From birth, humans eat and grow tall; their brains develop, and with that comes the ability to use their mind. With the mind, we learn to direct our energy with thought, in order to get things done. In fact, it is this ability to focus our energy that differentiates us from the rest of life on this planet. Human beings are so talented that with their focus they can build pyramids that last for millenia, rockets that can escape the force of gravity, weapons that can obliterate life.
Our minds have so much power. With our minds, we give ourselves meaning, and purpose.
When we experience trauma, or otherwise forget how to use the power of our mind, we feel helpless and distraught. Many psychologists speak of "learned helplessness" as the basic form of depression. Through therapy, they try and teach people how to re-use their minds and re-focus their energy so that they can experience joy in life.
In modern times, we have arrogant ideas about what we know and do not know. Many of us take the view that we know everything. What we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, feel with our fingers -- this, for many people, is the grand totality of the universe. We do this in spite of the fact that there is energy everywhere, that there is energy that we cannot see -- infrared and UV light, for example. Cosmologists are at a total loss to explain "dark matter" in the universe, which by their estimates comprises 74% of the universe. Yet for many people today, if they do not see it, then it doesn't exist.
In other cultures and in other times, people realized that this universe was grander and more mysterious than conventional human perception. They realized, as physics recognizes, that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but only changes shape. They deduced that when a human dies, for example, that energy cannot be destroyed -- it must go somewhere, or transform into something else. So these cultures developed the doctrine of reincarnation to explain what happens to this energy.
They also realized that the way we focus our energy with our mind has consequences. If we focus our energies in a certain direction, it will reap certain fruit. They called this the doctrine of karma, related to the word karna -- "to do". They understood, as physics teaches, that any action must be met with an equal and opposite reaction. What we are doing at this very moment is a reflection of our past actions, and will seed what we will reap tomorrow. Our lives are not governed by an outside capricious force -- rather, our lives respond to our own actions, perspectives and emotions. For all these things comprise energy, and the activation of this energy must produce a reaction. This is the way of things.
Many of us may recognize these patterns, even in the form of anecdote. The insecure boy who likes the girl will, because of his insecurity, engage in actions that will turn her off; the woman who is afraid of losing something will, because of her fear, engage in actions that will result in the feared loss taking place. The energy we bring to an activity has already determined the outcome. As the Art of War states, the general who knows neither himself, nor the enemy, has already lost the battle before the first sword is drawn.
So these first explorers of the universe decided that humans can determine their own futures through their direction of energy (karma); and they decided that the universe itself is composed of energy. When they combined these two thoughts together, they deduced that every human possesses the ability to see the entirety of the universe itself, and can become one with the universe. They called this state nirvana or moksha, and they developed meditation techniques in order to reach this state. They discovered that if they could train the energy of their minds to vibrate at the wavelength of the Universal wavelength, then the energy of their own individual mind would resonate at the Universal resonance. The two would become one; the individual drop of water would reconnect with the vast ocean of existence.
Many great teachers, knowing the effects of energy in reaching union with the cosmos, realized, as well, that the energy of love is a powerful vehicle in connecting with a universal consciousness. It is a teaching that we laugh at today, because we do not (at least conventionally) "see" the workings of love. But we do this in our ignorance.
One of the teachers of this philosophy was an Indian prince who is known by his title of the Buddha. In addition to teaching the effects of karma, he emphasized that within every human is the radically transformative energy of compassion. With compassion, one can end the illusion of separation that exists between various energies and reach a state of union with all of existence.
Somewhere else, in a different time and culture, a radical preacher was teaching the same thing. The person known as Jesus, who is deified by Christianity, taught that the energy of love went straight to the Kingdom of Heaven. When asked what was the greatest commandment to follow, he responded, "Love the Lord your God [e.g., all of existence] with all your soul and with all your mind. That is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."
Why is love such a powerful energy? Because it breaks down barriers; it removes the fallacy of separation. Just as we cannot perceive UV or infrared light, we cannot perceive the effects of our emotional energies. But emotions are powerful, and like all energy, our emotions dictate our future. When a person begins to "see his neighbor as himself," he begins to realize that the distinction between them is really quite meaningless. This is the first step to deep wisdom.
If a person seeks greater understanding of his or her place on this planet, they cannot do it out of fear, or anger, or hatred. They must realize that the separation of energies that we perceive is really an illusion; that all is one; that the differences that seem to exist are just a product of our limited perceptions.
It is this separation that prevents humans today from unlocking their true potential. We all make mistakes; we have all hurt others, or harbored anger, or guilt, or envy, or shame; and we will all make mistakes in the future as well. If we commit a wrong, it is in our nature to lock it up away in a dark place in our mind and seek to separate it away from ourselves. There are few honest people today who will look within and see their insecurities, their fears, their flaws, the darkness of their very being; in Jungian terms, they have repressed their shadows, and thus never have access to their full mental energies.
Yet what great souls have strived to teach in different eras and in different languages is that we can use love to end this separation within ourselves and create better futures. A person who has made a mistake must forgive himself first; and when he has done that, others will naturally forgive him because he gives off an energy of forgiveness, kindness, and healing. And he, as well, will forgive others. A person who lives in fear must tame his fear first, or else he will encounter in his life nothing but the effects of this fear. And his courage, produced from his self-love, will resonate with others and inspire.
And this is done by loving oneself with every fiber of one's being, of accepting one's faults and imperfections, embracing the dark shadow -- coming to terms with our own beautiful flaws and cherishing them as divine gifts.
When we start to love ourselves, when we have ended the separation that we all have within us -- then, and only then, do we realize the power of the cosmos and the power we have to commune with it, to bend it to our will, to create our own realities.
400 years ago, Western philosophers realized this concept, but they called it something else -- they called it liberty. They argued that all people are endowed by Creation with certain rights that are inherent to the definition of humanity -- that we are gifted with free will, and deserve the right to pave our own road to happiness and fulfillment.
It is no surprise that the English word "freedom" traces its roots to the Indo-European word for love. Because the two are one and the same. The energy of freedom -- spiritual, political, economic -- is activated at the same resonance as the energy of love. The ancients realized this, and they taught that these energies allowed union with all.
Asking the nature of consciousness -- "What is this universe, and what is my place in it?" -- is more than just a personal question. It is a spiritual challenge. Think of all the energy that exists in this universe since its creation, and consider the fact that at heart, there is no difference between the energy vibrating in our atoms and elsewhere in the universe. We think and assume there is a difference -- and that, in itself, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If we are up to the challenge of really uncovering what it is that separates our minds from the universal essence, we will ultimately find ourselves on a road of discovery that is virtually endless. Did not Prometheus give us the divine fire for us to use at our disposal? Are we not made in the same image as the God of creation, and thus by very definition, bestowed with those same powers and authority?
Thus, the question, "What is the nature of consciousness?" is very much related to the question, "What is the nature of my own mind?" In fact, it is the same inquiry. The energy of the universe is at the disposal of every free human. This is a profound fact that few people realize. Yet it is the key to liberation in every sense of the word.
