Category Archives: Reality

The Trinity of Self

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Atman or the Cosmic Self has a three-fold nature. It has a subject or observer aspect, the process of observation, and the object or observed aspect. I illustrated this here. As consciousness is aware of itself both globally and at every point, it can observe its own dynamics and experience this directly. “Locally” or personally, we experience this as the ego or I-sense, the intellect, and the mind. Samkhya describes how Buddhi (intellect) recognizes self as different from other, creating Ahamkara, the I-sense or ego. This arises in early childhood as a baby distinguishes itself from mother. Manas or mind … Continue Reading… →

About the Gunas

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I’ve written or commented on the gunas in a variety of articles. This includes The Gunas and Emotions, Karma and the Gunas, and The Gunas in Awakening. I talk about them regularly because they play a key roll in our style of awakening. The gunas are the fundamental qualities of consciousness as it begins to express. As vibration arises, it has 3 qualities: Sattva: purity or clarity of the flow (golden) balance, harmony, goodness, purity, universalizing, holistic, constructive, creative, building, positive, peaceful, virtuous, light, buoyant – Jupiter, Moon, Sun Rajas: movement itself, energy or fire and transformation (red) passion, activity, … Continue Reading… →

The Structure of Divinity

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The unfolding of the ParaBrahman stage could be said to be a progression of embodiment. I’ve touched a little on the 7-layer structure of Divinity. The trick is – the “structure” of Divinity reflects the form that is being used to know it. Divinity doesn’t have a “structure” but is known through a structure. And yet, the structure of the form comes from Divinity and is not separate from it. We can say the body reflects the cosmic which reflects the Divine. Or we could say the body mirrors the “structure” of the Divine. Or that the body is a … Continue Reading… →

Predominance

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For some, unfolding knowledge of the world follows the path of the mechanics of perception. For others like myself, it follows the path of the dynamics of consciousness. The 2 approaches unfold different understanding of the world. There are also variations within each. On the first path, we discover a version of what Samkhya describes. From the mind arises the 5 senses out of the observer side of consciousness. From the observed arises the corresponding 5 tanmatra or essences. The first comes out of sattva guna, the second from tamas. As the tamas (inertia) increases, those essences become the 5 Mahabhutas … Continue Reading… →

Gravity and SpaceTime

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Gravity and SpaceTime

Einstein proposed that gravity is simply the curvature of spacetime. However, as I’ve observed on this blog, space is an effect of consciousness becoming aware of itself – in that recognition is a subtle gap (a-b). As this arises from consciousness curving back on itself, illustrated above, space is inherently curved. It is not a flat plane. Also, attention flows, perpetually curving in on itself. Gravity, the attractive force, becomes inherent. Further, because consciousness becomes self-aware at every point and scale, it is nested like Russian dolls and thus space is also nested. These nested spaces cause the effect science … Continue Reading… →

The Structure of the World

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There are many ways to describe how the world becomes. Partly this depends on the perspective you have and what is known clearly. The perspective shifts with each stage. Fundamentally we can say Divinity gives two “qualities” that are key to this process: alertness and liveliness. Liveliness stirs alertness into awareness and then into flowing as consciousness. Consciousness curves back on itself and the lively radiance leads it to become self-aware. The 3-fold dynamics of consciousness emerges – the observer (a), the process of observation (c), and the observed (b). If you think of the above in three dimensions, it … Continue Reading… →

Karma Mimamsa

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Traditional Indian philosophy has 6 branches or approaches, known as the upangas or darshanas. Often they’re seen as competing philosophical systems when if fact they largely each describe the reality of a different stage of development. I’ve talked some about several of them, including: Vaisheshika and Samkhya Yoga Vedanta or end of the Veda (Brahma Sutra, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads) Nyaya is the system of logic that informs the others. One I’ve only touched on is Karma Mimamsa, also known as Purva Mimamsa. Karma Mimamsa means an investigation or reflection on the field of action aka creation. Purva means before. This is … Continue Reading… →

On Truth

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The “Truth about Reality” is way beyond the mind so cannot be found though reading or hearing. All we gain through the senses is information from which we build concepts about the world. This is neither truth nor reality. At best, we have a working hypothesis. Philosophy and spiritual teachings can offer pointers and maps, like a route to deeper truth. But they are not truth in themselves. Reality can only be known directly, by being. We can describe experiences of reality, but it’s always through the lens of this physiology. How much of it we embody. But what we … Continue Reading… →

The Divine Power Shakti

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Describing post-consciousness stages is profoundly abstract. Even this article has been waiting over a month for it to “gel”. There is the hazard of people making odd concepts from this material. But some do find the pointing very valuable. When it’s the experience, pointing to other aspects brings out nuances that might otherwise not have been discovered. With the Brahman shift, we move out of stages in consciousness and into an arena of great profundity the mind cannot fully grasp. We don’t know Brahman as an individual or Self (Atman). Brahman is known by itself. It combines opposites in one totality, resolving the … Continue Reading… →

Structuring Life

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Life can be said to be a 3-parter. There is the form, the life that runs it and the soul that inhabits it. You may recognize the observer, process of observation and object dynamic once again. A general object like a rock has a form that arises through the interplay of the 3 gunas in the universe, in consciousness. Physics studies this. Forms that hold life though are a more direct expression of consciousness, originating from an idea in the cosmic. For example, a human body has the same rules as a rock but also is under the purview of … Continue Reading… →

The Subconscious

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Here and there, I’ve contemplated what makes things subconscious. If everything we experience arises in consciousness, what does it mean for something to be “subconscious”? I was reminded of this recently by a talk on Jungian Archetypes* and the “collective unconscious.” How are subconscious influences stored and what makes them subconscious**? There are several factors at play. Overall, the average person lacks internal clarity and is identified with the objects of experience. This limits perception and makes our experience very localized. If we’re only vaguely aware of our various layers of being then they are inherently subconscious. And yet, our … Continue Reading… →

The What and How of Subtle Perception

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I thought it would be useful to clarify the nature of subtle perception. First, what we experience is created in layers as part of the process of experience itself. The very act of experience gives us the world, arising from the subtle to solidity. By this I don’t mean we personally create the world. I mean our essential nature creates our form and our experiences together and simultaneously with all other beings experiencing. And this process happens instantly. Time is an effect of our relationship with the process of experience so is not a limitation. More subtle layers are more … Continue Reading… →