Greetings, my dearest friends. Love, truth, and blessings are given to you in rich abundance. Open your innermost channels and let them flow from you and into you. In this lecture I wish to deal with the phenomenon of consciousness, which is so difficult to explain to the human mind -- to the human state of consciousness. For the human state of consciousness is still an extremely limited one. So, by attempting to give you more understanding, that limitation can lessen and you can increase your awareness.
Consciousness permeates all being, all creation, all existence, everything that is. In your dualistic realm, you speak of consciousness and energy as if they were two separate phenomena. This is incorrect. Consciousness is a creator of energy and energy must contain consciousness, perhaps various aspects of consciousness, perhaps variations of consciousness, as well as degrees of consciousness. There is no physical, biological, electrical, or atomic energy that could be as potent as the energy of direct consciousness.
By this I mean the energy of your thoughts, the energy of your feelings, the energy of your intents, the energy of your attitudes, and the energy of your beliefs.
Every thought is energy. You experience this energy as feeling. There cannot be a thought, even the most mechanical, dead, sterile, cut-off thought that does not also contain feeling. A pure, abstract thought may appear as totally divorced from feeling. This is not so. As a matter of fact, the more abstract and pure the thought is, the more the feeling it contains must be commensurate with it. You must also differentiate between cut-off thought
and abstract thought. Do not confuse them. The former is a defense against feelings and a defense against undesirable aspects of the self. The latter is
a result of a highly integrated, spiritual state. But even the former can never be divorced from feeling -- that is, energy content. The underlying feeling might be fear, apprehension, anxiety about the complexity of what the self suspects to exist and wishes to avoid; and, concomitantly with that, self-hate and a variety of other feelings.
Abstract thought contains, as the underlying energy current, a feeling of immense peace, of an intrinsic understanding of universal law that is bound to induce joyousness and bliss. A purely abstract thought would create this kind of energetic or feeling experience. The more subjective the thought is, the more tinged with negativity the feeling becomes. A subjective thought is one that is created from personal desire and personal fear; from a state of egotism and separation -- "me versus the other." It is therefore never in truth.
Let us, for example, examine desire. In the realm of duality, like everything else, desire fulfills a dual role. From a spiritual point of view, desire may be undesirable (to use a paradox). For too much desire, intense desire, subjective desire -- desire stemming from the ego and its distortions
-- alienates man from the core of his being. Such desire often contains pride, selfwill, fear, lack of trust in the universe. It creates tense, contracted energy systems and it prevents the flow of the life force. Hence spiritual teachings often advocate a state of desirelessness as a necessary prerequisite for connecting with the divine self. It is indeed a state to be cherished for spiritual self-realization.
At the same time, it is equally true that if there is no desire in you, then there cannot be expansion. In other words, there cannot be a venturing out into new ground, into new realizations, into new states of awareness. There can be no development and no purification. For what would motivate an individual to muster the courage, the perseverance, and the steadfastness necessary to grope one's way out of darkness and suffering? Only desire does. This kind of desire contains faith (in the possibility of attaining a better state), courage, patience, commitment, etc. Here you have a typical example of a dualistic confusion -- a confusion that arises only when man says that it is either
right or wrong to have desire, depending on which aspect of it he perceives. The painful, confusing, and limited state of the dualistic consciousness can
be transcended only when you see beyond the either/or and you see the true
and the distorted possibilities of both apparent opposites. The moment you
see this, the opposites no longer exist. You have passed beyond the limited dualistic state. This applies to many manifestations of your life.
Rarely if ever is anything in itself either good or bad. It depends on how
it manifests and on what the true underlying motives are. Desire must exist in the human heart in order to overcome the hurdles and the temptation
of self-deceit which block the way to the abstract knowledge of the universe. This does not mean, I repeat, abstraction in the sense of mechanical, dead, alienated, superficial, unfeeling, or defensive thinking.
How can knowing -- which is consciousness -- be unfeeling? Even unfeeling knowing, what you call intellectual knowledge, must have a feeling content.
It stirs up certain chain reactions. And even though such knowledge may be fragmented and used in order to get away from the energy or feeling aspect
of living, nevertheless it contains feeling, as I mentioned before, although these feelings may not be recognized. So, consciousness is always a feeling, an energy manifestation, whether or not you are aware of it. The most mechanical, fragmented, and cut-off thought breeds a series of energy chain reactions in man's psychic system. The power of choosing which thought to think in itself stems from strong energy movements and it results in effects. Therefore consciousness must be one with energy.
In the average human state this does not hold true at first sight. However, when you go deeper, then you are bound to see -- when you follow it through -- that whatever knowledge you harbor has a definite feeling content. As I said -- and I purposely repeat this, for it cannot be emphasized enough in this context -- even the dry, cut-off knowledge must also contain feelings. The underlying feeling may be fear. The more superficial energetic state may be boredom. Boredom is also an energetic state, although a negative one -- negative in the sense that the absence of something does not mean that what
is absent is not intrinsically and essentially present. It is only temporarily made absent. Let us say that we pursue the state of boredom into the deeper recesses of the soul substance. You are bound to find that somewhere there is always fear. It is the fear of knowing all you can know both about yourself
and about your relationship with the universe.
This relationship between you and the universe becomes increasingly more obvious as you discover yourself; as you become more honest with yourself, and as you stop acting out. States of consciousness can roughly be differentiated into the following three groupings:
(1) The first and least developed is the state of slumber, where a being does not know that it exists. It has no self-awareness. It can feel and move and grow, and even, to an extent, think, but below the threshold of self-awareness, like a mineral or a plant. These organisms beneath the state of self-awareness nevertheless have in-built patterns of creation -- self-creation -- which that particular organism then follows through in a deeply meaningful, purposeful way, always compatible with its particular lawfulness. These states are states of consciousness, but are not states of self-consciousness. Take, for example, the life of a plant: it follows its own in-built plan. Only its own now slumbering consciousness could create that plan, could create this imprint with all its own lawful cycles, by which that organism lives, expands, dies, reincorporates itself, gives birth to itself, expresses itself, and goes on in that same cycle. This requires an immensely intelligent plan, that only consciousness could fabricate. Something like this cannot happen by itself. In other words, it cannot be a dead, disconnected process.
The apparent disconnection of inanimate matter is only temporarily frozen consciousness, as I explained in a recent lecture on the processes of creation and the psychic nuclear points. When consciousness creates in a certain direction, then the life spark slows down and down, until the energetic stream petrifies. It condenses into such a thick crust that the underlying energy is invisible -- not perceivable with the human eye. However, beings whose expanded state of consciousness makes them capable of perceiving more than the surface can observe very clearly the highly potent energy aspect within inanimate matter which has no manifest consciousness. Such beings can also perceive the consciousness content within this potent energy, the consciousness contained within the outwardly dead material.
What does consciousness say when it is aslumber? It may say: "I do not want to know myself. I do not want to know me in relationship to the world around me." This statement is a creative nucleus -- a statement made
by consciousness, by deliberate choice and disposition. This statement brings forth an inexorable chain of events, leading -- gradually but surely -- to the condensed, slowed-down state that finally becomes a crust, hardened and apparently dead. This is what matter is composed of. The sequence of events leading to the state of hardened, inanimate matter stems from a negative -- life-denying and truth-negating -- statement. Nevertheless, once the hardened process is in action, matter itself can be used by the consciousness for life-affirming, positive purposes. Thus a free consciousness can communicate with the life substance and with the consciousness within the hardened matter.
I am giving you this very brief explanation so that you can gain some concept about the fact that consciousness exists within inanimate objects.
Your scientists have already ascertained that energy exists within matter,
so that part is hardly news to you. You have yet to ascertain that
the same holds true about consciousness.
The consciousness within inanimate objects is reachable by the much stronger and more active consciousness of the human mind -- though to a lesser degree than the consciousness within plants, within animals, or within other human beings. Matter is still malleable, and therefore can be impressed by the human consciousness. Since the human mind it is capable of inventing and of creating, it can mold, it can shape, and it can form out of the substances within matter. For example, the need to have a piece of furniture, or a plate, or a glass, or a piece of jewelry, or whatever the inanimate object may be, that need, that desire to create these objects molds the energy and the consciousness contained in it so that even the most alienated aspect of consciousness -- like inanimate matter -- receives the imprints of a directing, stronger, and more connected consciousness, and then fuses with it in certain definite ways. Thus an object is being created.
So every object that you use, that you enjoy, and that you need fulfills its own task. Even in its present separated state, its innermost nucleus -- which always seeks expression toward the divine, toward service, toward truth, toward love, and toward being -- replies to the creation of the mind and thus fulfills a purpose in the great plan of evolution. So even the deadest of all matter is not really dead. Spiritual beings -- who are in greater possession
of their innate divine faculties and who are not bound to the purely outer manifestation as human beings are -- can perceive the energy form and the consciousness expression of even the most inanimate objects. This inanimate object also contains an energy field which is its antenna, its receiving station, so that it must also become a reactor. Its consciousness is still
too limited to be more than a reactor. In other words, it cannot be as yet an initiator and a creator, as the human state can. But it is definitely a reactor.
You often experience the fact that you have a relationship with certain objects. There are some objects which you cherish, need, and enjoy. You love them. They perform well for you. You may think that you love them because they perform well and because they give you good service, or beauty, or joy. But it is one of those working benign circles where it is hard to say what or who started it going. With other objects it is the other way around. They never work out well. You hate them, you are annoyed with them -- and they respond. Take, for example, a motor car, or a machine that you use, like a record player, or whatever it may be. You love that machine. You may even use it for your spiritual growth in one manner or another. So the purely utilitarian object is really not so utilitarian after all. You give it care. Your appreciation makes the machine respond, even with its extremely limited, small inner nucleus of consciousness that is geared to just respond, to react, to be impressed, and to be molded. Nevertheless, its energy field will
be affected.
Therefore, the separation of consciousness that you experience is a
very debatable one. When we say that the whole universe is permeated
with consciousness, then we are saying the truth, for beneath that surface level there is constant interaction.
I started to speak about the three stages of consciousness. I dwelled for
a long time on this first state: consciousness but no self-awareness. I wanted to show you that nothing exists which does not contain consciousness. It is easier to see this with animals, with plants, and even with minerals which have their own processes of growth and change, though much slower ones than the other categories.
(2) The second state is self-awareness, which begins at the human level. What does self-awareness really mean? It is the awareness of: "I am,"
"I exist," "I can think," "I can make decisions," "my decisions have impact," "my thoughts have an effect," "my feelings reach other beings." This will be roughly the second state. In this state self-responsibility begins. The awareness of having an effect on the world around the self must result in accountability and, as a consequence, in the seriousness of choosing thoughts, attitudes, actions, responses, etc. By virtue of this expanded awareness, this state of consciousness also finds many new alternatives which the blind and more limited state is lacking. The state of consciousness below the threshold of self-awareness cannot make choices. It blindly follows the in-built pattern implanted in its substance. The human state is capable of recreating the plan and the pattern, and to increasingly avail himself of more and wider possibilities of self-expression, commensurate with his own growth.
Within the human state of consciousness -- the state of self-awareness -- there are many degrees and many variations. For example, you have human beings who are unaware of themselves. In other words, the are unaware of their power to create, of their power to change, of their power to affect others. Their ability to differentiate is limited. Their power to think is limited. Their power to act independently is limited. To them words such as these would make no more sense than if you were to tell them to an animal. In other words, they would be meaningless to them. Then there other human beings whose consciousness is already far more developed. They know that they have the power to choose, the power to create, and the power to affect others. They are self-responsible and accountable for their decision to think one way rather than another way. There are also many degrees of consciousness in-between these two categories at both ends of the pole.
However, even the human being whose consciousness is least developed is aware that he exists. He knows that he has needs and he can figure out how
to fulfill these needs, at least to a degree. He knows that he can act. Maybe his scope is more limited than the scope and the power to affect of a higher developed human personality, but nevertheless there is an immense difference between him and the highest developed animal state of consciousness. The latter may have some awakening power of thinking, but self-consciousness, in the sense I have described, is completely lacking.
The human state of self-awareness lives within its self-created dimension of time. Thus the sense of the past, of the present, and of the future awakens in the human mind, but does not exist in the lower states of consciousness. As in many areas of development, there is a similarity between the lowest and the highest point of the curve, which in this case is the state of being. Inanimate matter, minerals, plants, and animals do not live within time. They exist in a timeless state of being, but they are without self-consciousness, without self-determination, without a self-propelling initiating. The human state of consciousness is in time. Therefore, it is not in the state of being, but in the state of becoming. But it is already fully in possession of self-awareness. On the highest rise of the curve we return to the timeless state of being, but with a high degree of consciousness.
(3) This is the highest state of the three. We might call it universal consciousness, or perhaps cosmic consciousness. It is beyond the human
state. In that state all is one. In other words, there is no separation. In that state of consciousness all is known. The innermost self is known, the Godself is known, the truth of being is known. In that state of consciousness you live in a state of being. But on this level of development the state of being surpasses self-awareness: it has reached universal awareness. To put
this differently, and possibly more accurately: the Self is recognized
as being in all that exists.
If you ponder and meditate about the deeper meaning of these three states, then you will see a great deal, and therefore you will understand much more about the greater life of which you form a part. The innocent state of being can exist in purity only. This purity can exist in him who is still blindly unaware, unconscious, and hence powerless. Or it can exist in
him who has regained the state of innocence through the laborious descent and the simultaneous ascent of self-purification. Then power can merge with the timeless state of the eternal now.
There is a self-protective lawfulness in the lack of awareness regarding the innate potency of consciousness as long as the soul is not purified. This power to create increases in exact proportion to your ability to be in truth both with yourself and with others. If you were aware of your power to create while there is evil intent in you, then you could wring havoc, harm, and destruction to a much stronger degree than what must exist now for the purpose of the self-activating principle in which the negative result becomes the medicine. However unjust an evil manifestation may appear to you now, it only appears that way because in your limited, time-bound state you are not in possession of the connections. If you were you aware of the connecting links, then you would see that all the negative manifestations -- no matter how cruel or how unjust they may seem -- are self-created medicine for the ultimate purpose of purification and of bliss. Evil cannot destroy -- only temporarily and within the framework of what I just mentioned. If a consciousness could expand without the simultaneous expansion of the self-purifying agents, then evil could destroy the Divine. So -- as a built-in protective mechanism -- negativity closes the perceptive organs. As a result, blindness, deafness, dumbness, and numbness set in. The only way to come out of this state of ignorance, of limitation, of powerlessness -- in other words, of being severed from the nucleus where there is all-connecting life -- is by the consistent attempt to know yourself where you are now. Not to know the universe or anything outside you. That comes later -- gratutiously, as it were. To concentrate on that would be pursuing a delusion. Knowing yourself is a slow, step by step process. It doesn't require of you an impossible feat. It only demands of you that which is possible: to deal with something that is right here, in front of your eyes, if only you choose to see it. You can use your best will and your good intent to find out what you ought to know about yourself at every step of the way. There is no fraction of time in your life where this is not possible. When you are in a disharmonious state, then you can be sure that you are not as aware as you could be. To become more aware requires intense groping and much searching. But that is part of your life task. You may often look in the wrong direction for the answer to
your present disharmony. Indeed, you often resist because you fear something much worse than actually exists. If only you had the courage and the determination to go all the way, then you could easily find this out.
The disharmonious state, the anxious state, the unhappy state, the depressed state, the state of unrest, the state of fear, the state of pain
-- negative, contracted pain -- is always a reflexion of something that you might know right now, but which you choose -- yes, literally, choose -- not
to know. That choice creates a potent negative energy field.
Your path helps you to deactivate these negative energy fields by changing
the consciousness that is contained in them. The first step is to transform the "I do not want to know" into an "I want to know," and then to follow through from there.
In the preliminary stages of this phase of evolutionary development, the blind spots about the self must be eliminated so that the self can find out the answers about itself. As long as you do not know what you choose, what you think, what you feel, what you need, and what you desire, then you cannot awaken into a higher state. Once you do know, then you have gained a certain amount of increased power to change what is destructive, and therefore undesirable.
As you go on in this way, then there will come a period in which you know yourself fairly well. But you are not as yet in the full awareness of others at all times. Thus you grope with the manifestation of others. In your blindness to another person's negativity and to its exact nature you may often lose yourself in confusion and in disturbance. Further honest work will lead you to a clear awareness of others. This will bring you peace and will show you the way to deal with the situation. Along the way, you will discover new aspects
-- often very positive ones -- about yourself. Often only a crisis with others can bring forth such previously ignored aspects.
The first phase in this regard is purely self-exploratory. The second phase -- often overlapping with the first -- expands into the knowledge of others. The third phase leads to universal knowledge beyond the human state. This is the organic development of the path. When I say "knowledge," remember that there are different ways
of interpreting this word. You may have knowledge on a purely mechanical level. Such knowledge is not insight, is not wisdom, is not true perception, it does not give you a sense of wonder and awe, nor does it fill you with peace and with joy. It is dry, cut-off knowledge. I am talking about a different kind
of knowledge. A kind of comprehension takes place that unites your fragmented understanding. It is a deeply felt knowledge that brings you peace, joy, awe, and excitement. A revelation fills you that removes all your dissension. You experience differently and you relate in a new way. But this comes only much later on the path. At first you will experience the beginnings of this kind
of knowledge only occasionally. It manifests much more when you are in
a helper position.
The more you continue to expand, the more this kind of knowledge
will fill you. And as that goes on, little by little cosmic knowledge occurs. It comes from something deep within you. It transcends the personal. It is timeless and it gives you an awareness of the ongoing,
ever-present life that you are and that all is. This fills you with indescribable joy, with peace, with security, and with gratitude for what exists. However, this awareness must be earned. In other
words, cosmic consciousness cannot be aimed at directly. It is the
final state of the expanded self-awareness that you cultivate on a path such
as this.
What I told you in this lecture is specifically designed to make you aware of the potency of your thoughts, of the potency of each thought that you decide to think, of the potency of each attitude that you decide to adopt. A thought will create either a new energy field or it will enforce, reaffirm,
and fasten an old one. This depends on whether the thought or the intent is new or is a repetition of the old. Both alternatives can apply either to real energy fields or to false energy fields, either to constructive energy fields or to destructive energy fields. When you are really conscious of this potency, then you become more responsible, and therefore more capable of creating. Then you approach the state in which you know that the God Consciousness is within all. The ego only decides which way to turn. Within your thinking mind right now is the potentiality to express God's Consciousness any way you choose. When you experience negatively, then make sure to find out what created it and how it was created.
You can discover the truth of the power of your consciousness by making
the commitment now to be in truth with yourself in your daily concerns, in your reactions that occur daily, in your experiences that leave you either puzzled, confused, or disturbed. When you feel a resistance, then admit this resistance, rather than glossing over it, as you may be tempted to do. As you go on with your inner work, you will become freer and therefore more joyous, because you will liberate yourself from the shackles that keep you confined to a state that is less than your birthright. Make a commitment to truth in every possible situation and about any conceivable incident.
With this message and with this suggestion I bless all of you with deep love, the love of the universe for all of you, my most beloved friends. Be in peace.
January 9, 1974
Copyright 1974 by Center for the Living Force, Inc.