Experiencing Qualities of Consciousness

A lesson in this lifetime is the continued realization of perceptions of truth.

Mostly, what has been perceived as true is anchored in one way of experiencing life. Life including self, others, world. The experience oscillates from one moment to the next, depending on how the moment is engaged.

The continued focus is right-sizing the purpose and value of the mind.

Experiences show that the chattering of the mind has a limited capacity to support a fuller expression of aliveness. Most simply, the mind has its purpose in navigating life. It’s an extraordinary tool. And, just as you wouldn’t use a hammer to clean windows, the tool has limitations.

Countless hours and days have been spent swimming in a sea of thoughts, that were perceived as what is real. Like a fish swimming in water with no idea, it was convincing that this non-stop narrative was the real me and facts of the world.

Through evolving observation, realizations pointing to the nature of life emerge. This, in and of itself, does not point to answers to what is a more objective and ultimate reality. Rather, it becomes experienced more clearly what reality is not.

For example, a thought about you as a reader, and who you are, does not have the inherent capacity to fully grasp the entirety of your being.

If you find yourself interested, or perhaps at a place where it feels essential to your health, work, spiritual path, or relationships, you may follow what is written below. See what you discover about how your life is being informed, guided, and decided.

Spend time observing the sea of thoughts on a given day.

Lower quality may look like thoughts of defeat, guilt-ridden, fear-driven worry, and perceptions of being stuck. Higher quality may look like thoughts of valuable insights, questions, warm thoughts of others, and solutions to changes of the moment. This is one lens through which to observe the qualities of consciousness expressing.

Yet, another lens through which to observe is the quality of emotions. It is noteworthy to acknowledge the interplay of thoughts and emotions. You’ve not likely experienced a moment of intense anger, sadness, or fear while having loving, generous, warm thoughts. Nor experienced moments of realization and insight, while immersed in the experience of shame.

For the next few days, spend a few minutes observing and engage the following questions:

1. From a context of quality — how would the quality of thoughts be rated at different times of day (IE: waking up, after lunch, before bed)?
2. From a context of truth — To what degree, at various times of the day are the thoughts in mind, believed as the one and only possible truth of the moment?
3. Continuing from a context of truth — choose 1–2 moments where only one perspective is being identified as real (IE: an assumption about a person’s behavior). Take a pause and write down 3–5 alternate perspectives that could be possibly true. What do you notice when there’s an expansion of the possibility of what could be true?

Enjoy.

Thank you for reading.

Be well,

Matthew