Awareness vs Consciousness

Very nice article about awareness vs consciousness

key sentence :
when the awareness touches the object it becomes consciousness.
is all the more important when you realise that in french they often switch one with the other while translating original articles, or talks.

even the word awareness happens to be translated as consciousness..

What is Consciousness vs. Awareness?

What is consciousness? Science seems perplexed when it has to address this question because it really doesn’t have an answer. But according to Buddhism, the appearance of objects in the mind is known as consciousness. You can also say that the conceptualization of objects within/as consciousness is known as “mind.” Without that content we colloquially say there is no mind.

Before the appearance of objects we still have awareness, but it is empty. Awareness when it touches objects becomes consciousness. So awareness without objects is the aprior state before consciousness and is the ground state that “supports”  consciousness. Awareness is always empty in a not-knowing state. It just shines or illuminates. That’s called effulgence, which means radiance, brightness, illumination or shining. Without touching objects, awareness just remains in its own body and shines, it be-s itself, it just is. That’s “presence” or being. That’s also self-effulgence so effulgence is the nature of awareness. It’s like a great bodyless body of not-knowing knowing. You cannot identify it as either existence or non-existence, as either real or not real because it transcends all these descriptions. It is without these two attributes because that is its purity. Awareness is an ever shining function of our real ultimate essence of being. It allows us to know and understand because it allows us to be aware of consciousness - all the moving stuff.

On the other hand, “our mind” is something more objective because “mind” means clear differentiation and understanding. “Mind” involves clear discrimination—that which discriminates the characteristics of objects. So we use the mind to understand things because mind understands the manipulation of consciousness. Mind is a pattern of consciousness which is born from awareness which is in turn a function of our original nature. At least that’s the explanation of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta, which have had thousands of years to work out robust definitions and explanations.

In terms of the teachings of spiritual schools, consciousness isn’t yet our ultimate ground state of being because consciousness knowing isn’t our ultimate original nature; it is a looking outward to objects rather than a state resting in itself as its real essence without elaboration. We mistakenly think that knowingness or consciousness, which we colloquially term the “mind,” is our real self but it is not. It cannot be because it is inconstant and does not always stay. It's just flitting all the time. There is still something ultimate behind consciousness, there is something that transcends the oridnary mind, there is still something behind knowing and what is behind it that spiritually transcends it is ever present, never moving, always empty, shining awareness. In fact, the highest secret of the Zen school of Buddhism is that our consciousness and then even awareness are not the ultimate, fundamental “host” or “Self.” Consciousness and awareness are still a “guest,” they are still a function of the Absolute nature.

The realm of consciousness is only a projection of the original nature. It’s still a dependently existing construction, which means it depends upon other elements for its existence. It is just a function of the original nature, or God, or Self, or however you wish to word it. And because consciousness depends upon other things for its existence, it cannot be the ultimate state of reality. As to the actual  realm of the enlightened, the Buddha Manjushri said, “It is not something that can be known by consciousness, nor is it an object of the mind.”  It transcends consciousness, it is aprior. You cannot find This Ultimate One with the mind of thoughts, so how do you find It? By no-mind, no-thought, by not attaching to thoughts but letting them just be there when they are, but never attaching to them while maintaining presence.

These are deep words that science has not yet fathomed. At best psychiatry and psychology deal with the mental events of the mind, trying to put them into groups having this or that shape or meaning. Cognitive science is still puzzling how objects “out there” turn into mental events inside the brain and then consciousness, so it has not proceeded far in this direction either. In this new century, the best advice we can give neuroscience and cognitive science is to examine the ancient schools of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta to discover what they have to say about consciousness and the many various modalities of the mind.

source : http://www.meditationexpert.com/consciousness-studies/cs_what_is_consciousness.html

EXCELLENT ARTICLE

a must read
i have been personally spammed with it at least - say 4 times a day
over the past few days - by a friend who wanted me to read it.
and yes it worths it!

lol as my fiancé said :))
i guess jesus, moses and muhammad are making hurray in their heaven,
as she finally read it, neh?;) 

anyway, is a great read

very impactful, true, and to the point
just what you need to read too

some comments on the article :

"The things you hate about others are the things you cannot see in yourself"
this means BECAUSE our own subconscious is UNABLE to see itself on such stuff
it HAS to project it onto others to see it 
and then of course up to us to correct it if we are bothered.

which lead me to comment that other part of the author i wholly disagree with,

"You don't actually dislike these parts of yourself, though, you absolutely love them."
 I disagree, for by experience lol i KNOW i love in other what i love already in myself.
and dislike in other what i have already disliked in myself and forbidden myself to do.

for if we "absolutely love" such parts,
then where is the experiential part? where is the evolution to a higher and subtler being? where is the integration and transformation of our darknesses/fear into light/love?

this being said,
enjoy the reading! is fabulously written :

Brianna Wiest Become a fan Writer, editor, professional human being.

8 Subconscious Behaviors That Are Keeping You From Having the Life You Want

Posted: 08/10/2015 8:18 am EDT Updated: 08/10/2015 8:59 am EDT

Every generation has a "monoculture" of sorts, a governing pattern or system of beliefs that people unconsciously accept as "truth." It's easy to identify the monoculture of Germany in the 1930s, or America in 1776. It's clear what people at those times, in those places, accepted to be "good" and "true" even when in reality, that was certainly not always the case.
The objectivity required to see the effects of present monoculture is very difficult to maintain (once you have so deeply accepted an idea as 'truth' it doesn't register as 'cultural' or 'subjective' anymore) ... but it's crucial. So much of our inner turmoil is simply the result of conducting a life we don't inherently agree with, because we have accepted an inner narrative of "normal" and "ideal" without ever realizing.
The fundamentals of any given monoculture tend to surround how to live your best life, how to live a better life, and what's most worth living for (nation, religion, self, etc.) and there are a number of ways in which our current system has us shooting ourselves in the feet as we try to step forward. Simply, there are a few fundamentals on happiness, decision making, instinct following and peace finding that we don't seem to understand.
So here, eight of the daily behaviors and unconscious habits that are keeping you from the life you really want.

1. You believe that creating your best possible life is a matter of deciding what you want and then going after it, but in reality, you are psychologically incapable of being able to predict what will make you happy. 

Your brain can only perceive what it's known, so when you choose what you want for the future, you're actually just re-creating a solution or an ideal of the past. Ironically, when said ideas don't come to fruition (things never look the way we think they will) you suffer, because you think you've failed, when really, you're most likely experiencing something better than you could have chosen for yourself at the time. (Moral of the story: Living in the moment isn't a lofty ideal reserved for the zen and enlightened, it's the only way to live a life that isn't infiltrated with illusions... it's the only thing your brain can actually comprehend.)

2. You extrapolate the present moment because you believe that success is somewhere you "arrive," so you are constantly trying to take a snapshot of your life and see if you can be happy yet.

You accidentally convince yourself that any given moment is your life, when in reality, it is a moment in your life. Because we're wired to believe that success is somewhere we get to - when goals are accomplished and things are completed - we're constantly measuring our present moments by how "finished" they are, how good the story sounds, how someone else would judge the summary. (If at any point you find yourself thinking: "is this all there is?" you're forgetting that everything is transitory. There is nowhere to "arrive" at. The only thing you're rushing toward is death. Accomplishing goals is not success. How much you learn and enjoy and expand in the process of doing them is.)

3. You assume that when it comes to following your "gut instincts," happiness is "good," and fear and pain is "bad."

When you consider doing something that you truly love and are invested in, you are going to feel an influx of fear and pain, mostly because it will involve being vulnerable. When it comes to making decisions, you have to know that bad feelings are not deterrents. They are indicators that you want to do something, but it scares you (which are the things most worth doing, if you ask me). Not wanting to do something would make you feel indifferent about it. Fear = interest.

4. You needlessly create problems and crises in your life because you're afraid of actually living it.

The pattern of unnecessarily creating crisis in your life is actually an avoidance technique. It distracts you from actually having to be vulnerable or held accountable or whatever it is you're afraid of. You're never upset for the reason you think you are: at the core of your desire to create a problem is simply the fear of being who you are, and living the life you want.

5. You think that to change your beliefs, you have to adopt a new line of thinking, rather than seek experiences that make that thinking self-evident.

A belief is what you know to be true because experience has made it evident to you. If you want to change your life, change your beliefs. If you want to change your beliefs, go out and have experiences that make them real to you. Not the opposite way around.

6. You think "problems" are road blocks to achieving what you want, when in reality, they are pathways.

If you haven't heard it before, Marcus Aurelius sums this up well: "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." Ryan Holiday explains it even more gracefully: "The obstacle is the way." Simply, running into a "problem" forces you to take action to resolve it. That action leads you down the path you had ultimately intended to go anyway, as the only "problems" in your life ultimately come down to how you resist who you are and how your life naturally unfolds.

7. You think your past defines you, and worse, you think that it is an unchangeable reality, when really, your perception of it changes as you do.

Because experience is always multi-dimensional, there are a variety of memories, experiences, feelings, "gists" you can choose to recall... and what you choose is indicative of your present state of mind. So many people get caught up in allowing the past to define them, or haunt them, simply because they have not evolved to the place of seeing how the past did not prevent them from achieving the life they want... it facilitated it (see: the obstacle is the way). This doesn't mean to disregard or gloss over painful or traumatic events, but simply to be able to recall them with acceptance and to be able to place them in the storyline of your personal evolution.

8. You try to change other people, situations and things (or you just complain/get upset about them) when anger = self-recognition.

Most negative emotional reactions are you identifying a disassociated aspect of yourself. Your "shadow selves" are the parts of you that, at some point, you were conditioned to believe were "not okay," so you suppressed them and have done everything in your power not to acknowledge them. You don't actually dislike these parts of yourself, though, you absolutely love them. So when you see somebody else displaying one of these traits, it absolutely infuriates you, not because you inherently dislike it, but because you have to fight your desire to fully integrate it into your whole consciousness. The things you love about others are the things you love about yourself. The things you hate about others are the things you cannot see in yourself.

Follow Brianna Wiest on Twitter: www.twitter.com/briannawiest

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source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brianna-wiest/8-subconscious-behaviors-that-are-keeping-you-from-having-the-life-you-want_b_7949578.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592 

Poem "The Flower"

it is only pretty
if you take a look at it closely.

you have to look at it for a long time
to realise that it is lovely.

you too you are like that


- Na tae joo "The Flower"


when i heard that poem
i thought that it spoke of
how when you look at
your true self long enough
you realise you are that

you are that pretty.

Power of awareness

woa
it is second time in my life
i felt so
this time not as strong as the first time

here what happened
i was writing
and suddenly
is like the shawl i was wearing zoom out somehow?
so much that it came into my attention

can one say is like the shawl was alive?
or with a consciousness?
and after when my attention got caught by it
the feeling i felt
can only be -unfortunately written in word
though there were no words or voice-

is like i felt
love out of the shawl
isn't it amazing?

a living thing
emitting love
but also
is like i saw
that this shawl was put on me
out of love by mother earth
because i could see like the action of having being covered
by a loving hand

writing it i assured myself
that indeed i am not drunk
lol
i never drink
hehehe

but this reminded me
of what happened in 2005
because when i was praying
i literally felt love being emitted from the clothes i was wearing
and i felt with a great clarity the kindness and care with which
the earth let the clothes loose enough by adjusting the gravity
so that clothes could hang so naturally on my body
not too strained due to a disproportioned gravity
nor too loose due to a lower one like on the moon lol

by then i knew not
but i think this is awareness side effect
isn't it?

because stuff changes not
only our perception
which quality can increase
only if your attention is within
and the awareness has this quality to let you see love
which is all around

even love emitted by your own clothes
ah i feel loved lol

Being good to ourselves

may be is one of the few first-time
i realised or felt quickly what awareness is
if i am not wrong on using this word

i was working
and somehow did a mistake 
of appreciation in making the right choice

i even forget what it was about really
but i happened to smile to myself
and incredibily enough!
it is as if another "i" in me
felt the smile it was directed to

and this "i" that was in the heart
felt a very lovely and soft feeling
that was warm

it astonished me

because it is rare
usually i realise
we hardly smile
and if we do
we smile at others
and very rarely to ourselves..

and even if we do
in very rare occasion
then we don't really feel it
is just on the face
but it reaches not our own heart

and when you get used to a pattern
you can't know what warmth you are missing out
all the while, isn't it?

and so
for me
was like one "i" - say my personality
genuinely smiled to "myself"
the self in me
and this is different from the claim to smile to ourselves
because this time was true
only for the fact that my attention was really inside me
and this is why it reached my heart

and i felt my own heart
-as it is were a different personality
say the spirit within
as it is the love is the heart attribute-
who did receive the smile
and a daft of warmth went out of it

and in return my own personality
who sent it
received it back

and now
when i think of it
it felt as if i was not alone working
because there was this exchange
so it felt as if i was with someone else

ah i have tears in my eyes
so good it felt
and also so simple
now i remember
to feel happy in one's own presence

i am
it seems
getting the natural hang
of loving myself

which i had forgotten
by not letting go
and letting my attention out
or on some plans, worries and so on.

and this balance
of bringing back attention within
came by me realising
that each behavior is allowed
and there is no self blame
(so i learn to be soft and loving to myself)

as long as i consciously let go
by using meditation for once
and second,
if i learn to get back the power
i gave to others out of misplaced trust

for i learn
that sometimes we expect others to change their behavior
more or less unconsciously
thinking their aim is to improve
so while waiting for this change
we forget to let go
as we are waiting
see?
and of course
waiting goes not without accumulation of pressure
and this leads to lack of balance
be it in terms of dislike, anger, hate, frustration etc.

the best decision to ever do
is always to be loving to oneself first and foremost
let go of expecting good/self-correction from others
for this very rarely happen as a free-willed consistent behavior
which in turns lead us to reclaim our power back

and as our attention is really
as a whole where it should be
imagine
even the little things
such as a good thought directed to ourself
or even a smile
not mentioning any other good work!
everything is sent back to you
by your own heart
and that is first time i realised

why it is said
when you do good
God give it back to you 10 times more

is because to start with
good
is only when you attention is IN
and not some conventional "good"
expected from you by societal norms

second
as you have free will
if you choose to do a good action
this choice is say mental first?

and as your attention is inside
the good is received by your own heart
and heart power is much more powerful
than the mental power, isn't it?

hence it is said you get at LEAST 10 times more
and i think even in some hadith it is said
could be rewarded 70 000 times more
or as much as God want

because now i understand
it all depends on the purity of your heart
and thus its power to nourish you back with the good you sent forth

extending on that
when you learn to be good to yourself
which is like learning to walk
then you can learn to be good to others
which is aliek to learning to run

and thus
whoever tells you
you are not good enough
or match not "my standard of goodness"
know that this person is lying
because truth is what you know about the experience you do of yourself
with your own attention.

good night
kiss:x

Check-in for Heaven

yesterday
again before sleeping i meditated
this time i prayed
to truly let go

because i so quickly forget
to let go
really it needs bravely to let go

is really easy to be brooding
but to let go
is such a new effort

anyway
if i don't let go
what would make me different from others?
is really important to be brave
even if on the spot
the power felt in that position
is satisfying

but is temporary

after you are stuck
really

but now i contemplate
to let go
on the spot is like the feeling of being defeated
but i guess
as i have not succeeded it yet
after it should be a liberating feeling.

anyway
once i prayed so
i saw in vision

that i was in space
or in the starry sky
and there was a scroll that unrolled
and i signed it

actually :)
was the check-in for heaven
is funny vision

but it shows
that to enter heaven
you should have light vibes

if your vibes become densers
then you go back to hell
it makes sense

and i don't like playing yo-yo
with my eternal life..

so one should always meditate
regularly and
let go even more often.
Ameen