Drive my car

Here is a little note I wrote to myself, a brief meditation on the relationship between consciousness and what it is conscious of. The basic ideas, of course, are in no way original with me.

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First, there is awareness, which may be described as a space or field. Objects appear in this field of awareness. Some objects of awareness are physical things and some are thoughts. And these objects -- both things and thoughts -- are real, but to the observer they are not as fundamental as the awareness itself. The proof is that the objects come and go, but the awareness remains.

Both thoughts and things have a certain cause-and-effect quality. One thing leads to another; one thought leads to another. Most of the time, we are not in control of our thoughts. They multiply and mutate on their own. They head off in irrelevant directions, usually down well-worn paths. We often find ourselves thinking of the same things we've thought of a hundred times - or a thousand times - before. There is little or no productive purpose to most of this ceaseless thinking. It is nothing but stray thoughts, random thoughts, conditioned thoughts (conditioned in the Pavlovian sense), coming and going in complete disregard of our actual interests and concerns. We deceive ourselves if we believe that most of our thinking is purposeful.

Awareness is sometimes compared to a movie screen, with our thoughts and perceptions analogous to the images projected on the screen. The weakness of this analogy is that it suggests that thoughts and perceptions are unreal, in the way that movie images are (in a sense) unreal. Perhaps awareness can be better likened to the windshield of a moving car. Objects appear and vanish in the windshield. The scenery constantly changes. Even the road may change -- from a dirt lane to a suburban street to a superhighway. The sky may change from clear to cloudy, or from light to dark. The terrain may change from flat to mountainous. The objects framed in the windshield are real, but they are transient. The windshield, too, is real - but it is constant.  

Comments

[Michael H]

The windshield, too, is real - but it is constant.

As I was reading this I thought of some comments Peter Kingsley had made about the fact that our awareness itself never goes anywhere, it's just this steady state within which things happen. While I was looking for that quote, (which I couldn't find), I came across this excerpt from Reality, also by Kingsley:

There is one crucial point to note about Empedocles' instructions for [his disciple] Pausanias. This is that the things he tells him to do are things we never do ourselves . . .

His first instruction to Pausanias is not to perceive but to perceive that he is perceiving -- to watch the perceptive process itself. In other words he is telling him not just to look or touch or hear but to look and touch while fully conscious of looking and touching, to hear with the awareness that he is hearing . . .

This state of awareness is the trickiest of things because it never extends beyond the present moment. The reason why Empedocles instructs his disciple about it, presents it to him as such a very specific practice, is because it doesn't do itself. It isn't automatic but only lasts for as long as you stay conscious.

The moment you become fascinated by something you perceive, you will be dragged off by your nose into a seemingly external world of spiraling shapes and colors. The moment you wander off after some fascinating thought inside your head you will be left with unseeing eyes, staring blankly into space all over again, deaf to the gentle sounds around you. And this is how we pass our lives, silently tugged backwards and forwards from one state to the other: always lost, except perhaps in the most fleeting moment, to ourselves.

For Empedocles, exactly as for Parmenides, one of the most extraordinary facts about human existence is that people appear to be such creatures of the senses and yet never use their senses at all.

They are just used by them -- bashed around by them, buffeted here and there. And the worst aspect of this situation is the way we manage to believe, like blind people so blind they think they are not blind, that we can see the whole.

I think he's saying that our fascination with whatever is framed in the windshield keeps us from noticing the windshield itself.

[Teri]

I do not understand this. Awareness is not always present. It ceases when in deep sleep or unconsciousness. This is partly why many say it ceases altogether at death.

[william]

“one of the most extraordinary facts about human existence is that people appear to be such creatures of the senses and yet never use their senses at all.”

I suspect there is perfection in the process of this human journey of thoughts, distractions, attachments, desires, and our limited ability to be aware of our potential for greater awareness. We are gods in the making but still in the early stages of that making process.

I suspect that we have many dimensions to pass thorough on this journey to pure awareness but the destination is much less important than the journey. The primary focus of life may be more about process than results. After all when we get “there” (if there is a there) then what? If there is a there then reality may be just an infinite process of involution and evolution.

Maybe looking deeply into the process of the human journey may help us understand the purpose and meaning of our lives. When it came to organizations I noticed a results oriented approach to organizational improvement was greatly inferior to a process oriented approach to organizational improvement. Could it be that this same process oriented mindset can be applied to the human journey?

Not sure if any of this made sense but for years now I have suspected there is perfection in the evolutionary process that we cannot see due to our unawareness. As I have stated many times without our unawareness there are no journeys. I.e. evolution of consciousness.

“Awareness is not always present. It ceases when in deep sleep or unconsciousness.”

Oh but does it cease? We may lose conscious of our awareness but I suspect we are always aware. From my point of view at this time awareness is primary and consciousness is secondary. I.e. God is pure awareness; humankind is consciousness with limited awareness.

[Michael H]

Awareness is not always present.

While it is true that we don't have recall of periods such as deep sleep, it is interesting that the capacity of awareness is identical in the dream state to the waking state. And just because our current awareness doesn't include perfect recall doesn't mean that our awareness ceased. We assume that it did, but did it? Or are some previous periods of awareness just unavailable to our current awareness? Can we be certain of either premise?

I think what MP is describing in this post is how he's noticed that he's rarely aware of the capacity of awareness itself. What we are usually aware of is what we are perceiving, but not what we are perceiving with.

It's a fascinating thing when one first notices it within themselves. Empedocles must have regarded this as critical - the very first lesson to his disciple is "not to perceive but to perceive that he is perceiving". Why would this be the first lesson?

[Michael H]

Most of the time, we are not in control of our thoughts.

As I read the original post again, it occurred to me that we never really have control of our thoughts (who knows what might come to mind?), though we do have some control over what thoughts we entertain or act on.

It's probably a good thing - we'd have all killed each other long ago if it were otherwise.

:-)

[Teri]

William…“Oh but does it cease? We may lose conscious of our awareness but I suspect we are always aware.”

MH…" are some previous periods of awareness just unavailable to our current awareness?”

I am certain that I don't remember anything of my existence last night between 2am and 6am. It would be interesting if people could be hypnotised and regressed to their deep sleep periods to see whether "Awareness" was still awake.

In the absence of such confirmation, the use of the term “Awareness” must be incorrect. My dictionary states that “Aware” means “informed” or “knowing about”.

Uncertainty on this point is strong ammunition for skeptics. They would simply scoff: “You don’t understand English”.

[Michael H]

The second definition of "Awareness" in the MS Word dictionary gives this definition:

2. Noticing or Realizing Something

"knowing that something exists because you notice it or realize that it is happening"

I would say that the fact that my current awareness does not include the knowledge of what happened between 2:00 and 6:00 AM last night does not provide certainty that my awareness ceased at that time. The only certainty is that I'm not currently aware of having awareness at that time.

I guess I don't see how this provides ammunition for a skeptic, except as another instance in which someone can claim certainty without having any.

In any case, whatever is or is not contained within our current awareness is not awareness itself. Can we be aware of the awareness? And if so, what is the awareness that we become aware of, and what are we using to be aware of our awareness?

[Michael Prescott]

I hadn't really thought about instances in which awareness seemingly stops - like being in a deep coma or a dreamless sleep. I suppose I was thinking that even when asleep, we still dream, even if we can't recall much of what we dreamed about. And some people who've been awakened from comas say that they had dreams or heard bedside visitors speaking to them.

Still, it is probably true that awareness is not constant, since there are times when it (apparently) goes away altogether. What I meant to say, or should have said, is that awareness is relatively constant - when operating, it persists even as the objects of awareness change.

[Teri]

MH…“I guess I don't see how this provides ammunition for a skeptic, except as another instance in which someone can claim certainty without having any.”

Surely, it is *you * who is claiming that continuing Awareness is a fact /certainty? At any rate, the burden of proof must be on the person who states that Awareness never ends. Anyone who says, “I was unaware of anything at 3am in the morning” is simply stating a fact of everyday experience that anyone would understand.

MH…“In any case, whatever is or is not contained within our current awareness is not awareness itself. Can we be aware of the awareness? And if so, what is the awareness that we become aware of, and what are we using to be aware of our awareness?”

MH, you excel yourself. It reminds me of Donald Rumsfeld’s, “there are known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns” speech, except that I actually understood that.

You obviously need a different word from “awareness” to avoid tautology, contradiction and confusion. Be big like MP and admit it. We are all fallible. Anyway, why must you compel God to be aware all the time? Isn’t he allowed to have a nice nap from time to time?

[william]

"Isn’t he allowed to have a nice nap from time to time?"

Teri maybe god is napping now and dreaming and we are that dream. :-)

[Michael H]

Surely, it is *you * who is claiming that continuing Awareness is a fact /certainty?

I'm claiming only that we cannot know with certainty either way. Who knows? Maybe we die every night. Everyone's favorite guru, Sri Yukteswar, says that during dreamless sleep our causal self is involved in other realms, but our waking self remains unaware of those experiences. Can any of us say he's wrong? Can anyone say he's right?

There are obviously gaps in conscious experience, but the point that Michael made in his main post was that the capacity of awareness, (when we are conscious), is a steady state, while the objects and thoughts that come into our awareness are transient. At least that's how I read it, and I think he clarified by the statement, "when operating, it persists even as the objects of awareness change."

What is interesting in that observation to me is that it suggests the capacity to become aware of our awareness. Michael's original analogy was awareness as a windshield, while the contents of awareness are those things which are framed by the windshield that change as the car drives down the road. I'm saying that there's still someone driving the car who's become aware of both the windshield and the objects. So who's driving the car?

I just think it's interesting question. I have no idea what it has to do with God getting appropriate naps.

[william]

“the very first lesson to his disciple is "not to perceive but to perceive that he is perceiving". Why would this be the first lesson?”

Who or what is perceiving the perceiver? Could an analogy be like watching ourselves watching television. Is it our soul or is it the ultimate perceiver pure awareness perceiving the perceiver?

I suspect there are many lessons after this first lesson and the second lesson may be not to try and define God.

“My dictionary states that “Aware” means “informed” or “knowing about”.”

I would not rely too much on a dictionary for a definition of awareness when it applies to spiritual matters. The only other word I know that may be better than awareness is Isness but then I guess I did not learn my second lesson yet.

“It would be interesting if people could be hypnotized and regressed to their deep sleep periods to see whether "Awareness" was still awake.”

Until we agree upon an operational definition of awareness and consciousness we could be going around in circles here. Also I don’t think we know a whole lot about deep sleep as it applies to spiritual matters. Our souls may be doing a lot more in our deep sleep than we realize.

Awareness may be the one true infinite reality everything else may be limited perception. If we remove all of less than perfect perception (i.e. unawareness) what is left: pure awareness. I suspect that infinite awareness and oneness and Isness are synonyms.

[Filip VD]

Teri said: "I do not understand this. Awareness is not always present. It ceases when in deep sleep or unconsciousness. This is partly why many say it ceases altogether at death. "

A known experience with Buddhists is the experience of continuous awareness which remains during dreams (lucid dreams), also during deep dreamless sleep! This is something which happens naturally after years and years of training, the simple awareness which is in everything is then fully recognised.

greets,
Filip

[Teri]

Can you describe this “simple awareness”, Filip? Is it like a baby looking into his mother’s face for the first time, or is there something more interesting to it? If it can’t be described because it must be experienced, can you say why have you chosen to give it the name “simple awareness”?

Awareness is non-local, -the “field” Michael Prescott mentioned. But it has no qualities until these are “realized” – until possibilities are manifested or actualized by conscious attention, intention or choice.

In itself Awareness cannot be interesting. It is the ground state from which consciousness can identify with limitless possibilities, and any of these might be interesting. Or not.

[william]

“Awareness is non-local, -the “field” Michael Prescott mentioned. But it has no qualities until these are “realized” – until possibilities are manifested or actualized by conscious attention, intention or choice.

In itself Awareness cannot be interesting. It is the ground state from which consciousness can identify with limitless possibilities, and any of these might be interesting. Or not.”

This may be one of the best definitions of what most call God that I have ever read. That ground state you mention may be the very Isness of God. I.e. God = pure awareness. We are living proof of god’s limitless possibilities. Scary thought sometimes and majestic other times.

[Teri]

I understand. If the possibilities are limitless, then it must be able to identify with a limiting possibility like deep sleep or unconsciousness. But essentially, in its unidentified state, it remains awake/ aware. Think I see where MH was coming from now. Consider me enlightened.

[filip vd]

Teri:
The simple awareness is the awareness which is in every moment, in sad experiences, in the greatest experiences...
The eternal Isness. The sky wherein all the clouds come and go. It is the baby looking and the mother looking, it is the more interesting experiences and it is none of those.
It is the continuous awareness which is in every moment. I call it simple because when I first experienced it I could not believe it was so simple. It is so simple because it is in every moment, it can't be simpeler, it is so obvious that people look over it. Actually searching and looking for it just obstructs spirit. It is everywhere so if we go look for spirit we still put it somewhere outside of ourself. It is simpeler than words!
This is a description and it means nothing. It is not something which can be achieved or searched or done because it already is. I'm clueless to explain it more cause explanations just put more clouds in the sky while this is about the sky. But one can write books about it :) write thousands of words about it, Ken Wilber has some great books which illustrate this very well and so do a lot of zen buddhist texts and many other mystics.

Hope this made it somewhat more clearer.
If it is still to vague then please tell me.
Greets,
Filip

[Teri]

"Actually searching and looking for it just obstructs spirit."

This is a good point, Filip, and, by coincidence, ties in with what I have discovered when I do Zener Card tests.

I wonder if you can maintain this state of mind for long periods while going about your everyday business?

[Filipvd]

Teri, fully realised mystics have this.
Wilber calls it one taste, every experience has one similar taste. And their point is what you adress, it is there in our everyday business. It is not a mind state, as a mind state is again something which can be achieved or searched for.
I by no means am fully realised, I'm just a beginner, tasting.

krgds,
Filip

[Hope Rivers]

Here's a current example of extraordinary awareness!

My son a several weeks back got up from his bed and fast asleep (has history of sleep walking)walked in pitch darkness from one end of the house to the other, found the toilet, lifted the lid did his business, flushed (all in the dark)made an informed decision to return to sleep in my bed, I had my ensuite night light on, bedroom door closed (he wouldnt have seen any light from where he was,impossible, no light on in my bedroom).I saw the handle turn, he approached my bed and threw himself onto the vacant side of the bed eyes closed, he was snoring within seconds and my shaking him to wake was useless, so I let him be. In the morning he had no recollection of going to the toilet, waking up, nada zilch. Although as far as I'm concerned he demonstrated awareness in his sleep state.

Another time he slept in my bed (about 1yr ago)it was about 2am, he got up with eyes closed, I woke because I heard him speak something, he walked out of my room and went into the main bathroom, I followed him and found him urinating into the bathtub. I begin to tell him off, he in a world to himself (dream state) pulls his pants up and walks past me as though I wasnt there and still eyes closed walks back to bed and next morning no recollection.

Ohh both these events occurred between 2am and 6am ;-)

[Hope Rivers]

I dare anyone here to experiment doing the same thing as my son. Go turn off all the lights in your house, make sure its very dark, say after 12am. Then with eyes firmly shut, no arms out in front of you, must be kept down by your side, go and walk from one end of house to the other without hitting walls at a regular walking pace, go to your toitlet and lift the lid and urinate in the bowl, flush and return back to your room. put a blindfold on so you dont cheat.