What do you mean by the “Evolution of Consciousness”?

Q: You often mention “the evolution of consciousness”, are you talking about “individual” consciousness or “Universal consciousness”? I have seen that theme in other works, and I’m not sure “consciousness” needs to evolve since it is Infinite and eternal. Could you please elaborate.

A: Yes in this case I am referring to the individual consciousness, or soul, that evolves as an aspect of the universal consciousness. Which I say loosely, as perhaps you’ll understand why in a moment. It could be likened unto a particular sunbeam becoming brighter yet it is nevertheless still the entire sun. The sunbeam is the individual, while the sun is the collective that it is comprising. Another analogy is the individual drop of water within the ocean is still technically, a part of the entire ocean. In the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna refers to it as the Supersoul comprised of the countless individual souls. Or in the Upanishads, the self is being sustained by the Self/Lord of Love which is what the self truly was/is the entire time. All these are depicting the exact same concept of duality actually being Nonduality only perceived as separate.

So then we could say, the ‘individual’ evolves only to realize that it was technically never an independent individual to begin with, rather, was an aspect that came out of the Infinite and Eternal, as you put it. Recall that ‘enlightenment’ is simply, yet profoundly, the realization of Nonduality, thus we realize the illusion of duality, separation, or ‘individualism’. Our perception finally evolves to the point of Self-actualization by awakening to the truth that ‘we’ literally are the Infinite and Eternal and there’s never been any separation – we are all connected. All duality and separation has been a belief we thought we’d entertain but that doesn’t mean it was the actual truth, it was only appearing as such. Like agreeing to be plugged into the Matrix and forgetting that it was a mental illusion. This is the spiritual concept of the Divine Dreamer (Brahma/Shiva/Vishnu) creating ‘maya’ or illusion – the dream of God of which we are all projections of the Dreamer.

Yet in the realm of the Absolute, all separations and dualities are an illusion and as such the journey was actually a hilarious ride only to arrive at that which was obvious and present the entire time. We can only laugh with relief at any sense of duality that was embraced for so long. All our sense of suffering, struggling, and searching was just a game of perception we played into, but it’s not real – unless we want it to be.

Suffering is actually self-created through our judgments of life, there is no one else to blame, there is no one else doing anything to us, God is not a judge and has no needs, preferences, or agendas, all of which are our own projections and stories that we’re playing into, yet eventually we have to accept that all victimization is self-imposed. We can be liberated of all of this in any moment, most just choose not to. We are the creators and investors of all fear and strife, we are in control the entire time, only pretending that we’re not because we seem to enjoy it more that way.

To help understand this, I liken it unto playing a video game in God-mode and how that would maybe get boring extremely fast. If there’s no challenge, no obstacles to overcome, no perception of having to grow and evolve we would get bored. This is why roleplaying games such as the most heard of, World of Warcraft, are extremely successful and addicting because they ultimately present infinite possibilities for our projected avatar characters to explore. This of course is just a projection of what real life actually is into a video game. Inevitably technology will allow us to do the same thing in a completely all-consuming virtual reality video game, just like The Matrix, Inception, Total Recall, Vanilla Sky, The Thirteenth Floor, or Avatar.

So we seem to enjoy believing in our separation from each other, the planet, animals, universe, and Divinity because then it makes things more interesting, we get to be victims and heros of our own projected fantasies. Yet the interesting situation arises when we forget that it’s all just a game or dream and thus we become like an actor who loses themselves and becomes consumed in the role they’re playing. It’s like playing a game with someone who takes it a little too far and too serious and it’s not fun anymore because they’re super intense. Like someone playing the game Monopoly being a total jerk and screwing everyone else over who are just having fun playing while the other person is being obsessed with domination, ‘winning’, and thinks it’s real and doesn’t care about others’ experience. It actually sounds very similar to our current world situation doesn’t it… the irony being eventually all the pieces have to go back in the box… so the only question will be, was it worth it?

Now of course, we all agreed to letting these megalomaniacs try and dominate the Earth and enslave humanity through a fake economy and consumerism because we could have played differently as well but we choose not to. For example, I choose to write this, spread peace and liberating truth, be happy and free from stress because that just so happens to be what suits me, but I very well could have been that egotistical being trying to dominate the world and control the galaxy, it just didn’t seem like a fun game to play. In my life so far I have explored my options of perception from suicidal lows, homicidal rage, anger, vanity and materialism, and suffering to joyful play, love, happiness, gratitude, and innocent liberation enough to know that radical acceptance and living in awareness of the Absolute are most fulfilling for me, but that’s just me. Everyone can do as they please because no choice is actually better or worse than any other, just different.

If we accept our own infinite potential, including accepting our darkest possibilities, we then are able honor everyone else’s experience, because to them they’re having a blast being that role, so more power to them, who am I to say what character they can or can’t play. The only reason it’s okay though is because I know that everything is actually wonderful and divinely perfect and no unfairness is actually taking place. There are no victims in the universe. Life is eternal and the game never actually ends. In the realm of the Absolute there is no such thing as ‘time’ or ‘beginning’ or ‘end’. Those are just fabricated concepts of the human mind. So we can create and recreate infinite scenarios and possibilities, it’s ultimately all bliss with no ‘where’ to get to.

So once we’ve had enough of believing that life is serious, there’s something we have to do or find, and suffering and struggling is around every corner we seek for something to grant us freedom and liberation from the common beliefs of reality. Religion and spirituality become great sources of validation for this quest and another game to play that offers enticing ideas and perceptions to explore. But ultimately they’re just creating new characters, stories, goals, struggles, and agendas. So once we’ve had enough of that we pursue this thing we call ‘enlightenment’ as the symbolic realization of the Absolute. Then through releasing all our stored up attachments of perception/judgment of our stories and character identities, it dawns that the Creator and the created are one and the same – the Father and I are One. Thus, the ‘individual’ and the ‘universal’ are realized to be one and the same. All personal karma, which is just attachment to the stories and identities, ceases, along with all suffering, death, loss, or fear which are only possible if we’re attached to the games and illusions. This is the Buddha/Christ/Krishna Consciousness.

So then where does this leave us, well the exciting part is Consciousness (with a capital C, referring to the ‘Universal’ as you put it) is as you said, Infinite and Eternal, which means its expansion and power of creation is in fact Infinite and Timeless! When that really ‘clicks’ it becomes radically profound and incomprehensible in the joy and epic relief such a realization offers. We are all equally aspects of the Divine Consciousness infinitely experiencing expressions of life and happiness as the All-Present, All-Powerful, All-Knowing Self that we truly are. All is the Self, the Self is All. I am a beautiful unique wave amongst the Ocean that is Divinity. Hence the creation of the word namaste to signify honoring this Absolute truth that the same Light of Awareness within ‘me’ is equally within all sentient and conscious beings. 😀

Lastly, we can observe that as our perceptions of life (conscious awareness) evolve we become increasingly more loving, for the evolution of perception is in fact the evolution of divine acceptance for all ‘others’ which eventually are realized to be the Self. No point in the evolution is better or worse, higher or lower, for all have their place, just like a tree not ‘better than’ the grass, just different and equally important, needed, and divine. Also we can observe that as a soul evolves the perfecting of the qualities of compassion, love, and happiness  naturally come along with such radical, unconditional acceptance – the true meaning of God is Love.

This is why it was mentioned before that Divine Consciousness is essentially Infinite, Eternal Love and Happiness without beginning or end. Creation is for the sake of sheer utter joy and bliss it is only our perceptions and judgments of reality that block us from seeing this. In common scripture it is said “God is Love” which is referring to this profound acceptance of All That Is – from the seemingly ‘vile’ to ‘angelic’. All is Bliss, All is Divine, it’s all perfect, there is no injustice in the universe, the universe is perfectly self-balanced and all victims are an illusion that we play into. We all get exactly what we really want whether we want to admit it or not – which is just a game we’re playing…

The evolution of the soul then is the journey back to realizing the innocent and childlike wonder of the divinity of our existence and magnificence that IS. Fear is only an illusion that we can go along with or not, as with anything else in life, it’s simply up to us.

The Infinite and Eternal is Now or more accurately, Always/Forever.

Namaste

If I Erase the Ego, what’s left? Apathy and Suicide? Is there Something Greater than this Life?

Reflection from Insight from Revolver

Q: 1. If I erase the ego, what’s left? Apathy and suicide? I thought the ego was responsible for the will to get a better life. The force that keeps you going. Like Revolver says, “It’s the only reason you get up in the morning”.

2a. Is the point being made that there is something greater than this life? Like the continuation of the spirit and perhaps reincarnation?

2b. Or is the point that I should be aware of the ego while keeping it, therefore controlling it instead of letting it control me?

A: Answer to question 1:

That is an astute observation to assume that if you erase the ego that apathy and suicide would arise, however, with some clarification perhaps we can find new understanding. First, you are absolutely right, typically we think of the ego as a survival mechanism, our animal nature, and driving force to live, however as it dissolves its interests and values change. For example, an extremely strong/primitive ego is the epitome of neanderthal man. Life is lived based in extreme fear and absolutely everything is seen as ‘me’ versus ‘you’. Life is a matter of survival and propagation of one’s seed/egoic self. As attachment to the ego dissolves the animalistic nature dissolves as well and life becomes gradually more based in lovingness and peace. Therefore, one could say that without an ego there would only be pure love for there would be no perception of ‘others’ to contended with anymore – fear would have also simultaneously dissolved with the ego for they are one and the same. All would simply be seen as One (Radical Nonduality) so there would only be respect, love, peacefulness, happiness, and kindness radiating from such a being.

The ego is the source of all fear, so without attachment to it/fear you could imagine how inwardly calm and confident we’d be. Without attachment to the ego, life actually continues seamlessly except now we are able to see the brilliance of life all around us in every moment. Whether the body continues or not wouldn’t really matter, by that point existence would have been realized as eternal and guaranteed.

Awaken to the magically divine, timeless existence that this is.

What Jason Statham’s character is referring to when he says ‘it’s the only reason you wake up…’ is that based on how imbedded the ego is it will dictate your life in search of approval. In this case he’s describing the typical human of today who runs the consumer treadmill trying to find satisfaction and fulfillment through the external world instead of the internal and spiritual. However, back to our example a second ago, this would mean to an animal ego its desire every morning is to find food and stay alive and be defensive against all contenders or predators who get in the way and threaten its survival. To a dissolved ego there wouldn’t really be desire anymore because there’s also no longer any feelings of lack, separation, or fear. All unfolds of its own and life is seen to be mystically spontaneous and autonomous with no ‘doer’ behind actions, no ‘thinker’ behind thoughts, and no ‘feeler’ behind feelings. There is nothing left other than to simply accept, appreciate, and love life as it arises with all its highs and lows, as well as appreciate all others, ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and go amongst life in peace, such as an enlightened sage.

Hence we can observe that after Jake transcends his ego he is at peace and even when threatened by death he has a peaceful haze about him and a smirk emerges on his face while Macha, his ego’s perceived enemy, is insecure and begging to be feared (need for approval of worth). Jake sees clearly Macha’s attachments and therefore his insecurities and fear and simply drops his own weapon that is now useless to him and then simply walks away…

The process of ego self-identity however is an incredibly sophisticated and cunning mechanism within the human psyche and has a vast range of expressions. What you suggested as apathy and suicide is actually the full consuming force of the ego that seeks to desecrate and destroy life, including itself. “Greed gets them all in the end.” The ego will consume itself to its own demise. Meanwhile the abandonment of the ego, release of attachment to it, is actually the fullness of unconditional love and peace – Jake’s unperturbed state at the end of the film.

Answer to question 2a: Is the point being made that there is something greater than this life? Like the continuation of the spirit and perhaps reincarnation?

Yes, the teaching that can be inferred is that without an attachment to a human ego, or self-identity, who are you then? Without attachment to ego identity what/who must you be if you still exist? For example, if you’re not your name… who are you? If you’re not your gender, who are you? If you’re not your ethnicity, who are you? If you’re not your bank account amount, who are you? Furthermore, if you’re not a human body… who are you? If you’re not the mind… who/what are you then? This is the process of self-inquiry and is the relentless questioning of how we come to define ourselves.

Just who or what am ‘I’ exactly? Who or what is the ‘I’ or ‘me’ that I believe myself to be?

Essentially to dissolve the ego we must pursue the question of, “how is it that I exist in the first place…”

Reincarnation is the concept that a soul/consciousness evolves eternally to Self-Realization and uses whatever vessel appropriate to best continue its growth and maturity, in our case, a human form. Human life offers us endless choices to make that are all spiritual at their core and can either be loving (ego destroying – Unifying with Divine) or fearful (ego promoting – Separation from Divine). The choice is up to us, how do we want to use this sacred opportunity? All choices are right and none are wrong so follow your bliss, what do I honestly want?

Answer to question 2b: Or is the point that I should be aware of the ego while keeping it, therefore controlling it instead of letting it control me?

The ego is a limited identity that we unknowingly accepted. It loses all power when you realize its fallacy and illusory nature. The easiest example is I tell you your name is John when you’re born and you accept that, yes this is ‘who I am’…John… But in reality you’re not John, you’re no name in fact, you just are. Names are the easiest examples of ego formulated identity. Some other easy examples are being a male or female, or our interests or values, our fashion choices, amount of money we have, our job, our hobbies, etc. These things are all just aspects of our experience, they are not ‘who I am’. With some contemplation we will realize that a lot of what we have come to accept as ‘who I am’ is actually a complete illusion that we’ve come to accept…which is the ego… Hence Jake says, “if you knew this, you wouldn’t do this…Someone is hiding it from us.” He’s referring to the fact that the ego is hiding the truth from us in order to not be figured out because if it is figured out it will instantly lose all power.

As soon as we realize we are not our name, it instantly has no power over us anymore and it becomes completely irrelevant. As soon as we realize we are not what we physically look like, it instantly becomes irrelevant to our true fulfillment. As soon as we realize we are not our job, it instantly becomes irrelevant and has no power over our happiness. As soon as we realize we are not our body or gender it instantly becomes completely irrelevant to our experiences of joy. You see where I’m going with this?

No matter what the ego-identity attaches to it is ultimately an illusion that has no inherent truth to it and belief in these illusions keep us from experiencing everlasting joy and gratitude for life. All ego attachments lead to fear of loss of the particular attachment and thus lead to vulnerability and suffering. The ego can also be used as a synonym for attachment, and all attachments are the source of all suffering and so I often say the ego is suffering. Hence in the process of Jake’s liberation he is constantly stripped of every possible attachment he had, particularly money and his dignity which were his particular strongest attachments. Once all attachments were relinquished by doing the exact opposite of what the ego wanted he found infinite peace since nothing could possibly take from ‘who he truly is‘. To go beyond all fear is to go beyond all ego identities no matter what they may be.

May you realize that which your heart desires.

Wishing us Peace and Love always brothers and sisters

For more on this topic see Insight from Revolver

How Do You Balance Self-Respect with Compassion? Don’t We Have to Give Selflessly out of Love?

Q: How do you balance “self-respect” with compassion? Don’t we sometimes have to “give” selflessly out of love?

A: Great questions, let’s explore them.

First, know that to love ourselves and have self-respect does not necessary entail being stereotypically ‘selfish’ or otherwise non-compassionate. The point is to simply only extend compassion if it is genuine. If it genuinely brings us joy and is what we want in the moment, then being compassionate, kind, and considerate of others is completely in alignment with loving ourself, because after all it is in fact what we want. We should always only do what we really want, otherwise our gifts are not genuine and have no real value.

The problem we run into is when we go about it the other way around and we really do not want to be compassionate in the moment, perhaps we’re just not in the right state of mind, we’re exhausted/drained, or really want nothing to do with service or selflessness and yet force ourselves out of ‘principle’. The trick at this point is to immediately pay attention to how we really feel and honor it, because if we force ourselves to ‘love’ others or be compassionate it is not really love or compassion at all, it’s false, it’s acting, it’s only appearing as such but its not genuine and therefore it’s hollow. Without proper intention and energy behind our actions they’re worthless and only detrimental to us and the other(s) involved. Again, doing anything without our whole heart is only hurting ourselves and others because of the false energy behind it.

If we find ourselves in situations where we really don’t want to be there then at that point the task would be to switch our perspective to find anything and everything to become positive and optimistic about regarding the situation in order to stop struggling to swim upstream. We always have control over our perspective. No matter what is going on in our lives we always have the choice of how to perceive it, and this is our true infinite power. So if we want to change our state of mind we can, yet if we want to feel frustrated or angry then so be it. Just don’t try and be something else if it’s not really how you’re feeling. Just be honest and honor that you’re frustrated or sad, there is no benefit in repressing our true expressions, it only perpetuates our issues. It is only through admitting how we feel that we can process our emotions in a healthy way and grow from the experience and then return to our natural state of peace again.

Nevertheless, getting back to the point, simply be genuine, if we are not a compassionate person we shouldn’t pretend to be for the sake of appearances. It is better to be our rude, selfish self if that is how we really are than to try and seem otherwise to please others or portray a false ego imagine. The point is being honest and authentic and letting that authenticity naturally evolve of its own. Accept where you are and find peace with your present situation. Find peace with your emotions, see that you are perfect as is, angry, depressed, impatient, happy, or otherwise. You are perfectly justified just as you are. This is important to realize first so that we can love ourselves and not fall into the mind’s obsession with judgments. We can’t ever improve until we accept where we are now and work from the present.

If someone, perhaps ourself, is generally a rude person then we just simply accept that is how they are and thus we respect them for being genuine/authentic and now we can respond to them accordingly. Know that when interacting with another person nothing coming from them is actually personal, and everything is simply a projection coming from within them – whether they love you or hate you has nothing actually to do with you, it only defines them. So being authentic is really all that’s important. I’d much rather have someone be real with me then put up a false image because then at least we know where each other stand and don’t spend our sacred time together pretending to be someone we’re not. I’d like to see the projections clearly in a sense so that I can tell who a person really is and also offer up who I really am so that we can get the most out of our precious shared experience. Jesus mentioned this concept through saying not to be lukewarm, or otherwise ‘sitting on the fence’ as an actor or hypocrite of sorts – be yourself.

Second question. We cannot ‘give’ someone anything subjective such as love, happiness, peace, joy, etc. We can only embody and share ‘what we are’ by virtue of being it. For example, if we are truly centered, honest, and love ourselves we then naturally exude those qualities/energies into everything we do. This then reminds others that they can do the same. Thus we influence others but it doesn’t mean that we ‘did’ anything for/to them in the traditional sense. So it is not that ‘my love’ made you feel love, rather it is only yourself that realized you can feel love too if you choose to.

You see, what the world perceives as ‘giving’ is actually just a symbolic event that allows the recipient to remember and decide that it’s okay to love themselves. So for example, I tell you how amazing I think you are, beautiful, smart, talented, etc. or I perform some type of service for you because I want to demonstrate my love and appreciation for you and then you internally decide how you feel about it. You always still have the choice to accept any of it as well as deciding that it means absolutely nothing to you because you don’t believe it’s true of yourself or that you deserve it. I’m sure we can recall plenty of experiences where someone was unresponsive to our expressions of love and appreciation for them, this is not personal, only a reflection of themselves. The reason why this is the case is that no one can ‘make’ us feel love or happiness, no one can ‘give’ us love or happiness. These things are purely subjective and are entirely an internal decision.

We could have the most ideal circumstances and still be unhappy because we are lost within ourselves and have forgotten how to love life and ourselves. Selflessness is purely for the benefit of the one being selfless not the other way around. Hence Jesus’ teaching of let the greatest amongst you be your servant. The point of this teaching was that the greatest ‘master’ would naturally be loving because they’re demonstrating that they are love. The benefit of all service is the one performing the service, not the recipient.

The most illumined person is happy and full of love regardless of circumstances, this is because they have truly understood that everything is purely an internal decision. Remember, nothing external is personal and everything is purely up to us and how we perceive our experiences. With that being said, there are no obligations in life or expectations, everything should be completely focused on how we feel and only as such. We should always only follow our own bliss, because to try and please others will inevitably be realized to be an impossible task and will leave us feeling cheated or otherwise taken advantage of. It seems that the wisest approach then would be to stay completely centered in self-honesty and then become an expert at respectfully and sincerely communicating how we feel. This is actually the highest form of selflessness because we’re giving others permission to do the same and feel love and happiness through our example of how we love ourselves, which is the only place it’ll ever come from to begin with!

So as ironic as it seems it’s actually quite genius. To love ourselves is the highest form of love, the greatest selflessness, yet we’ve been taught the reverse ideology. So to be selfless is to love oneself, for in so doing we love all others by subconsciously giving them permission to do the same. What we do for self we do for others and as we genuinely do for others we do for self, it’s all connected. The important key here is honesty, genuineness, and thus being truly authentic which is quite an amazing feeling and all of life turns into an amazing gift and exploration of joy and love.

May you find what it is you are seeking.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other thoughts on the matter.
Wishing us peace and love always

For more on this see Being Honest with Ourselves