Awareness Transforms

There are so many things that seem difficult to understand and none strikes me as more difficult than consciousness.

In the article by Jesus, reposted yesterday, “Jeshua: The Third Way,” (1) Jesus makes some startling, novel statements about consciousness. Consciousness or awareness is the substratum of life, but it may as well be unexplored territory. He says:

“You have to realize that consciousness is something very powerful. It is much more than a passive registering of an emotion – consciousness is an intense creative force. …

“Consciousness is not something static; things do not remain as they are. You will notice that if you do not nourish the energy of the emotion or of your judgment about it, they will gradually dissipate. In other words, your equilibrium becomes stronger; your basic feeling becomes more one of peace and joy. …

“Awareness transforms – it is the major instrument for change, yet at the same time, it wants to change nothing. Awareness says, ‘Yes – yes to what is!’ It is receptive and accepting of all that is there, and this changes everything, because it sets you free.”

To be aware is to be neutral, but awareness itself is anything but neutral.

On occasion, I’ve compared consciousness or awareness to a very powerful solvent, like a paint remover. (2) Paint something with awareness and the unwanted condition we’re observing will lift. I could as well have compared it to sunlight which causes moisture to evaporate. Or heat that causes ice to melt.

Of course, all conditions lift, wanted or unwanted. Nothing persists except the Self, except God. All else is impermanent and hence ultimately illusory.

But what Jesus points out in his article is that we can let go of our previous habits of identifying with, say, anger and projecting it outwards or suppressing our anger and “eating it” and try a third way: becoming aware of our anger and observing it.

If we do so, our anger lifts faster than by any other means and leaves no residue.

Expressing or suppressing leaves residue. Observing and accepting causes the lifting of the condition with no residue.

I said a few days ago that the chief illusions we have in the Third Dimension are that we’re separate, we won’t survive death, and resources are scarce. These three perspectives cause fear. Thwart us in our actions to overcome these three conditions or excite our fears about them and we become angry.

And when we become angry, we project that anger onto others or “swallow it” and damage ourselves. One way we leave a residue of shame and explosiveness; the other we leave a residue of dread and tension.

But using our consciousness or awareness as the powerful, creative force that it is to dissolve the unwanted condition is the way of the future. It harnesses the power of consciousness, what Eckhart called The Power of Now. Consciousness, presence, nowness all point to the same thing.

Awareness transforms. It doesn’t just change a situation. It doesn’t just move our piece, our Scotty Dog, around the board. It causes the underlying condition to lift completely. It’s one circumstance that we know almost nothing about as a collective and need to learn about if we’re to leave the ways of the Third Dimension behind.

Change causes the unwanted condition to persist but awareness causes the unwanted condition to transform, to disappear.

It may be time for us to become conscious of consciousness and to use it in the only way it works: to allow, to watch, and to understand.