Consciousness is the foundation upon which an individual's personality is built. It is the fifth and the deepest dimension of the human personality.
Dr. Sunil Maheshwari relates the anecdote of a pious King and enigmatic ways to explain how Consciousness provides meaning and context to everyday happenings.
The elements of perception are seen to continuously appear and disappear in what we refer to as our “experience.” However, when the mind comes to rest (as in deep sleep), it seems that there is no experience at all.
Yet, we remember deep sleep as a refreshing experience. How do we know the changes and variations in our experience? In order to detect change, an element of continuity must extend through all the variations that have taken place. For example, a common thread must run through the many individual beads in order to make a rosary. In the natural world, it is the motionless pivot that enables the wheel to spin. In the cinema hall, it is the stationary screen that makes film projection possible.
The continuity that enables an individual to discern the qualitative conditioning of the world is provided by consciousness, which is the fifth and final dimension of the human personality. Consciousness is the final ground of all our perceptions, and of reality itself. As objects come and go at the changing surface of our minds, they are illuminated by the consciousness that continues at the underlying background of experience. When the object comes into appearance, its properties are comprehended through a reflection back into consciousness. From underlying consciousness, understanding is then expressed as feelings, thoughts, and actions.
The singular principle of consciousness is the stable core of the human personality. It is the stationary screen upon which the cinematic images of the world are witnessed.
Consciousness is the light of knowledge that illuminates, as well as the knower who apprehends. It is the subtle, unseen “something” within each tiny seed, from which the spreading tree manifests.
Consciousness is to life what electricity is to the light bulb. The inherent nature of electricity holds all the possibilities. However, its expression is limited to the capacity of the bulb itself. So also, the entire human personality arises from consciousness itself. The expression of consciousness in our being is limited only by our own capacity for awareness.
Every human being is born with these five dimensions or coverings. These may be considered as individual repositories of capacity, aptitude, and potential. In other words, every person carries exclusive gifts and endowments as she makes her way into this world. In Sanskrit, these source potentials are referred to as “vasanas”. These vasanas crave for expression in the course of human life. When these intrinsic possibilities get channelized through appropriate kinds of external activity, they manifest as a person’s strengths. When an individual’s strengths are mutually aligned together and deployed in the service of a Higher Purpose, we arrive at the attainment of excellence in (and through) action.
4 окт 2024
