Submitted by Erdgeist on
Calm, relaxed, restless, anxious, envious, confident, unsure, loving, guilty, grateful. As my thoughts drifted, these are some of the emotions I felt just in the past hour. And these are only the ones I was aware of. Striving to be more self-aware, I try to be in touch with my thoughts and emotions as often as possible. Hoping to have a better understanding of my tendencies, so I can slowly reform them to a healthier state.
However, a sudden insight recently offered a breakthrough in this practice. It’s about grasping the distinction between who’s feeling these changing emotional states and who’s observing them within. Who’s doing the thinking and who’s being aware of the thoughts? Who’s busy with the ongoing self-talk and who’s doing the listening? For all these questions, the answer is the mind and the Awareness respectively.
This Awareness, that allows me to observe my thoughts and feelings, is our true self. It is the mirror that makes our ever-changing thoughts and emotions visible to us. It is the screen on which we project our emotional and mental drama. However, since this projection is continuous and we are so engrossed in it, we believe we are the movie and totally miss the screen. We identify with our job, family, friends, religion, nation etc. However, this unwavering Awareness, that makes such identification possible, is the real us.
Three levels of consciousness
We can have three levels of consciousness. Level one is the outer (or body) consciousness. Our consciousness is limited to what we perceive through our sensory organs – what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch. At this level, we react to outer experiences on autopilot. If we eat a tasty snack, we crave for more and overeat. Someone cuts our lane on a busy street and we get angry at them.
Level two is the inner (or emotional/mental) consciousness. Here we are aware of our thoughts, feelings, motivations, attitudes and preferences. We are in touch with our inner craving for that snack. Also, we are aware of the anger as it arises within us seeing someone cut our lane. At this level of consciousness, if we choose to, we can work with examining our inner states- craving or anger- and slowly shift our attitude and beliefs so we don’t automatically lose temper or overeat.
Level three is the self (or spiritual) consciousness. We develop awareness of our true self – the one that’s observing our anger or our craving for a tasty snack. At this level, you recognise that you are not your body, mind, senses or emotions. You are simply the Awareness that’s experiencing these aspects in a human form.
Why level three is a game changer
Level three consciousness has the potential to be liberating. The biggest source of our unhappiness is our attachment to our body, mind and identity. As different events affect our body (pain and disease), our mind (fear, anxiety, anger) and identity (rejection, failure), we suffer. However, if we could somehow live in the consciousness of our enduring true self, we would not as easily identify with the ups and downs of our human experience. We could better see the transient nature of all our physical and emotional experiences.
Being in this state doesn’t mean we become less capable of fulfilling our various roles in life. Instead, grounded in our connection with our true self, we can fulfil them with a greater sense of stillness and joy. It would be like the theatre actor who plays his role with great commitment, knowing all along that he is actually not the character he is playing.
Besides, when we are aware of our unchanging true self, by extension, we can relate to everyone else the same way. We recognise that our partner’s, colleague’s or child’s personality may differ from us, but their essence is the same. This knowledge can help us be less judgmental and offer unconditional love in all our relationships.
Rajiv Vij