the speaking tree - Reflections On The Nature Of Being
Kishore Asthana
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Tonight, before sleeping, i'll meditate on the nature of consciousness. `I am not my body' is not difficult to internalise. `I am not my mind' takes more time but i have come to terms with it after some practice.That leads me to think that i am my soul, my consciousness. But i might well be wrong on two counts. The first mistake is in speaking in terms of `my' soul if the soul is `mine', who is the `I' who uses the possessive? So, the soul is not `mine', I am the soul. The second mistake is in equating the soul with my consciousness.Consciousness is a tool, a powerful yantra, of the Soul-I-Am, to be manipulated to create and mould my perceptual world. The Soul-I-Am, is an independent entity `possessing' this consciousness. Hence, i am more than my consciousness in the same way that the painter is more than his paints and the poet is more than her pen. All my body-mind experiences are paintings and poems i have created using my consciousness.
The Soul-I-Am cannot be confined within my body . The body is in the Soul-I-Am and not the other way around. This very realisation makes something unexpectedly flip in the forefront of my brain. I find that this changes my perspective and, when i look in the mirror, i do not feel that what i see is all I am. Somewhat unsettling at first, it becomes normal soon.
I believe that the Soul-IAm is of a higher level of magnificence of which, in this physical avatar, my mind can sense a very small part.In it exist all the lives I've experienced on this plane and perhaps on other planes as well, and all future lives. Other potentials belong to it as well worlds my brain knows nothing about, creativity of an amazing order and understanding beyond the grasp of my limited mind.And it uses consciousness as a tool to actualise and experience whatever it wishes to experience.
Why did the Soul-I-Am separate from the universal All-That-Is? My physical brain has built-in limitations and i will only understand some secrets when i have the ability to move beyond it and directly use consciousness, the tool used by the soul.
Yes, this relationship between the soul and consciousness is fascinating and, tonight i'll meditate upon it before i sleep.Perchance my dreams will show the way .
And once this is settled, i will meditate upon whether I, as the Soul-I-Am can be confined within this plane of existence, mediated by my bodily senses and their limited view of the world as processed by my brain.If all this physical equipment that passes for my body-mind is inside the Soul-I-am, obviously what I am is larger than my body-mind. My physical self sees the world around me within a narrow spectrum and, interprets it within its limitations.There is no logical reason, then, for the Soul-I-Am, with its own unlimited awareness to be confined to the space-time and world view which my physical self projects.
Yes, i'll meditate upon the different dimensions in which i perhaps `really' exist, beyond the obvious three spatial ones and Time. And, talking of Time, it strikes me that this is a kettle of fish by itself. Perhaps its secrets will astonish me as so many other experiences have done experiences which i could not have imagined before i embarked on this path. However, it is early yet. I will meditate on Time when the time is right.
The Soul-I-Am cannot be confined within my body . The body is in the Soul-I-Am and not the other way around. This very realisation makes something unexpectedly flip in the forefront of my brain. I find that this changes my perspective and, when i look in the mirror, i do not feel that what i see is all I am. Somewhat unsettling at first, it becomes normal soon.
I believe that the Soul-IAm is of a higher level of magnificence of which, in this physical avatar, my mind can sense a very small part.In it exist all the lives I've experienced on this plane and perhaps on other planes as well, and all future lives. Other potentials belong to it as well worlds my brain knows nothing about, creativity of an amazing order and understanding beyond the grasp of my limited mind.And it uses consciousness as a tool to actualise and experience whatever it wishes to experience.
Why did the Soul-I-Am separate from the universal All-That-Is? My physical brain has built-in limitations and i will only understand some secrets when i have the ability to move beyond it and directly use consciousness, the tool used by the soul.
Yes, this relationship between the soul and consciousness is fascinating and, tonight i'll meditate upon it before i sleep.Perchance my dreams will show the way .
And once this is settled, i will meditate upon whether I, as the Soul-I-Am can be confined within this plane of existence, mediated by my bodily senses and their limited view of the world as processed by my brain.If all this physical equipment that passes for my body-mind is inside the Soul-I-am, obviously what I am is larger than my body-mind. My physical self sees the world around me within a narrow spectrum and, interprets it within its limitations.There is no logical reason, then, for the Soul-I-Am, with its own unlimited awareness to be confined to the space-time and world view which my physical self projects.
Yes, i'll meditate upon the different dimensions in which i perhaps `really' exist, beyond the obvious three spatial ones and Time. And, talking of Time, it strikes me that this is a kettle of fish by itself. Perhaps its secrets will astonish me as so many other experiences have done experiences which i could not have imagined before i embarked on this path. However, it is early yet. I will meditate on Time when the time is right.
