When we say “I am aware of that” in everyday speech, we usually mean the awareness of experiencing a certain situation, feeling, thought, or action. Approximately within these frames, the definitions of contemporary psychology interpret consciousness. However, in ancient traditions, consciousness was understood much more complexly: simultaneously as the origin, process, and goal of the evolution of every living being. In this context, the power of consciousness is the degree of development achieved in the process of the evolution of living beings. Human consciousness consists of all the experiences that were made conscious during the evolution of mankind and its individual development, enabling them to live and act as humans, not as other beings. The same applies to other living beings. What distinguishes them is the level of development achieved, i.e. the level of consciousness.
Consciousness as the source
According to traditional concepts, consciousness is defined and determined by the symbolism of a center, a focal point from which all the elements of a whole arise, form, and remain together through its power. In this case, we are talking about a person as a whole. The center of this whole is also the center of consciousness that contains all the potentials of Being.
From the center of consciousness, all processes in a person come alive and are activated: from internal, unmanifested and invisible to external, manifested and visible. This center is the starting point of awakening of consciousness, the process of becoming aware. It transmits to humans the impulse of life that makes the universe alive and whole. The center of consciousness is the point of contact between humans and the universe.
In other words, human development is related to a process called awakening of consciousness: strengthening the processes that originate from the center of his consciousness and activate all spiritual, mental, and physical potentials.
Consciousness as the goal
The understanding that is common to modern and traditional studies of humans is that the development of consciousness is a long-lasting and still unfinished process.
In ancient traditions, humans are portrayed as beings who go through stages of development, linked to the existence in the manifested world. Until it succeeds in developing the characteristics of its higher nature, or until it succeeds in fully awakening its own consciousness.
Myths and ritual texts describe the journey of man through the difficulties and trials of everyday life, and ancient symbolic representations of man show what happens in his inner being.
The life of every mythical hero is subject to the aspiration for a righteous life that must manifest itself through righteous actions, through virtue and wisdom. That is why every hero goes through difficult situations in which victory is achieved through struggle and the right choice: good or evil, spirit or matter, animal or divine, heaven or earth within himself. Every victory over temptation signifies inner transformation, activation of potential, awakening of consciousness, awakening of true human nature. This is also the goal of his development.
Symbolic representations of consciousness often had the meaning of flame, as a central element within a specific symbolic composition that represented man. Therefore, representations completely awakened consciousness or a fully realized individual refers to a flame that encompasses their entire structure.
Mythologically, consciousness is defined as “self-possession,” and the act of possession is accomplished when a person succeeds in ruling over their entire being from their “center.” Like Theseus in Greek mythology, a person must defeat their own Minotaur – their lower nature – in the labyrinth of their inner self in order to reach the center of the labyrinth and become its master.
Nous – the spiritual dimension Psyche – the psychic dimension Soma – the physical dimension
Today’s Human
We can conclude that today’s human is in one of the stages of developing their own consciousness.
Although humans have the most developed consciousness among all living beings on Earth (they are the only ones who possess self-awareness), this does not signify the end of the developmental process. The fact is that we still do not utilize all of our potentials, and furthermore, it is evident that we have not yet mastered our animal nature.
How does our consciousness affect fully awakened consciousness?
We will remind ourselves of the personality scheme of a human being left by the ancient Greeks, which relates to his visible and invisible dimensions.
Traditionally, a human being was portrayed as a sphere within which there are three levels, or what constitutes his physical, mental, and spiritual level of action. The mental level has the task of establishing a connection between the physical and the spiritual.
In a fully realized human being (the image above), the vertical axis of the sphere represents a passable channel, an energy conductor that connects heaven and earth, the spiritual and the material world within a person, thus enabling smooth circulation of spiritual energy and its manifestation in the manifest world. At that point, the centers of all levels are located on the central axis, they are “centered,” and all elements gravitate or are under the influence of the center of the sphere. We could say that the “flame of the center” then encompasses the entire structure.
However, due to the instability of the psyche (caused by underdeveloped consciousness), the internal constitution Today’s person could be depicted as in the previous picture.
What is happening to the center of our consciousness?
Traditions speak of the center of consciousness being located in the lower levels of an unharmonized person’s structure and shifting depending on the type of impulses that reach it. Impulses coming from the lower nature of a person keep the center of consciousness in the lower levels of their personality, while impulses from a higher nature give it an upward direction.
The advice symbolically expressed in many ancient texts, regarding the complete development of consciousness and the harmonization of a person, speaks of the effort that each individual needs to make in order to elevate their center of consciousness towards the spiritual dimension. Then their actions become correct, meaning that their higher nature is manifested through the practice of virtues.
The fundamental problem of today’s person is that they are conditioned by impulses that come into the center of their consciousness from the material, rather than the spiritual world, and the center of their being is gradually being fragmented.
news “walks” like an elevator. To explain this, let’s use a simple example: imagine that a person is a building with several floors, and the center of consciousness is an elevator in that building. A resident of the building on the physical floor, for example, hunger, presses a button and calls the elevator to his floor. The elevator obediently arrives immediately, the doors open, and hunger enters the center of consciousness. Our awareness is completely occupied by this unpleasant resident and wants to get rid of it as soon as possible. The only way to do this is to satisfy it, and our behavior is focused on satisfying hunger. But then a call comes from the floor of emotions. Love is seeking the elevator and enters the center of consciousness, and our behavior is focused on satisfying love. We try to be close to the loved one, write poems, sigh… until a new call arrives from the floor of the mind. The electricity bill has just arrived in the elevator and our consciousness, and we calculate and think about how to pay it. And so it goes on until a new call arrives. This is how our consciousness walks. from floor to floor depending on the impulses coming from the external world. The building has more floors that are a reflection of man’s connection with the spiritual world, but they are “located” very high, often too high to invoke and attract our consciousness. When impulses from the spiritual world manage to break through to our elevator, noble feelings, idealism, deepest religious feelings, honesty, and everything that defines a Human with a capital “H” enter our consciousness and pave the way for further development of our consciousness.
In traditional concepts of consciousness development, the individual’s will plays a significant role. With it, one can elevate the level of their own consciousness and achieve the right direction of action. The problem of undeveloped consciousness lies precisely in the absence of will that would direct consciousness towards contents that promote the development of a human being. Using the example we mentioned earlier: we have no control over our elevator, external circumstances determine where it will stop, and our will does not find rational reasons. to reach and call him to multiple floors. Because why be generous when it’s much more profitable to be selfish from the perspective of our limited consciousness?
The main cause of such behavior of a person is their fickle and unstable psyche. While the physical and spiritual world are stable and naturally perform their function, the psyche is unstable and does not fulfill its role.
The ancient “science of the soul” connects consciousness with the concept of the “higher and lower self” or the higher and lower nature of a person. The center of consciousness located in the lower nature ensures the activity of only a small part of a person’s personality, while the center of consciousness elevated towards the higher nature encompasses all its dimensions and harmonizes them.
In view of this understanding of the processes occurring in a person, we will observe the processes in an unharmonized person, that is, a person today.
Stability of the physical world
During evolution, the processes of the physical body became conscious to such an extent that we don’t have to be aware, for example, of our heart beating, and And yet it beats, or breathes, and yet we breathe. These automated processes of the physical body constitute our lower subconscious. Occasionally, our body alerts us that we need to satisfy certain bodily needs, and at that moment, the center of our consciousness operates from the perspective of our lower level of personality or from the perspective of the so-called “lower self”.
However, the center of consciousness in the lower self resides much longer and more frequently than necessary to fulfill the natural needs of our body. Whenever the main motives of our actions are personal gain and benefit, we act from the position of consciousness in the lower self.
The lower self is egocentric and selfish, focused solely on satisfying its own desires and material gain. When consciousness is in the lower self, we assess things with a black-and-white logic, without nuances and deeper insight, so we conclude that someone is honest just because they talk about it, or that something is beautiful just because it is trendy. The lower self is limited and fickle because it changes its beliefs and behavior according to the currently prevailing opinion of the environment. We need to transcend the limitations of the lower self to truly develop as individuals. We are born to spend three-quarters of our lives centered on our lower selves. This means that we spend the majority of our lives focused on ourselves, investing our life energy into what is transient, changeable, and fleeting.
Stability of the spiritual world
The spiritual world is inherently stable and constitutes our higher subconscious. Our earthly passing problems, emotions, and attitudes have no influence on this world, but due to an unstable psyche, even spiritual impulses do not penetrate our physical existence. Occasionally and very rarely, however, they still break through the threshold of consciousness, caring for our spiritual existence and giving birth to those motives of our actions whose results are genuine philanthropy, truthfulness, and artistic creativity.
How to elevate and maintain the center of consciousness under the influence of our higher nature or our higher self?
When the center of consciousness is in our higher self, the motives that drive us to action are feelings of honor, duty, and responsibility towards someone or something outside of ourselves and our narrow, ego-centric perspective. The example of a mother raising her child with self-sacrifice and love is the best demonstration of this kind of action. In everyday life, we constantly find ourselves in seemingly trivial situations where we need to choose: to act from a higher or lower self. Giving up our seat on the tram to an elderly person even when we are tired means raising our consciousness to a higher self. Such action does not mean denying ourselves and our needs, but transcending our own egocentrism. Self-centeredness and being conditioned by our own desires and needs are appropriate for animals. Humans have gone a step further – they can overcome hunger and give food to someone hungrier than themselves, they can conquer fear and put their own lives in danger to save others, they can sacrifice their own comfort and security to live for the fulfillment of their own dream. We are the ones who choose and decide at every moment of our lives whether to surrender to the impulses of our lower self and transience, or use our own will to awaken our higher self and strive for enduring values. 3>Unstable psyche
Instead of being a connection and a merge of the physical and spiritual, reflecting spiritual impulses in the manifest world, the psyche breaks the contact and becomes a mirror of the material and transient world. Thus, our thoughts and emotions are mostly products of the environment in which we move and live, our depressions, neuroses, good and bad moods, attitudes and opinions are reflections of the circumstances of space and time, changeable, unstable and transitory.
Awakening of consciousness
What to do? We can reconcile with this state and surrender to the elemental force of the time we live in. We will easily find a thousand justifications for our own selfishness, complacency, and weakness because no one can convincingly lie to us as much as we can lie to ourselves. However, the emptiness of such living will be the worm that will always gnaw at our satisfaction, pushing the question to the forefront: does the meaning of my existence fulfill through this way of living?
The other option is to voluntarily raise the center of consciousness to a higher self, and to become aware of the duty and responsibility of Man. “This time is more challenging, but more suitable for humans.
It would be wrong to conclude that destroying the lower self is necessary for awakening consciousness. It takes care of our physical survival, and by destroying it, we would cause bodily death. The lower self needs to be controlled, not destroyed. It needs to be educated to fulfill the role nature intended for it and not take over someone else’s. This requires effort, constant striving to assess our own state and behavior, and surpassing personal limitations. It does not require mystical techniques superficially offered by various Western imitations of Eastern philosophy. What is needed is to know that we cannot awaken consciousness without a strong will to do what needs to be done, not just what we like. Life offers us the opportunity to act every day.