.
It’s not about thinking about gold coins and seeing money being delivered to you. I’m not talking about re-programming your mind for “abundance.” Most of that is only an attempt to add another layer of belief over the your unconscious conscious.
Going from the subjective view as a passenger on the ship of life to the objective view that you have a pilot’s seat — if you choose to take it — can change everything.
So, for the moment, you do not have to “do” anything. You do not have to meditate, journal, breathe, practice mindfulness… although any or all of those would be helpful and good. You very simply need only begin to “see” the black-box of consciousness that is always active in you.
Just see it. Watch closely for biases. Question your reactions. Delay your eagerness to believe anything and everything.
Do these things and soon I will be back with our next installment: How Consciousness Changes Your World
