GENIUS FORUMS

When you hear the word "consciousness," what does it mean to you?

To me, it is everything that exists. Consciousness is what we are and what everything around us is made of. We project ourselves as the world and experience being in a world. Consciousness is the ultimate and absolute, and to realize it you need to drop yourself.

divine focus wrote:To me, it is everything that exists. Consciousness is what we are and what everything around us is made of. We project ourselves as the world and experience being in a world. Consciousness is the ultimate and absolute, and to realize it you need to drop yourself.

In other words, consciousness is another word you use for the thing-in-itself? That could get confusing in general conversation.

I try to stick with the common definitions of words unless there's some reason to change them, so consciousness is that elusive thing that we also refer to as the state of self-awareness.

divine focus wrote:To me, it is everything that exists. Consciousness is what we are and what everything around us is made of. We project ourselves as the world and experience being in a world. Consciousness is the ultimate and absolute, and to realize it you need to drop yourself.

At heart the ego is to the ego "everything that exists". It's ego which thinks the world is himself and there's nothing else. Ego is greedy like that! Ego projects itself as the world -- all revolving around itself. Its core function is t̶o̶ ̶d̶e̶n̶y̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶i̶s̶t̶,̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶i̶t̶s̶e̶l̶f̶ to hide that's it, at best, appears as aggregate function, as consciousness (which is not by definition). To establish such false ego paradise all critical thought and examination has to be let go and be replaced by something harmless to it. Cushy pillows for example! Deep down the doubts eat away and fuel the violence against truth.

divine focus wrote:When you hear the word "consciousness," what does it mean to you?

To me, it is everything that exists. Consciousness is what we are and what everything around us is made of. We project ourselves as the world and experience being in a world.

Really? All that from a sound? What does a sound signify?

Consciousness is the ultimate and absolute, and to realize it you need to drop yourself.

Drop?

[Ego's] core function is to deny it doesn't exist,[...]

Lol

Jesus fucking christ...

Pretty bad sentence indeed and I removed the convolution.

Diebert van Rhijn wrote:At heart the ego is to the ego "everything that exists". It's ego which thinks the world is himself and there's nothing else. Ego is greedy like that! Ego projects itself as the world -- all revolving around itself. Its core function is t̶o̶ ̶d̶e̶n̶y̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶i̶s̶t̶,̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶i̶t̶s̶e̶l̶f̶ to hide that's it, at best, appears as aggregate function, as consciousness (which is not by definition). To establish such false ego paradise all critical thought and examination has to be let go and be replaced by something harmless to it. Cushy pillows for example! Deep down the doubts eat away and fuel the violence against truth.

Ego really is just conscious will and judgment. Without it, it is just the subjective self (spirit) willing everything without judgment (right and wrong, good and bad).

All your attention (ideally) revolves around yourself; it is the natural way. You can't trust yourself--and therefore let go of control--if you are only paying attention to what is other than you.

Leyla Shen wrote:

divine focus wrote:When you hear the word "consciousness," what does it mean to you?

To me, it is everything that exists. Consciousness is what we are and what everything around us is made of. We project ourselves as the world and experience being in a world.

Really? All that from a sound? What does a sound signify?

"Hear", "see", same difference.

Consciousness is the ultimate and absolute, and to realize it you need to drop yourself.

Drop?

Drop the mental image of yourself. You see yourself as a person, but you're really all that is. You need to dis-identify from the definitions of self relating to society. "I am so and so's daughter or mother, for example.

RZoo wrote:

divine focus wrote:To me, it is everything that exists. Consciousness is what we are and what everything around us is made of. We project ourselves as the world and experience being in a world. Consciousness is the ultimate and absolute, and to realize it you need to drop yourself.

In other words, consciousness is another word you use for the thing-in-itself? That could get confusing in general conversation.

I try to stick with the common definitions of words unless there's some reason to change them, so consciousness is that elusive thing that we also refer to as the state of self-awareness.

Common definition? In what culture?

You could say the same thing about "thing in itself." I think "consciousness" is a better word because it identifies you as the absolute. It helps to rectify the materialistic view of the world as other and separate from you. This view is refuted by discoveries at the forefront of science, although they are not being allowed to become mainstream just yet.

Drop the mental image of yourself. You see yourself as a person, but you're really all that is. You need to dis-identify from the definitions of self relating to society. "I am so and so's daughter or mother, for example.

(This is exactly why I have nothing to do with clairvoyants and psychologists.)

Being so-and-so's daughter or mother, for example, is the last thing on my mind except in circumstances when such an identification is required on the part of others. You?

Moreover, it would be sensible (if you value such a thing) to make clear distinctions between the "you" doing the dropping and the "you" being dropped.

divine focus wrote:

RZoo wrote:

divine focus wrote:To me, it is everything that exists. Consciousness is what we are and what everything around us is made of. We project ourselves as the world and experience being in a world. Consciousness is the ultimate and absolute, and to realize it you need to drop yourself.

In other words, consciousness is another word you use for the thing-in-itself? That could get confusing in general conversation.

I try to stick with the common definitions of words unless there's some reason to change them, so consciousness is that elusive thing that we also refer to as the state of self-awareness.

Common definition? In what culture?

Any culture that uses the English language.

divine focus wrote:You could say the same thing about "thing in itself."

You can't say the same because "thing-in-itself" doesn't have any other meaning that you're trampling.

divine focus wrote:I think "consciousness" is a better word because it identifies you as the absolute.

How do you know that you're absolute? What's the alternative to being absolute? And how do you know you aren't that instead? (Oh damn, this again?)

The value of words is to unify and provide meaningful discussion on a common basis. We should be striving for mutual understanding and clarify, rather than redefining words willy-nilly as suits us; that only generates extra confusion on an already extremely vague and confusing subject matter.

Leyla Shen wrote:

Drop the mental image of yourself. You see yourself as a person, but you're really all that is. You need to dis-identify from the definitions of self relating to society. "I am so and so's daughter or mother, for example.

(This is exactly why I have nothing to do with clairvoyants and psychologists.)

Being so-and-so's daughter or mother, for example, is the last thing on my mind except in circumstances when such an identification is required on the part of others. You?

It's never on my mind. You are not the norm if that's the case for you. Identification with social roles limits you to personhood and creates separation where there need be none.

There's also the issue of the whole of society being in your head in the form of authorities of one kind or another. You may notice that you can't function in relation to others without some influence on your thinking of someone you took to be an authority at one point. This was the case for me many years ago.

RZoo wrote:

divine focus wrote:I think "consciousness" is a better word because it identifies you as the absolute.

How do you know that you're absolute? What's the alternative to being absolute? And how do you know you aren't that instead? (Oh damn, this again?)

The value of words is to unify and provide meaningful discussion on a common basis. We should be striving for mutual understanding and clarify, rather than redefining words willy-nilly as suits us; that only generates extra confusion on an already extremely vague and confusing subject matter.

Why not redefine words? The meaning of words don't stay the same for all of eternity. As we learn new things about ourselves and our world, it may make sense for a word to change its definition instead of just falling to the wayside in disuse.

The word consciousness is not at risk of falling to the wayside from disuse. Redefining words to enhance clarity and meaning is one thing, but redefining them for the opposite effect is another. I guess that sort of thing passes for "wisdom" and "genius" in some circles where it's desirable to be as vague and obscure as possible.

divine focus wrote:What is consciousness?

What isn't consciousness?

To be conscious is to be conscious of something, which is?

divine focus wrote:

Leyla Shen wrote:

Drop the mental image of yourself. You see yourself as a person, but you're really all that is. You need to dis-identify from the definitions of self relating to society. "I am so and so's daughter or mother, for example.

(This is exactly why I have nothing to do with clairvoyants and psychologists.)

Being so-and-so's daughter or mother, for example, is the last thing on my mind except in circumstances when such an identification is required on the part of others. You?

It's never on my mind. You are not the norm if that's the case for you. Identification with social roles limits you to personhood and creates separation where there need be none.

There's also the issue of the whole of society being in your head in the form of authorities of one kind or another. You may notice that you can't function in relation to others without some influence on your thinking of someone you took to be an authority at one point. This was the case for me many years ago.

So to solve the problem, you simply identify yourself as "the absolute".

Do you never call your mum "Mum" because it would be out of character with what you have identified yourself with?

movingalways wrote:To be conscious is to be conscious of something, which is?

Self conscious

Leyla Shen wrote:Moreover, it would be sensible (if you value such a thing) to make clear distinctions between the "you" doing the dropping and the "you" being dropped.

What if the you doing the dropping is chained to the you being dropped?

Leyla Shen wrote:

divine focus wrote:It's never on my mind. You are not the norm if that's the case for you. Identification with social roles limits you to personhood and creates separation where there need be none.

There's also the issue of the whole of society being in your head in the form of authorities of one kind or another. You may notice that you can't function in relation to others without some influence on your thinking of someone you took to be an authority at one point. This was the case for me many years ago.

So to solve the problem, you simply identify yourself as "the absolute".

Yes. The knowledge of myself as consciousness came about as a result of "inquiry" in line with traditional advaita vedanta, where you apply the knowledge of vedanta to your mind repeatedly (jnana yoga).

Do you never call your mum "Mum" because it would be out of character with what you have identified yourself with?

The social roles are still there, so yes, I do call my mom "mom." Good question. It's more like I'm aware of how others perceive me, much like how you said you operate, except there's no identification with the role. It's just an idea in the mind.

The social roles are still there, so yes, I do call my mom "mom." Good question. It's more like I'm aware of how others perceive me, much like how you said you operate, except there's no identification with the role. It's just an idea in the mind.

Just an idea in the mind? Am I to conclude from this that you take no part in society, and society has no part in you?

A Christian would likely conclude:

Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

So solly, me no unnerstan Chrischampeez.

How you say … ah, ah, … ossification.