Saturday, June 4, 2016

Consciousness As Yet Undefined



I stepped out and away from really big thoughts for quite a while.  I guess I needed a break for a bit.  But, lately consciousness as a topic of thought calls from that precious place I left it some time ago and it tells me I’m not done yet.  Have you any idea the frustration this causes or why?  There have been over 200 papers written on the topic of consciousness and yet, we are still unable to pin point exactly where it begins and ends. The theories are abundant.  Some are very outlandish and some seem so rational and logical.  I cannot help but wonder though, if it remains truly illusive because we are looking for it with the wrong perspective and possibly, the wrong equipment.

What if consciousness is a type of energy field pervasive in its existence to the point it cannot be defined in terms of beginnings and endings?  What if it is such an intrinsic part of this world we experience that we will be unable to differentiate it coming from the mind or soul because both are a part of consciousness?  If we raise ourselves up to the consciousness of spirit and beyond, we still could not define its borders because we cannot get outside of it in order to fully look at it.  We have a word or a concept that carries multiple meanings only because we have no words to define the fullness of the essence of the infinite.

I had to stop looking it this for a while.  I had to cut myself off from thinking about it.  Not because it was a problem I couldn’t solve or it was frustrating or anything like that.  I had to stop looking at it to reconnect with it in a better light.  It has been a stressful year for me in so many ways I just won’t bore you with.  But that stress has been the impetus for my return to aware consciousness.  I think, sometimes, we need something painful to bring us back to the center of our being where there is peace, there is comfort and there is this vast and depthless expanse of pure consciousness we are always engaged with, plugged into and a very focal part of.

I guess in all my inquiry about consciousness, contemplating all the theories, I guess I have to smile and say “Yes” all are not only plausible but likely in some way.  There is no mind over soul over body here in terms of origins.  I think the reality would be much closer to a “yes” to quite possibly all theories.  I have no scientific proof but you see, science cant really measure it from the inside.  It hasn’t got the proper tools or the right perspectives yet to see itself from the inside.  It would be like a fish trying to formulate the existence of the ocean?  What would that be to a fish?  It is in it and so how could it be defined properly?  What framework would the fish use?  You might have to catch glimpses where you could step outside of consciousness but I ask you, how on Earth would you do that?  How in any realm could you do that?

I like to think of us all as interactive processors in a way.  We take in data at various frequencies, process that data and put out a world view that suits us but realize that output is dependent upon our processing equipment.  Not all of us process data in the same manner and even if we are comprised of similar components, the way we were put together creates many and varied ways in which we see, process and output information into the realities that we embrace.  No two processors (humans) are fully alike and each will have his areas of focus based on how he or she was created (and I’m including here genetic memes and psychology as well as environmental psychology and social impact upon our development).  So, within consciousness, how do we see consciousness when we are actually processors of consciousness?  I don’t have the answers.  I, like many others, only have questions. 

At some level, I think I can accept the concept of being conscious, in a sea of consciousness, I consciously interpret to exist within a larger global shared consciousness.  At first this sounded so silly to me but then I stepped back, stopped thinking about it so much and it became more clear to me.  What purpose would it serve for me or anyone to define the indefinable at this point in our human-conscious development?  In this frame and within this plane of existence at this time, I do not think we have yet developed the right equipment, thought processes or perceptive ability to definitively articulate what precisely consciousness is.  Clever as we may be, the best we can hope for, I think, is to define aspects of it and maybe coin some better words to contain the aspects we define…like Spirit, Soul, Sub-Conscious, Latent Consciousness and Awake/Aware Consciousness.  But those are merely points on a spectrum that is really not limited to just the points.  What about the whole plane?  What about the other planes?

I’m more content today knowing I don’t have the tools to do a job I somehow started to take on without realizing it.  Rather than drive myself mad, I am happy to look for the right tools to begin to define component parts, go back to the studies and reread them, go back to the world of rich, beautiful and amazing experiences within the global consciousness and allow what is to manifest to, well, manifest with much greater ease and much less intense thinking on at least this topic in particular.  Because we exist to process and respond to what we both take in and put out, we bring naturally, this space-time continuum into the mix of consciousness.  We are the crossroads or culmination of time and space and the consciousness that keeps these things dimensionaly in tact in our experience.  Hmmm, more thoughts to come.
 
© 2016 JL Harter (Photo: http://www.wallpaperhi.com)

 Dr. J.L. Harter, Editor see bio section for more information.