Realizations: Consciousness & Awareness
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
I’m going to try to make this post short and sweet.
Despite hearing these terms constantly being used interchangeably in the spiritual community, I have finally realized that consciousness and awareness are not the same at all.
I used to think they were the same and I blindly went along with everyone online who kept telling me they were when I first discovered nonduality.
After doing some deep reflection of my views, I found myself questioning the type of information that I’m constantly taking in from various sources.
As a member of a community dedicated to manifestation and spiritual awakening, I often found myself questioning if these two terms were actually the same. I had the same question playing in my mind repeatedly throughout the earlier stages of my spiritual journey. It just kept coming to me:
“Is there a difference between consciousness and awareness? Am I consuming the right information from the nondualism community?”
It would not let up. I kept receiving the same guidance over and over from my inner Godself for me to: “question what you are told.”
I stumbled deeper upon the teachings of a wise and knowledgable spiritual guru who taught the nature of nonduality. He perfectly explained the distinct difference between consciousness and awareness.
I want to share this important information with you because I want everyone to understand the fundamentals behind nonduality and manifestation.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
▪︎ What is the difference between consciousness and awareness?
Consciousness is an awake state of mind attached to your subjective sense of identification as an individual in the human experience, meanwhile awareness is the the pure, unconditioned nature of your true divine self as God.
Let me explain this further:
Consciousness is a changeful and partial attribute; a mind state of duality for subjective experiences due to your personal sense of self as an individual.
Your state of mind operates on a subjective perception with your identification as "an individual" attached to it. This identification stems from your own personal sense of self. This is your self-concept, who you view yourself to be.
For example, think: insecure victimhood mentality vs. the confident God state of mind which are two conpletely different states of consciousness.
One state of mind represents suffering, misery, self-doubt, and being a victim to "the circumstances of life", while the other represents a confident, blissful, spiritually awakened perception of one's divine power to create reality.
As you can see from my example: states of consciousness are able to change and adopt new identifications as you change your perception of yourself and your understanding of reality.
Consciousness is subjective and has an individual's sense of identification attached.
Your perception of yourself and who you believe yourself to be shapes your experiences in your world. It is entirely subjective.
This goes all the way back to the teaching of consciousness being the one and only reality.
Now: what is the one thing that remains the same as it operates through different and changing states of consciousness?: awareness.
No matter what state of consciousness you are operating and experiencing your world from, you are simply always aware throughout your experiences.
You are always aware of yourself and your experiences in this life. There is no other way around it. You can't ever escape from awareness.
Awareness remains regardless of your personal sense of perception/identity.
Awareness itself never changes: it is calm, silent, and remains the true divine nature of God itself.
Awareness is simply being aware and it is a purely objective experience of observing. Awareness is purely awareness. Being aware.
Awareness is what you truly are as the infinite, divine source of all creation. Awareness is the true self as God. Manifestation comes from your inner Godself as total, absolute awareness.
Awareness is the limitless creative source of power manifesting and shaping your entire reality through your dominant states of consciousness.
Awareness completely transcends beyond all states of consciousness and it simply remains the same: absolute, pure, unconditioned awareness.
No matter what, awareness always remains the same. Silent, unconditioned, and changeless.
Awareness is total, objective awareness.
Pure, unconditioned, silent awareness is the infinite and divine source of all creation.
Awareness just is. Awareness is awareness.
There can be no states of consciousness without the awareness of God seeing through the eyes of the observer, but there can be pure, total awareness without consciousness.
This absolute awareness is famously known as "the void." This is the home of your true self.
Awareness is the divine creator of all.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
Now that we have cleared up the bullshit, I will end this post with some insightful quotes by Nisargadatta Maharaj.
"Consciousness is an attribute while awareness is not; one can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness. God is the totality of consciousness, but awareness is beyond all-being as well as not-being.” - Nisargadatta Maharaj
"Awareness is primordial; it is the original state. Beginning-less, endless, uncaused, unsupported, without parts, Without change. Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state of duality. There can be no consciousness without awareness, but there can be awareness without consciousness, as in deep sleep. Awareness is absolute, consciousness is relative to its content; consciousness is always of something..." - Nisargadatta Maharaj
