A common premise concerning consciousness is the need to raise it. On the surface this may sound like a great idea. On the other hand, maybe it’s not that great of a notion even though the concept of rising up would seem to be very progressive and positive. Being employed we look forward to a “raise.” And doesn’t raising our consciousness mean moving to a higher position; lift it up; elevate it? Yes, raising consciousness means elevating it to a higher level. But is that what we really want or need to do?
Let’s explore the fallacy in this concept of raising consciousness.
First, exactly what is consciousness? It seems the answer to this question is as slippery as an eel or as difficult to hold on to as a moonbeam. “Explaining the nature of consciousness is one of the most important and perplexing areas of philosophy, but the concept is notoriously ambiguous.”[i] But I’m going to make it less so. Consciousness is the sixth element. This makes it no less ambiguous than fire. Fire is an element, and so is consciousness.
However, consciousness as the sixth element is, in reality, divine consciousness. Moses and Jesus both experienced the divine call as something heard and something seen—in the form of a vision and a voice.[ii] This was the voice of God or the divine consciousness. Both were awakened and became aware of the blended aspects of spirit and matter.
Divine consciousness does not exist alone. It interpenetrates the other five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space. In other words, divine consciousness is within all things of the seen and unseen worlds. All things are conscious and aware. This means all—not only creatures but such things as trees and even the earth itself. We are all one, all conscious and aware.
Thus, divine consciousness is a consciousness of oneness. This is not the thought of oneness but the consciousness of it. In other words, our thoughts flow from our consciousness. And our thoughts determine our reality. As we think, we become.
We are born with a consciousness of oneness, but within an unknown period of time, it is overshadowed by a dualistic consciousness. This is the reason why the majority of people have a dualistic consciousness, which also means their thought patterns are dualistic—right and wrong, good and evil, win and lose, success and failure.
Common sense deems raising our dualistic consciousness only results in a greater sense of duality which means greater thought processes of separation or dichotomy— two opposed ideas such as war and peace.
Our dualistic consciousness does not need to be raised but transformed back to our original birth consciousness of radical nonduality where all dichotomies permeate each other such as spirit interpenetrates matter—true oneness. And when you awaken, your earthly awareness expands and your original consciousness blends together with your dualistic consciousness.
Radical Nonduality is Heart-Mind Consciousness
Our heart-mind consciousness is our awakening and awakened minds. It is still corruptible and deluded but awakening to the reality of interpenetrating radical nonduality. It is a shift from viewing life totally from the I position to one where the I and the we interpenetrate—the I in the we, and the we in the I.
Our consciousness flows from our hearts through our minds—the sun of our hearts gives light to the moon of our minds. We no longer recognize people by race and gender but as human beings with a divine spark within. Judgments and discernments are not made on a label of color or sex but on the basis of the person’s actions to us and to others.
True compassion is centered in the heart, not in the mind. Compassion is not an intellectual exercise but a feeling within our hearts and our bodies of the struggle and suffering of others. It is from our hearts that we may truly acknowledge our own struggle and suffering and our loved ones’ struggle and suffering through the challenges and obstacles that life invariably throws at us.
[i] Rocco J. Gennaro, “Consciousness,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/consciou/.
[ii] In October of 1993, my wife, Sherry, and I conducted a spiritual journey to the Big Island of Hawaii. To begin the journey, we conducted a spiritual, or religious, ceremony called a burning or feeding the spirits of the ancestors. We performed the ceremony the day before my vision at dusk. In the predawn hours, less than twelve hours later, I experienced the divine call both as something heard and something seen—in the form of a vision and a voice. “This star is you; you are this star. The purification is of the people; all are one.” This star was Venus, the morning star.