Hi Every one.
My friend Bill sends me very interesting items to read and think over. I hope you also read this item too. It will give you lots to "chew on." Enjoy.
Hi Tom,
Here's Bill Harris discussing what it means to "Be Conscious"
The word "conscious" is used a lot in personal and spiritual growth
circles. I've noticed that there are almost as many definitions of
"conscious" as there are people using the word. And, quite frankly, I
don't think a lot of the people using the word really know what it
means, why it is so important, or how to actually live consciously.
Here is the description of being conscious that I gave in my book,
Thresholds of the Mind:
The awake person is not at odds with the world. He is a part of it,
but not attached to the outcome. Like Jesus, he is "in the world but
not of it." He watches as it all goes by, but he is also a
participant. He knows most people are caught in the world but unaware
of being caught, so he is compassionate, and does what he can to help
others with their suffering.
To him, the world is a play, and life is like playing a part in that
play. He knows it's just a role, but he plays it to the hilt, and
enjoys every moment. But he also realizes that the script is just a
script, and from the highest perspective it doesn't matter what part
has been written for him. He exerts a certain amount of control over
his part, but ultimately has only limited influence over what is,
because his effort is just one of an infinite number of other efforts,
all with their own ends in mind.
Instead of being an automatic response mechanism, responding to the
world based on unconscious rules, beliefs, fears, and limitations, he
is able to consciously evaluate each situation, in the moment, and
instantly and instinctively know exactly what to do and how to respond
in order to gain the most resourceful outcome, both for himself and
for others.
Mainly, he watches as he plays his part and marvels at the complexity,
the infinite permutations, the surprises, the certainties, and the
uncertainties. He is calm most of the time, but sometimes his part
requires him to be upset or to have some other emotion or reaction.
That is being human. But whatever his mood, there is an underlying
peace of mind, an underlying, effortless happiness.
You can be this way, too. It doesn't happen overnight, but it can
happen. Using the Centerpointe program isn't the only way it can
happen, but it's a very good and very fast way.
In the book, this description is given in a larger context that makes
it easier (I think) to understand exactly what I mean, so I want to
supply some of that context here. In addition, as I'm always thinking
about these concepts and principles, and trying to come up with better
ways to communicate them to you, I'll add some other comments that
will, hopefully, shed further light on this very important concept and
how to apply it to your life.
Let's start by looking at what "being conscious" does NOT mean. First
of all (and I hate to even have to say this, but some people
misunderstand, so I have to mention this), I'm not talking about the
difference between sleeping and waking states. Second, being conscious
does not mean being anti-war, or helping the poor, and saving the rain
forest (though a conscious person might be or do any or all of these
things--but then again, they might not).
It also doesn't mean that you're "beyond," or in some way not subject
to, experiencing normal human emotions, such as anger, fear, being
down, and so on. And, it doesn't mean that you're immune to getting
sick, or that you can't die some dread disease (there are many
instances of famous saints who die of heart disease or cancer or other
terminal illnesses). It also doesn't mean you'll magically be
prosperous, or powerful, or that you'll always find a parking space
when you need one, or that you'll win the lottery or receive other
potentially synchronous karmic goodies.
And, trust me, it doesn't mean that you don't experience the normal,
everyday problems of being human. Your toilet will still overflow
occasionally, your car may break down, the power may go off, the cable
company might still screw up your bill and then blame you, your dog
may roll in something that smells terrible...and on and on. Such is
life.
On the other hand, by being conscious, you certainly have a greater
ability to influence all of these outer--and, to an even greater
degree--inner circumstances in your life. But since six billion other
people are also doing their best to gain the outcomes they want, which
often will conflict with what you want, and because many non-human
natural forces are also occurring (think hurricanes, for instance, or
just everyday weather, for that matter), you do not have total control
over what happens around you.
Being conscious also does not necessarily mean you are in constant
experiential and ecstatic union with God or whatever other heavenly
entities happen to be your personal favorites.
Despite what you may have read in spiritual books, being conscious is
not some fairy tale where you get everything you want and all your
problems are solved. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's
just the way it is.
However, in my opinion, being conscious is, in many ways, better than
all of these things.
So, then, what IS "being conscious"? In my opinion, one of the most
important distinctions between being conscious and being unconscious
is that the UNconscious person is creating whatever happens in their
life, whether it is an inner experience or an outer result,
automatically and unconsciously...while the conscious person is in
total control of what their mind does to create their life and
circumstances.
As you know if you've been reading these articles for a while, each
person has what I call an Internal Map of Reality. It is important
that you realize that this map of reality generates all your internal
experience of life, and has a huge effect (though not total control)
over your external circumstances. You might say that your internal map
of reality is the software that generates your life.
A number of things combine and interact to make up your internal map
of reality: beliefs, values, decisions, strategies, the language you
speak, the ways you perceive and sort incoming information, the way
you store and remember information, and a few other things.
The important thing is that all of these different aspects of this
internal map of reality combine to create your life. In the
unconscious person (which is almost everyone), the results created
seem as if they just happen, because the unconscious person does not
see the creative part of the process. They do not see the link between
these various parts of the internal map and the results they create.
The conscious person, on the other hand, DOES see this creative
process. She sees the entire process of how a certain belief, for
instance, attracts the people and events that make it come true, or
how the belief leads to distortions in perception that make it at
least appear to be true, even if it isn't.
If you are unconscious, it appears that life is just happening, and,
as a result you tend to feel like a victim, especially in situations
where what happens is unpleasant. A victim is someone who 1) feels as
if they have little or no control over what is happening, 2) thinks
that whatever is happening is coming from something outside of
themselves, and 3) experiences whatever is happening as unpleasant.
This puts the unconscious person in the position of (seemingly) not
being able to do anything about what is happening. Since what happens
seems to come from something outside of themselves, they think they
can only change things by changing the (supposed) outside
source--something that is usually very difficult to do (have you ever
tried to get your husband or wife to change something about
themselves?).
Now, let's look at what happens to the conscious person when they
experience an unpleasant result. The conscious person, because they
see the entire chain of events that generated the result, knows that
it originated from something in them--not from something
external--despite any external appearance to the contrary.
Knowing this, and having watched the actual creative process from
start to finish, they find it very difficult to continue to create
something that does not serve them. A person can only continue to
create results that do not serve them, whether internal or external,
if they are blind to how the results are created--that is, if they are
creating them unconsciously.
So it comes down to this: the unconscious person is pretty much an
automatic response mechanism, whereas the conscious person creates
things they way they want them (either that, or they allow them to be
created in whatever way they happen to be created, but don't care what
the result is). In fact, they have to create them in a way that is
resourceful, because they cannot do otherwise AND be conscious. You
just cannot create unresourceful results while you are consciously
seeing yourself create them.
This means that "being conscious" is NOT the same as cognitively
knowing that you do something. You may know very well that you
continue to be attracted to people who mistreat you, or that you
continually get angry when someone disagrees with you, or that you
tend to get involved in business deals that never turn out (or
whatever). Most people who've been in personal growth a while could
write a book on their "stuff." Knowing about your stuff is not the
same as being conscious. So what is the difference? When you are
conscious, you are WATCHING the creative process, all the time--which
is different than just knowing that you do it (you could know that you
create something, but not watch the process, but you can't watch the
process without knowing that you create the result).
So how can you do this watching? Doesn't watching take attention and
effort, and if you're watching the creative process generated by your
internal map of reality (thousands of examples of which are going on
at any given moment), won't that keep you from attending to whatever
else you're doing?
You would think so, but that's not the case. Conscious awareness is
not the same as noticing, or really even the same as paying attention
to something (now I'm really confusing you, aren't I?). The kind of
conscious awareness I'm talking about is effortless, and can go on in
the background while your mind carries out whatever other cognitive
duties it needs to perform. It is a kind of meta-awareness that rides
along above it all, just watching. And, it can handle watching an
infinitely complex matrix of creations, all at the same time.
So here's the $64,000 question:
How do you develop this kind of conscious awareness? Here are three
ways: 1) meditate, especially with Holosync (MUCH faster and easier),
2) go through every part of your internal map of reality and examine
it, piece by piece (in other words, look at all your beliefs and
determine what results they create and how they are created, look at
all your values ad determine what results they create and how they are
created, etc., etc.), and 3) relentlessly practice watching your
feelings and thoughts and internal and external results until you
begin to do it automatically.
Of these three, meditation is by far the most powerful. Meditating AND
doing the other two is the fastest method. This is, in fact, what I'm
trying to help you do: first, get you to use Holosync to make you more
consciously aware. Then, in the support materials, including these
articles in Mind Chatter, help you to examine your current internal
map of reality. Finally, help you learn how to be the witness.
People have a way of trying to make the process of becoming
increasingly conscious much more difficult, and more exotic, than it
really is. They think there must be some secret formula that, if they
can only discover it, will make it all clear to them. In actual fact,
the whole thing is super-simple. It just seems complicated and
difficult, until you get it--kind of like riding a bike seemed hard
until you did it, and then it seemed easy and you did it without
having to think about it at all.
So keep listening to those Holosync soundtracks, keep exploring
your internal map of reality (I'm preparing some great new tools
that will help you do so), and keep practicing watching your
thoughts, your feelings, and your results.
Though it may not seem so now, if you do these things, you will get
it, I promise.
Once you do get it, everything in your life will come together. Your
problems won't disappear, but when there are problems, you know just
what to do, you'll be unattached to the outcome in any case, and you
will not suffer over them, no matter what happens--unless for some
reason you choose to create it that way.
It's the only way to live, and I highly recommend it.
Warmest regards,
Alan Hewitt
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