Levels of conciousness

 

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind.”

– William James

Here is one perspective on levels of consciousness and some descriptive words to help us identify the differences:

Not conscious – instinctual, follower
Subconscious – habitual, robotic, reactive
Conscious – aware, intelligent, conceptual, reflective
Superconscious – intuitive, guiding, truthful, loving, universal

Reflect on how you typically move through your day. As we use our minds more consciously, we open up to the superconsciousness.

“Utilizing your conscious mind to direct the subconscious mind to enter into communication and harmony with the universal mind is the secret of personal power.”

– Delfin Knowledge System

Reflections on effort

The anxious student asked the Zen master how long to enlightenment. The Zen Master answered a long time, at least 10 years. The student said, “Well I will work twice as hard.” The Zen master said, “Then it will take 20 years.” “No!” said the committed student, “I will work three times as hard.” “Well then,” said the Zen master, “it will take 30 years.”

Do you need to work at being spiritual? No. You already are spiritual. Do you need to work at being human? No. That’s just who you are.

The spiritual path doesn’t require us to get anything. It’s a process of opening to new dimensions of who we already are. It’s a process of awakening to our own truth. It’s a process of allowing ourselves to be authentic.

“It is not by your actions that you will be saved, but by your being.”

– Meister Eckhart

“People ask what must they become to be loving. The answer is ‘nothing.’ It is a process of letting go of what you thought you had become and allowing your true nature to float to the surface naturally.”

– Stephen Levine

Go for what you want

 

“Follow your bliss.”

– Joseph Campbell

It’s hard for some of us to believe that the world is served when we seek our own happiness. We’ve been taught that this is selfish.

If we stop to reflect on how we are in the world when we are happy, we can see how this serves. We have more vitality. We’re more loving and generous to others when our own needs are met.

What activities bring you greatest joy? Your unique gift to the world will be found in those pastimes you love the most.

How can you live your joy each day?

“Spiritual growth is not made in reaction against, for all striving against imposed restrictions is imaginary. Spiritual growth is accomplished by inclination toward. We grow like the sunflower, following the light.”

– Joy Houghton

Listen to your heart

 

“To know how to choose a path with heart is to learn how to follow intuitive feeling. Logic can tell you superficially where a path might lead to, but it cannot judge whether your heart will be in it.”

– Jean Shinoda Bolen

“When you have compassion and surrender to your own heart, you are surrendering to the hidden power in your heart, God. You are surrendering to love, because God is Love, the cohesive force of the universe that connects us all. Surrender is not just a religious concept; it’s a power tool for listening to the voice of your spirit and following its directions. When you surrender your head to your heart, you allow your heart to give you a wider, higher intelligence perspective. Remember the phrase, ‘The real teacher is within you.’ Very simply, that teacher is to be found in the common sense of your own heart.”

– Sara Paddison

“Surrender is faith that the power of love can accomplish anything… even when you can not foresee the outcome.”

– Deepak Chopra

Refuse to be a victim

 

“We focus on the negatives, losing ourselves in the ‘problem.’ We point to our unhappy circumstances to rationalize our negative feelings. This is the easy way out. It takes, after all, very little effort to feel victimized.”

– Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Nothing and no one can make us a victim. We do it to ourselves when we allow external circumstances to hold power over us.

Although we have no control over what happens to us, we ALWAYS have a choice in how we respond. We hold our power when we accept complete responsibility for our thoughts, feelings and actions.

“A man may fall many times but he won’t be a failure until he says someone pushed him.”

– Elmer G. Letterman

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”

– Steven Biko

Does money rule?

“If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master.”

– Francis Bacon

In what ways does money rule your life?

Money has entered so deeply into our lives that it can become our primary reference point. We make so many of our decisions based on how they affect the bottom line. Do you compromise things you really value for money? Has the power of money hurt your relationships, your health, your work or your self-respect?

“If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.”

– Billy Graham

Pay attention to your emotions

“Emotions are the next frontier to be understood and conquered. To manage our emotions is not to drug them or suppress them, but to understand them so that we can intelligently direct our emotional energies and intentions…. It’s time for human beings to grow up emotionally, to mature into emotionally managed and responsible citizens. No magic pill will do it.”

– Doc Childre

Many of us believe that we need to keep a tight lid on our emotions. We fear that if we ever allow these emotions to be expressed, they will do serious damage.

But if we summon up the courage to truly feel our emotions, we discover that they don’t last. The monster in the closet turns out to be a pussycat. In fact, if we are willing to experience our emotions completely, without resistance of any kind, they burn themselves out in only a few minutes.

The only thing that keeps emotions alive within you over long periods is your unwillingness to acknowledge them.

“By starving emotions we become humorless, rigid and stereotyped; by repressing them we become literal, reformatory and holier-than-thou; encouraged, they perfume life; discouraged, they poison it.”

– Joseph Collins

ACCEPT CHANGE

 

“We cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning; for what in the morning was true will in evening become a lie.”

– C.G. Jung

Life continually evolves. We’re always moving into new experiences, new possibilities. This constant change unsettles the personality, which finds security in stability. But with life always in flux, that security is an illusion. We experience pain by trying to hold on to things that are not solid.

Life becomes joyful when we can open to the constant flow and ride freely with it. This requires us to let go of the need to control. We need to learn to trust.

“Can it then be that what we call the ‘self’ is fluid and elastic? It evolves, strikes a different balance with every new breath.”

– Wayne Muller

“We’re never the same; notice how you’re called to write something entirely different about a topic you responded to weeks or months ago.”

– Patrice Vecchione

SUPPORT OTHERS WITH YOUR PRESENCE

 

“The purpose of therapy is not to remove suffering but TO MOVE THROUGH IT to an enlarged consciousness that can sustain the polarity of painful opposites.”

– James Hollis

How do we support others who are suffering?

When we understand how soul works through us, we begin to see how pain generates the impulse to change. We see that our aim in supporting someone is NOT to get rid of their pain and suffering. Instead, we want to assist them to understand what the pain is trying to teach them — to find meaning in their distress.

Often, all we need do is be fully present to them. It also helps to be present to our own experience and genuine in our feelings. Living our own truth helps create the space for the other person to live theirs.

“The first duty of love is to listen.”

– Paul Tillich

“With the gift of listening comes the gift of healing.”

– Catherine de Hueck Doherty

5 STEPS TO SELF-ACTUALIZATION

 

“Every human action, whether it has become positive or negative, must depend on motivation.”

– Dalai Lama

Monitoring what motivates me has helped me see how I am growing. I do things for different reasons now than I did 10 years ago. As we pay ongoing attention to our motives, we can see how both our conscious and unconscious attitudes are changing.

Here are some ways that our motives can shift with rising consciousness:

- I desire
- I want to collect things
- I want to know
- I want to serve
- I want to be

What are your motives as you participate in life?

“There are three kinds of people and three kinds of richness:
- people who want to have, to collect
- people who want action, work and labor
- people who want to be
The real richness is in be-ness. People can take all that you have, all that you collected. People can stop your labor, or an accident can stop you. When you are, you never lose what you are.”

– Torkom Saraydarian

“You are what you think. You are what you go for. You are what you do!”

– Bob Richards

“A good intention clothes itself with power.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson