Experience is a dream of consciousness - the sights and sounds and smells and sensations are not apart from consciousness but are within consciousness. In fact we can say that they ARE consciousness. If a horn blows, that is a mechanism which disturbs the air - those waves travel to the ear. There is no sound at this point. Once the vibrations hit the ear drum, the drum vibrates and that generates signals that pass to the brain. The brain doesnt hear the noise - the noise is generated by the brain. The noise only exists in consciousness - or we can say that the noise itself IS consciousness - a representation of something. It is the same with a rainbow - when there is sunlight and moisture in the air, no rainbow exists. There must be eyes in the equation - the eyes translate the light, back over nerves, to the brain. The glorious and beautiful rainbow doesnt exist in the sky - the sky and the rainbow only exist in consciousness. We can say that the world itself is only an appearance in consciousness, or we can more accurately say that the world IS consciousness - the ability to know the world and the world itself are one and the same thing. To unsettle things even further, this body and the idea of a brain and consciousness are derived from knowledge gained from this so-called external world - so even the body and idea of consciousness are appearances in consciousness, they ARE consciousness - from this perspective even consciousness itself is merely a concept were using to attempt to get a handle on things. The brain receives no light - it sits in darkness. The brain receives input from the senses and then translates those signals to create a representation of the world. So reach out and touch whatever is in front of you right now. Are you seeing something outside of your body, or is that thing youre touching, the hand which touches, and the world outside yourself, merely consciousness? If we look at how the senses work, we may be shocked to realize that there is nothing outside of consciousness. This world of things isnt out there but in consciousness. This body is a play of consciousness - no different from a dream where the world appears, this body appears, thoughts appear... The only difference between the waking state and a dream is the idea that you are now awake. Either way both states are a dream. A dream of consciousness. And even consciousness is part of that dream. A dream might be really good or a nightmare. Either way, if we realize we are dreaming, we might wake up to this dream, realize it is a dream - the dream doesnt have to stop - we might say its like a waking dream where you realize youre dreaming while still dreaming. Experiences continue yet you are no longer fooled. Discussions like this are dangerous for the ego - the idea of individual self. Once we begin to question, inquire and delve into these concepts with a sense of doubt or curiosity, that self is in danger of being extinguished. Nirvana actually means annihilation - that self is annihilated but since it has no actuality the only thing annihilated is a false idea
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 10:45:22 +0000