How To Obtain Deeper Consciousness
An awakening is a realization of deeper consciousness. It is the awareness that I am not my mind—the inner voice—nor that am I identified with the ego. Until we reach that point, we go through the bulk, if not all, of our lives, thinking we are someone or something that we are not.
This identification comes because our proximity to these other constructs is too close. It’s not much different than standing with our nose to a billboard. In this absurd example, it is impossible to perceive that there is a complete image as well as text to provide meaning. With awakening, however, something changes our perspective so that we can see the true image of our identity as it was intended to be experienced.
Awakening brings perception to our deeper level of consciousness. I say deeper and not elevated as many refer to it because it literally feels deeper within. And whereas our “natural” identities are more surface-oriented, our awakened consciousness is far more substantial; grounded. It is essence and nothing can be broken down further (or lower) than the elemental.
Awakening allows us to see who we really are, our Authentic Self, as opposed to our mind or our ego. To do so is to bring several benefits. When we incessantly identify with our mind we become bound by its negativity and limitation. In this existence, we are our words and words are limiting. We just simply can’t get past them. And as we find our identity with our mind we, of course, don’t want to die so we talk to ourselves more. If we are our words then it makes sense to us that the more words our mind produces the stronger we are and the less we dialog with ourselves the more we waste away into oblivion.
Not only are words limiting, if our mind produces enough of them there is a certain (often high) percentage of them that will be negative as well. Left to its own means our mind can be overcome with fear and worry and doubt. As we get more of these negative thoughts, in our identity with them, we can begin to believe that it is ourselves that is faulty. This is, of course, untrue and very unhealthy. In fact, I believe this process leads to a great deal of mental health concerns in the world today. It does seem to be a little insane to be identified with entities that aren’t even us.
Just as people can be identified with the mind so they can be with the ego. The ego is a construct that finds its own strength through separateness from others or from anything, really. All of us have an ego but few can truly identify it.
The problem is again, closeness. We are so identified with the ego it’s difficult, if not nearly impossible, to perceive. It becomes unidentifiable because our minds have already identified it as us.
But the ego is the source of a lot of our trouble and drama in the world. It has a fundamental need to seek its own protection and promotion at virtually any cost. Claiming its power through uniqueness and importance it tends to isolate others at the expense of one of spirituality’s greatest tenets—connection.
In our connection is power and this is exactly the strength of deeper consciousness, the ability to dissolve the concepts of limits around us. Until our awakening the ego reigns supreme and, in its incessant desire to dominate, the ego haplessly brings definition to form. Conceptual form is the birthplace of limitation. On the contrary, it is the spirit that is formless and of unlimited scope and power.
Through awakening and deepened consciousness humanity has the opportunity to overcome the associations with the mind and ego. Through awakening, mankind can know its true identity and power. Through awakening, we can be freed to realize our full potential.
Closing Thoughts and Questions
Feel free to journal your thoughts or leave a comment or comments below to generate further discussion:
- Find a silent place and begin to pay attention to your thoughts. Notice how frequently they come and without any effort on your part. They are driven by the unconscious—much like you do not have the conscious power to regulate your heart rate.
- Continue to observe your thoughts. Notice that you can recognize and even evaluate them. Marvel at that for a while; let that sink in. You can perceive the thoughts. You are separate from them. You are not them. This realization alone, if pursued, can help bring you into a state of deeper consciousness. At least partially, it can awaken you.
- Ego can be hard to recognize in ourselves but fairly easy to identify in others. With as little judgment as possible (for that would be encouraging your own ego) consider some people you know that seem to have dominant egos. Write down all the ways you see them expressed. Now, gently, turn that observation inward and see if you can identify the ego at work in your own life. Write these traits down. One of the first steps to awakening is identification. As you begin to realize the illusions you have taken as real in your life you are encouraging a deeper level of consciousness. You are on your way.
Aaron Force is a blogger from Seattle, Washington. He writes to educate others about the nature of an expanded consciousness to evolve humanity. Aaron unexpectedly experienced his own profound awakening and ego transcendence in 2015 and soon understood that the qualities of his own experience (a greater expansion and evolution in his life) could be applied to mankind collectively.