Humans and Consciousness

I think part of the essence of the universe is constant change, non-permanence. Everything is always in constant flux, always shifting, always ending and beginning. Humans like to believe that they'll last forever, that they'll go on in some way, and they are right in some fashion, but not exactly in the way most people believe.

When people say that we go on after death, I think mostly they're wishing the ego goes on -- this identification with thoughts, memories, body, material possessions, emotions. Any identification with these things connected to the ego usually results in pain: the realization that none of these things are truly permanent causes distress, anxiety, and depression in most people. I believe that this is an understandable reaction to this realization initially. It can be quite a slap in the face to confront the ideas of death and change head on. Most of the time people like to avoid these subjects altogether, but the ones that accept these realities can come out the other side calmer and less anxiety-ridden.

It also means that they've taken a step in the right direction of coming to grips with their true nature. If one starts looking at the ego as something non-permanent, then the search for something to fall back on becomes a quest of sorts. But then ask yourself, who is doing the questing? Who is it that's aware of all of these ideas? The answer to these questions is the key to happiness.

The answer is the key to freedom and a more fulfilling life.

Once you realize the answer, you are able to take life and yourself less seriously. You realize that the only limitations in life are the ones you create and invent, which of course blocks everything you want and want to do.

The answer lies in when you sit quietly and do nothing. You just observe your world. You let the thoughts come and go, you let the emotions come and go. You let the sounds and sights around you pop up and fade away. And what are you left with?

Awareness... Consciousness.

This awareness that is always present in the background is the slate that can always be wiped clean and built upon with any ideas that you desire. You can be, do, and work towards anything that you want to work towards.

This is your true nature, and this is the only eternal thing in the universe. The ego is fashioned because this awareness is plugged into a body, and with a body comes a brain. This brain is designed to keep the organism alive and as prosperous as possible, out of trouble and functioning as optimally as possible. The problem stems from the sense that we as Awareness start to become so ingrained in this role (and that's all it is: a role) of playing a human being that we of course, more and more, start identifying with every aspect that comes with being a body and brain.

We play this massive trick on ourselves where we become totally absorbed in this role, that we actually believe it's all we are, that it's all we ever can be.

It's so funny, because the answer is always there, it's always hanging there in the background, underneath all of this static and noise and thoughts and emotions and attachments -- that eternal, never-changing Awareness is always there. And that is our true nature. It will always be there. Everything on top of it is just an elaborate costume we have fashioned for ourselves to join the stage of life, to experience everything, to immerse ourselves in the role of life itself.

The point is to try to enjoy the experience of being human... with all the joy, bullshit, love and pain that comes with it.