What came up for me during a contemplative meditation on consciousness
Life runs in cycles and patterns, it is a mix of pain and pleasure and is perceived differently by each human. Life is inherently uncertain and unpredictable, it is ever evolving and transitionary, everything changes and disintegrates over a period of time.
Life runs in cycles of arrival, passaging and departure. This phenomena can be witnessed in everyday experiences of life and death, of gain and loss, of day and night and in the changing of seasons and the growing up of plants, animals and humans and the passing and death of them.
There is one thing among all the transitions that never changes and that is my conscious awareness. It has always remained constant all the time. At times I lose this awareness due to my attachments and identification with various forms, roles and relationships I think I am. Deep down below all the forms and identities I can always find the stillness and in that stillness I become aware and in that awareness I am the presence that is constantly aware.
I am the consciousness in which I experience the play in various forms through the awareness of my self, body, mind and emotions. I perceive sensing through my body, feeling through my emotions, thinking through my mind and take actions based on my needs and values I hold. While my sensations, feelings, thoughts and values can change, what does not change is my being. My being is a presence that witnesses all that I am experiencing in the form.
I am none of the forms. They give me an experience and I can choose to be aware and take actions based on the values I hold.
I can be aware of my awareness that is experiencing the play of forms and know that it is the only constant thing similar to the screen on which a movie is projected.
I am the conscious awareness behind all forms and experiences. I always was and will always be consciousness. This is my truth that is undeniable and permanent.
All else is just a play and I am the one watching the play. I can choose to watch, take up roles that I want to experience or just be aware and enjoy the play. I hold this immense choice and freedom in my awareness.
Here I have to quote Rumi who put it out so beautifully.
The Truth is yourself, but not your mere bodily self.
Your real self is higher than ‘you’ and ‘me.’
This visible ‘you’ which you fancy to be yourself
Is limited in place, the real ‘you’ is not limited.
Why, O pearl, linger you trembling in your shell?
Esteem not yourself mere sugar-cane, but real sugar.
This outward ‘you’ is foreign to your real ‘you;’
Cling to your real self, quit this dual self.
Rumi (The Masnavi, 1258 – 1273)
Worries and anxiety dissolve in the awareness of my true nature and the acceptance of the cycles of life. There is immense peace and serenity in the unconditional acceptance and awareness of the transitionary cycle of life experiences and the awareness that who I am is pure consciousness.
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