[MD] Consciousness

[kieffer odigaunt]

Hi DMB,

2008/12/19 david buchanan <dmbuchanan at hotmail.com>

>
> I like to imagine that the whole history of the universe IS the history of
> consciousness. I like to imagine that consciousness did not emerge at some
> point but rather that it was always present and that it has been a
> coconspirator since the big bang and has grown simultaneously with the
> physical structures.


This sounds like Ham's Essence; something not detectable, not a thing -
could it in fact be merely your own desparate invention borne of your
struggle to understand.


> Seen this way, the qualitative shift from one level to the next IS a shift
> in consciousness. The higher levels display an increased complexity and
> capacity for freedom but this is purchased at a price. When ego
> consciousness dominates or even excludes all other sorts of consciousness,
> as it usually does in our time a culture, a kind of dissociation or
> alienation occurs.


So there are two of them now - God and his nemesis ego consciousness.


> We forget our connection to nature, including our own inner nature.


Like Essence again.


> And so this is why is a bit of a problem that some MOQers keep banging on
> about the "individual".


The individual has its place because that is the vehicle, the state of the
art; there is no consciousness inside of it however; only a wonderful
projection that by convention we call self consciousness.


> Individuality is all about the ego consciousness, the subjective self. This
> has its place in conventional reality but its just an idea and is just one
> small aspect of the Big Self, the total self, which we can imagine as
> including the consciousness of every atom in your body, every instinct your
> biological ancestors ever had, every story and every myth ever told, every
> ritual and dance ever sung and all the memories of your particular clan.


Ego consciousness: self agrandisement at the neglect or expense of others -
probably, hopefully, not selectable, not evolutionary.


> The Big Self is consciousness in all its shapes, at all the levels, and you
> are that. Individualism, insofar as it dismisses the importance of this
> larger self, blocks the path to growth and wholeness, to enlightenment and
> keeps us feeling alienated and in competition with one another. Our culture
> is already overflowing with ego mania. The last thing we need is more of
> that.


Yes, it does all seem like the way you say DMB, but it does not hold water
really as you will forever be chasing your tail and people will inevitably
take one step further and fall in with religion and the all the baggage that
goes along with that.

-KO