A Search for Consciousness

“And here are trees and I know their gnarled surface, water and I feel its taste. These scents of grass and stars at night, certain evenings when the heart relaxes-how shall I negate this world whose power and strength I feel? Yet, all the knowledge on earth will give me nothing to assure me that this world is mine. You describe it to me and you teach me to classify it. You enumerate its laws and in my thirst for knowledge I admit that they are true. You take apart its mechanism and my hope increases. What need have I of so many efforts, the soft lives of these halls and the hand of evening on this troubled heart teach me much more?” -The myth of Sisyphus

In his quest for a greater understanding of his environment, man has endeavored to explore his inner experience. Although many elements actively influence the scope of an individual’s conscious experience, I believe that the misconception originates in the minds perception of phenomena. Given that the continuum of thought appears to be causally rooted, in actuality perception is manipulated by past events, allowing both it’s positive and negative traces to yield control over the mind dissolving its ability to clearly observe phenomena. I feel that in order to achieve an awareness of this process, attention must first be directed to the nature of the mind. However, when contemplating the mind it is important not to allow the motivation behind the thought to overshadow the purpose of its discovery.

We all experience moments when we feel out of phase with the rest of the world. On the surface, these experiences may appear to be expressions of objective phenomena, yet however rooted these thoughts seam to be they are only reflections of the individuals subjective misinterpretation of their own experience. To help manage these “discursive” thoughts, the most important element to remember is that our experiences are not static states. Our thoughts are affected by constantly evolving external stimuli. These occurrences are amplified by preconceived notions of the nature of subjective phenomena. This hypersensitivity of awareness creates an overly diluted perception of phenomena, a sort of colorblindness to external experience.

As intense moments of wonder shift to times of questioning and concern, we tend to mask our fear of losing our “knowledge” of reality, which provides us with the comfortable state of mind that we have worked so hard to obtain. Ironically, the times in which we could most use our deductive powers are precisely the times when our objectivity fails us. In these situations, it is important to remember that temporal experiences are constantly evolving. Being players within this temporal order our subjective experiences will also be subordinate to change. Once this is conceptually realized, the intensity and pressure of this particular shift of awareness will be relieved and can be viewed with as much curiosity and marvel as a virgin experience. In this way, these realized experiences may be used to your advantage, a catalyst towards a more refined consciousness, and a greater understanding of reality.

The excerpt from “The myth of Sisyphus” addresses this quest for consciousness. Through skillful means and directed awareness, our present experience can be very helpful. Although the mystery of mind may not be understood in principle, in general antidotes and remedies of contemplation and willpower can be applied to the causal and dynamic occurrences of reality. To this extent consciousness is a self fulfilling prophecy. It is up to us to create a theory of practice within the framework of reality, while at the same time bearing in mind that our objective is not absolute comprehension, but a starting point in the quest, rooted in the constant realization of profound unknowing.

Written by Tobin Butcher