The core premise is that consciousness is the fundamental ground of all existence. It’s not something we possess, but rather our true essence. We experience this consciousness in two ways.
Pure Consciousness: This is the infinite, unchanging, and ever-present aspect. It’s beyond the limitations of the mind, body, and ego.
Personal Consciousness: This is the limited, conditioned experience of consciousness through the filter of our individual minds and bodies. It’s shaped by our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and experiences.
The Challenge that we face will realizing pure consciousness.
Identification with the Limited: Our personal consciousness, with its attachments to the body, mind, and ego, creates a sense of separation from the underlying pure consciousness. We become deeply identified with our individual selves, our desires, and our limited perspectives.
The Veil of Illusion: This identification creates a veil of illusion, obscuring our true nature. We become entangled in the fleeting and impermanent aspects of life – desires, emotions, relationships, and the pursuit of happiness through external means.
To realize our true self, i.e. pure consciousness.
Transcending Limitations: The journey of spiritual awakening involves transcending the limitations of personal consciousness to realize the underlying pure consciousness. Methods of Realization: Various spiritual practices like meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and contemplation can help to quiet the mind, dissolve the ego, and gradually unveil the true nature of consciousness.
Impermanence: The emphasis is on the impermanent nature of all things within the realm of personal consciousness. Our bodies, minds, and the world around us are constantly changing and subject to decay.
True Self: The ultimate goal is to recognize our true nature as pure consciousness, which is eternal, unchanging, and blissful. Such as, the ocean itself is pure consciousness, infinite and unchanging. Waves arise and fall on the surface of the ocean – these are like our personal consciousnesses, constantly shifting and changing. Our challenge is to recognize that we are not the waves, but the ocean itself.
