Pure Awareness

Like waking sleep, absorption, attention and awareness, pure awareness is a state of consciousness. Let me explain what is meant by consciousness before we go any further into pure awareness.

Consciousness is a state of mind in which you are identified with the body, the mind and have a sense that the outside world is separate from you. This is how you spend your entire life except in deep, non-dreaming sleep and when the mind is between thoughts. There is another time and that is when you are dead. But the rest of the time you are conscious - awake and in dreaming sleep. So, with that, let's proceed on with pure awareness.

The highest state of consciousness is beyond concepts and is often called transcendent consciousness or pure awareness. This is the state of beingness in which you are the world, not of the world or in the world. You are "I Am" - the whole world. Pure awareness can increase to a greater and greater degree of "I Anness" where the loosely connected bonds to the lower levels of consciousness become even more loosely connected. At the outer edges of pure awareness, connection to the higher Source replaces the connection to body and mind. At this point you experience being one with everything.

You can never completely separate yourself from consciousness unless you lose total attachment to your body and mind. This is beyond any state of consciousness and is often called the Absolute. As mentioned above, this happens when you are in deep, non-dreaming sleep, when you are having absolutely no thoughts as during mindful meditation and when you are dead. When there are no thoughts and no body there is no consciousness.

This may all sound a little confusing and even wierd but that's because pure awareness is difficult to describe to someone who has never experienced it. You may have experienced pure awareness at various time in your life and not realized it. It may have been when you gazed at a beautiful sunset in awe. For that brief, tender moment you were not your body and you were definitely not in your thinking mind, but you were immersed in the beauty and wonderment of the experience. At that moment you were one with all that is.

Continued tomorrow.