LAYERS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

If this blogsite had a graphics capability,
I'd have drawn the cross-section of an onion here
With 7 concentric circles.

But I don't know how to do that, so I ask you to imagine it.

Now I'm going to give each layer of this Consciousness Onion a label.
Each label, like all labels, can be used to separate and differentiate one layer from another.
But I'd like you to remember that we're on a fluid continuum --
Let the labels be generally fluid, descriptive and provocative,
Not fixed proscriptive or limiting.
I just want to cast some light on one way that humans experience the different layers of consciousness
And provoke, if you'll let me, an "A-hah!"of recognition from your own experiences.
Here are the phases of consciousness, from the outside in......................

• POSSESSIONS
• OTHER PEOPLE
• BODY
• MIND
• EMOTIONS
• SPIRIT
• SOUL

The layers rank roughly in vibrational frequency order from coarse/slow at the outer edge to fine/fast as we near the centre.

There is no intention to rank one end of the scale as "good" and the other as "bad",

Nor to imply any whiff of concepts like "better" or "worse".

Possessions

In a Possessions consciousness we are furthest from our centre. We define ourselves in terms of what we identify with (own). These include, but are not limited to material possesions, knowledge, power, control, and even symbols of achievenments and enlightenment can also be adopted by ego in this level of consciousness  as "What I am". Jealousy & competition, and beliefs in Scarcity, Lack and Loss thrive in a Possessions climate.

Other People

Our attentions are predominantly in other people's space. We allow our choices and actions to be governed by what others may or may not think and feel. We may be obsessed with our reputation and what "they" think and feel about us. We may be compulsive "helpers", depriving others of the opportunities to learn the lessons they need for their growth. At one end of the scale in this level of consciousness there are altruistic benefactors; at the other end are annoying busybodies and pathetic wallflowers desperate to be liked.

Body

The first level at which attention is focussed at all inwards and some, albeit primitive, measure of self-awareness begins.
Body image and health are usually a major preoccupation in this level of awareness. Instead of having a body, and all the variables, pleasures and challenges that go with that, we identify with our body and what's going on with it; we assume that is what we are. We allow our Self to be defined by this one aspect of our being, almost to the complete exclusion of every other area. (e.g. we say things like "I am sick" and "I'm too fat/thin...etc", rather than "I'm feeling sick", or "I'm carrying more weight than is good for my body.." This may seem a bit pedantic, but it betrays the presence of an unhealthy assumption which we identify with and BECOME. A long-term obsession with Body is unhealthy because, like all the consciousness centres except Soul/Pure Awareness, the body is deteriotating and dying. To the extent that our self-image and self esteem are tied to anything that is deteriorating or can be lost, we're up for a lot of anguish. Never mind, it makes for good drama, and it gives dieticians, makeup manufacturers, gym trainers, plastic surgeons, beauticians and fashion stylists a very healthy income.

Mind

When any being identifies with the Mind, its programmes and contents, we have a state of affairs called Ego. The same comments apply to Mind consciousness as to Body-consciousness above. In fact, it is the ego that is responsible for creating all levels of Consciousness other than Spirit and Soul. Long-term tenants of the Mind find it hard to relate to others emotionally and often become prone to diseases of the heart, stroke, diabetes, and mental dis-orders. Psycho-babble witchdoctors, self-development gurus, sales trainers and PR pushers would go broke in 30 seconds if an asteroid crashed into this layer.

Emotions

We sure as hell know when someone else is living in their emotions -- they gush all over the place and are so "un-reasonable". We also have a pretty good idea when we're wallowing in emotion ourselves, and we use mind-consciousness (reason) to justify squatting there. We don't just have the emotions in this consciousness, we BECOME them. Long-term squatters may develop psychiatric and medical conditions. Drug-pushers (legal and illegal) owe their fabulous fortunes to this level of being. New-age farts and snake-oil roadies find this realm a fertile playground.

Spirit

The beginning point of Consciousness -- Awareness with limitations. At this level we are aware of another side to our being beside our human nature. In reverse order, from the Soul outwards, this is the point at which duality began so that the being could become self-aware. From this point outward, frequencies are lowered so that the Being can access experiences that are not available to it at this high-frequency level. God-botherers start around here somewhere, but soon descend, like the rest of us, into lower levels, robed in their holy righteousness.

Soul

Pure Awareness. Thought, untainted by thoughts -- faster even than the speed of light. The deathless Absolute. The creator and unsubjective, unconcerned witnesser of all lower levels of consciousness. This is the core of what we are, but we cannot know it from this space. Because there is no duality here, there is no way of looking in a mirror. There is nothing to look inwards and see. From this we came, to have all the experiences available in each of the other levels of consciousness, and to this we will return with that knowing intact.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

A consciousness or way-of-being that is centred on (e.g.) one's possessions will provoke perceptions, create hierarchies of values, ethics and importance, and attract people and events that differ at least in quality (if not content) from those that arise in a consciousness emanating from elsewhere on the scale (e.g. Spirit). Behaviour that is acceptable, and maybe even lauded at one level of consciousness, may come in for heavy disapproval at another level. Things that are seen at one level, will be seen differently at another level, or may not be seen at all.

Perceptions and events that happen in one level of consciousness do not happen in isolation: Everything interacts, and cause-effects are felt right across the spectrum, including and especially the level of Soul/Pure Awareness/Space-Time. Everything that is and happens affects the cosmic Awareness, and Awareness affects everything that is and happens. Experiences are felt in ways that are pertinent to wherever on the spectrum our attention is at the time. And collective experience and personal experience co-exist concurrently in, through and around us; there is no separation in space or time. It is this phenomenon that ensures that individual experience is, at one and the same time, part of the collective experience. Which means, if you want to change the world, change your experience of it. Your experience is contagious.

The bottom line is -- whatever's going on -- pay attention.

As far as god is concerned, (regardless of what priests and gurus will tell you) there's no layer that is preferable to any other. There's no place you should be. My mother chose to strive (and I mean "strive") to live as much as she could in the realms of Spirit and Soul. I, on the other hand, have chosen to spread myself  and explore as far and as often as possible, as widely as I can over the whole area. Sure, my discriminating ego has limiting preferences; I let them go as much as I can. My point is that, while there are remarkable differences, and changes in the balance of advantages and disadvantages as we slide along the scale, one level is no "better" than any other. Find what works for you, and be prepared to move along when where you are no longer serves your purpose.

Speaking of god, by the way -- no matter how far off-centre I've gone, I've found god there, indiminished. So far, and I have been to hell and back, I have not found any place where god, the undiscriminating witnesser, is not ever-present.

I'm reassured by that as I head off into the unknown of this next moment.......