Written by Steven S. Sadleir
The Awakening of Consciousness
Once you begin to realize that there is something to be realized, then your realization has begun. You have evolved your consciousness to the point that you are now conscious of having a consciousness, and your consciousness is now guiding you to seek out ways to further evolve yourself. The evolution of your consciousness is instinctual, and your spirit already knows how to waken you and fulfill your life purpose. You are led through your curiosity, your hunches; your spirit prods your mind to inquire. It was your instinct that brought you to these words.
These words serve as a trigger to remind you of what you already innately know; by contemplating these words and reflecting upon their meaning you are activating a part of your brain that has been asleep and the memory is coming back to you. By continuing to read, you are exercising your spirit and developing your ability to let your spirit guide you. As you continue reading, observe the feeling providing the impetus to read and contemplate. Observe what you are feeling right now.
As we begin to look within ourselves and question our very existence, we begin to see that there appears to be many aspects to what we think of as 'us.' There is, of course, the physical body, and it is ascribed a name by our parents. So, on the surface 'we' appear to be unique physical people, human beings with identifiable similarities and differences. We may also relate to the more subtle aspects of our being, such as what we think or feel. Most human beings identify very strongly with their beliefs, their race, their gender, and the persona which is comprised of many adopted attributes and characteristics. But do any of these labels, characteristics, or attributes really describe who, or what, we are innately? No. We all know we have some more subtle aspects of our being, some underlying life force making it possible, some spirit animating our existence. What is that life force, what is our spirit, what is our soul, and what makes us tick?
If we begin this inquiry with what we know most apparently, our physical body, we see an amazing feat of engineering that we personally had nothing to do with. We were given our body and it functions quite naturally on its own with little effort on our parts personally to keep it functioning. We didn´t create cells, and didn´t develop our brain. Thinking occurs naturally, and our heart beats through a volition beyond our own personal control. So this physical body has been developing over millions of years to adapt to changes in its environment and continues to develop itself sometimes despite ourselves. If we injure ourselves, some innate intelligence from within knows how to heal us. We kill ourselves through war, yet our instinct to survive perpetuates the cycle of life. We get stronger through our will to survive, learn and develop as a species through the challenges that we face. But what is it that is evolving us? What is it that calls to you to seek your Self? What is our innate intelligence? What is our spirit? Recognizing that there is an innate intelligence within you is the key. Acknowledging some life force or spirit within you activates it. Being conscious of your consciousness evolves it.
Look at your hands. You can see physical evidence of something real to you. Squeeze this book. You can feel it. The book is real, tangible, and your squeezing it validates that reality through your sense of touch. The sense of touch is essentially a neurological transmission of energy sending a signal into your brain. Your consciousness observes the mental activity and registers the experience. You are conscious of holding the book. The holding of the book is a mechanism--pressure from your hands being applied to the paper. The hands themselves are working under a hydraulic system. Nerve impulses from your brain run a signal through the nerve fibers in your hands signaling a response to contract the muscles in your hands. Blood flows into the muscle fibers pulling the fingers together to grip this book, much like a robot might hold an object.
Your physical body is a machine. Your heart is a pump; your digestive organs are a processing and extraction device; your lungs are a filter and distributor. Your brain is like a computer, storing, computing and processing input from your physical senses: the lenses of your eyes, the sensors of your nose and tongue, and the receptors of your ears. But who is guiding the machine? As you are reading these words light is being reflected off the page entering into your eyes. Observe this. Observe the light flowing into your eyes as they move across the page. Observe the patterns being registered in your brain. As your mind identifies the characters of the letters, it is recalling what they mean. Observe your mind recalling the meaning of these words. It is a mechanical process. As your mind identifies these words in relationship to each other, this association of meanings forms thought. Observe your mind thinking as you reflect upon the meaning of this sentence. From deep within another part of your mind, you can discern whether you understand what is being said or not. Observe your ability to discriminate. Do you understand the meaning of these words? What part of you can discern whether you understand these words or not?
As you reflect upon whether you can understand what I am saying or not, what part of you is reflecting? This is key to the development of your consciousness. What part of you can observe your own thinking? What part of you has a sense of understanding? Observe this part of you. If you say, 'I understand,' who is this 'I' that thinks it understands? What gives you the ability to understand? What observes the understanding? What enables you to look within yourself? What is this awareness that enables you to be aware of how aware you are? In this moment you are conscious of reading and trying to understand what I am conveying. Your spirit is engaging you as evidenced by your impetus to read and understand. Observe this impetus and desire to know.
