If consciousness is the sole reality of all that is, and is itself without form or limitation, how is it possible for a world of form to arise?
In the Gospel of St. Thomas, Jesus says, ‘If people ask you, “What sign of your Father is in you?” tell them, “It is a movement and a rest”.’ The natural condition of consciousness is to simply be at rest within itself, knowing its own being, but it is also natural for consciousness to move or vibrate within itself.
All vibration has a particular amplitude and frequency, and this vibration gives form to the otherwise formless field of pure consciousness. As eternal, infinite consciousness begins to vibrate within itself, thereby assuming a particular form, it ceases to know its own eternal and infinite being and instead appears to itself in finite form. It is similar to the way an empty, ‘unlimited’ screen appears as a finite image.
This vibrating appearance or finite form of consciousness is experience or mind. As such, we could define mind as the movement or activity of consciousness, rather than an entity in its own right. The only entity there is, if we can call it an entity, is consciousness itself. Mind is consciousness in motion; consciousness is mind at rest. All experience is a movement of mind, and mind – that is, all thinking, imagining, feeling, sensing and perceiving – is a vibration of consciousness, appearing in consciousness, known by consciousness and made of consciousness.
Consciousness is to mind or experience as a self-aware screen is to a movie. Just as the only substance present in the limited appearances of the movie is the ‘unlimited’ screen, so the only substance present in finite experience or mind is infinite consciousness. And just as the screen is never divided into a multiplicity and diversity of objects and characters in a movie, even though it appears as such from the perspective of one of the characters, so the only substance present in experience or mind is indivisible, infinite consciousness itself, although it seems to comprise a multiplicity and diversity of finite, separate objects and selves from the limited perspective of one of those selves.
The multiplicity and diversity of experience or mind is a modulation of the indivisible, undiversified field of pure consciousness, just as the multiplicity and diversity of the images in a movie are a modulation of the single, indivisible screen. And just as the only substance present in the activity or movement of a character in a movie is the screen, which itself neither acts nor moves, so the only substance present in the activity or movement of mind is consciousness, which likewise neither acts nor moves. Hence, consciousness moves without moving and acts without acting.
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If there is nothing in consciousness other than itself, how can it know something other than its own eternal, infinite being, such as an object, person or world?
The infinite can only know the infinite; the finite can only know the finite. One might then wonder, if infinite consciousness and the finite mind never know one another, how is it possible for experience to be known, and by whom, given that infinite consciousness is all that is truly present? In other words, what is the relationship between infinite consciousness and the finite mind? The question is resolved by understanding that infinite consciousness and the finite mind are not two separately existing entities; the latter is a temporary modulation of the former.
In order to know something finite, such as an object, person or world, infinite consciousness must cease knowing its own unlimited being as it is and assume the form of the finite mind. That is, to know an object, person or world that seems to be separate and distinct from itself, infinite consciousness has to divide itself in two and become a finite consciousness or mind, the separate subject of experience, from whose point of view it is able to know a separate object.
Mind is the activity in and as which the inherently unified field of consciousness seems to divide itself in two – a subject that knows and an object, other or world that is known – just as in a dream our own mind seems to divide itself in two, one part becoming the dreamed world and the other the dreamed subject, from whose perspective it subsequently knows the world, although this apparent division of itself never actually compromises its unity.
All experience, however ordinary or extraordinary, is an experience of the finite mind, although the only substance present in the finite mind is infinite consciousness. The finite mind is always changing in appearance, but its essential substance or reality always remains the same, just as the images in a movie are always changing but their reality, the screen, never changes. The original, essential and irreducible nature of mind is infinite consciousness itself. This could also be called original mind or unconditioned mind.
Thus, the mind is not separate from consciousness. In fact, there is no actual thing or entity called ‘mind’; there is only consciousness and its modulations. Consciousness can never know anything other than itself, because all there is in experience or mind is consciousness itself. In assuming the form of the finite mind, consciousness never actually ceases to be infinite consciousness or to know something other than itself, just as a screen that assumes the appearance of a landscape in a movie never ceases to be the screen.
It is only in the form of mind that consciousness can seem to know something other than its own unlimited, ever-present being, such as an object, other or world. As such, mind is the activity or agency through which and as which consciousness appears to itself as objective experience. To assume the form of mind, consciousness has to narrow the focus of its knowing, thereby seeming to limit itself. Once it has limited itself by assuming the activity of mind, the knowledge of its own eternal, infinite nature seems to be ignored, veiled or forgotten, and this forgetting allows the knowledge of objective experience – that is, manifestation – to come into apparent existence.
Consciousness dreams the world within itself and simultaneously loses itself in its own dream, seeming, as a result, to become a separate subject of experience within that dream, from whose perspective the dreamed world may be known. Thus, the subject–object relationship is the medium through which the infinite appears to itself as the finite. The subject and the object are two sides of the same overlooking, ignoring or forgetting of consciousness.
In other words, creation or manifestation requires a sacrifice; it comes at a price. Consciousness must sacrifice itself, must ignore the knowing of its own infinite being, in order to bring manifestation out of itself into apparent existence.
The world of objects is a reflection of the limitations inherent in the perceiving subject. However, if the apparently separate subject of experience explores its own nature by turning the knowing with which it normally knows objective experience upon itself, it is divested of its self-assumed limitations and stands revealed as infinite consciousness. When the apparent subject recognises or ‘remembers’ itself and thus loses its limitations, its corresponding object is accordingly divested of its limitations, and the single, indivisible identity of the subject and object is revealed.
This is what Jesus meant when he said, ‘I and my Father are one.’ That is, the essential reality of myself – the consciousness that shines in the mind as the knowledge ‘I am’ or the experience of being aware – and the ultimate reality of the world – existence itself – are a single, indivisible, infinite reality. When the perceiving subject is realised to be an imaginary limitation on the true and only reality of infinite consciousness, the world as an apparent multiplicity and diversity of objects, separate and distinct from the subject, is realised to be equally illusory, and shines as consciousness itself, God’s infinite being.
As William Blake said, ‘If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite.’* That is, if the mind through which the world is perceived is divested of its limitations, it will cease projecting those limitations onto the object, other or world that it knows or perceives, which will, as a result, stand revealed as infinite. In fact, the object, other or world will cease being experienced as an object, other or world, and will be experienced as the radiance of God’s infinite, self-aware being.
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To effect the appearance of the finite within the infinite, consciousness must contract or narrow the range of its focus. As such, the full spectrum of experience, from the deepest, so-called unconscious and subconscious layers of mind to the common states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, involves a progressive narrowing, limiting or forgetting of the essential nature of mind, pure consciousness.
How does this happen? From the ultimate point of view, it doesn’t. Nothing ever happens to consciousness, just as nothing happens to the screen when a movie begins. But let us make a concession to the mind and explore this on its terms. Imagine original mind or pure consciousness, wide open and completely unfocused. There is just its own empty, formless, dimensionless presence, knowing its own eternal, infinite being. In this open and undirected condition, there is no objective experience in the field of its perception, just as a completely unfocused camera will register no image.
However, as consciousness begins to vibrate within itself, its formless being begins to assume the appearance of limitations, and as a result consciousness seems to cease knowing its own infinite being and to know itself instead as limited form. This knowing of form requires a focusing of consciousness, a contraction of its wide-open, unfocused knowing into a limited, directed form of knowing. This limited, directed form of knowing is mind, experience or attention. Thus, it is the focusing or contracting of consciousness that brings form out of potential in infinite being and into finite existence.
To begin with, as consciousness focuses or contracts its knowing in the form of mind, experience or attention, only the most nebulous forms appear, with almost no shape, colour or size. But as consciousness progressively narrows and sharpens its focus, objects become correspondingly clearer. This progression of focus brings into existence a spectrum of experience, beginning with subliminal states of the so-called subconscious and unconscious and passing through the dream state into the waking state, in which experience is at its most clearly defined.
At no stage does a self actually come into existence or move through these states, although, being objective, states can only be viewed or known from the perspective of an apparent subject. This subject is not an entity in its own right. It is the agency through which consciousness manifests itself as, and simultaneously knows, objective experience.
Consciousness doesn’t pass through these states, just as a screen never passes through any of the experiences of a character in a movie. States unfold in consciousness, in the same way that the experiences of the character unfold on the screen. Consciousness is all that is present to know or experience anything, and is, at the same time, the essential nature or content of whatever is known or experienced. Thus, consciousness never enters a state but simply vibrates within itself, unfolding itself within itself. The different states are different frequencies and amplitudes of its own activity.
To say, ‘To begin with, as consciousness focuses its knowing in the form of mind’ is not strictly true because it suggests that the apparent focusing of consciousness happens at a moment in time. However, time only comes into apparent existence with the movement of mind, so the movement of mind cannot take place or start at a moment in time. Mind doesn’t begin or end, because when the movement of mind ceases the appearance of time ceases.
Mind is without beginning or end, but mind itself can never understand that, because the mind imposes its own limitations on everything it knows, thereby making what is, in fact, eternal appear as time. So, as a concession to the mind that is trying to understand its own activity and nature, it is legitimate to say provisionally, ‘To begin with, as consciousness focuses its knowing in the form of mind…’
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To know form or manifestation, consciousness must focus its knowing or attention in a particular direction. For a specific object – a thought, image, feeling, sensation or perception – to come into the field of experience, consciousness must contract within itself, focusing and thus limiting its knowing in the form of attention. As such, attention brings form into existence out of the formless field of infinite consciousness.
This directing of its attention necessarily involves the exclusion, ignoring or forgetting of everything that is outside its focal field, just as your focusing on these words at present necessarily excludes numerous other experiences, which are, as a result, scattered at the periphery of your field of experience. For instance, the tingling sensation at the tips of your fingers didn’t come into existence the moment you read these words. It was there all along, but eclipsed by your interest in these words.
The finite mind, although made only of infinite consciousness, is a narrow segment of the infinite field of pure consciousness, increasing in narrowness as it progressively condenses into the waking state. This does not imply that all that exists are the forms of the dreaming and waking states. The waking-state mind cannot legitimately make that claim, as its own knowledge is, by definition, limited to the appearances of the waking state.
It simply means that as forms become more clearly delineated as they emerge from the infinite field of unfocused consciousness and contract through a spectrum of states into the waking state, more and more of the field of consciousness is excluded and thus relegated to the peripheral and subliminal realms of experience.
In other words, awareness assumes the form of the finite mind by narrowing the focus or sphere of its knowing, progressively excluding the possibilities within its own infinite field as the objects of the waking-state world come increasingly into focus. In order to know itself, a reversal of this process is required, and this is effected through a relaxation of the focusing or directing of its attention. This process can be formalised in the practice of meditation or prayer, but it also happens momentarily when a thought or perception comes to an end – although this is not normally noticed due to its brevity – and as the mind relaxes when falling asleep.
As awareness relaxes the focus of its attention from the object, other or world, its faculty of knowing gradually sinks back into itself and, in doing so, is progressively relieved of the limitations it assumed in order to take the form of the finite mind. At some stage, if consciousness relaxes the focus of its attention all the way back to its essential, wide-open, objectless condition, it remains knowing only itself and knows no object, other or world, just as no image appears through the lens of a completely unfocused camera. There is just infinite consciousness knowing its own inherently peaceful, ever-present and unlimited being. This is experienced in deep sleep, the fulfilment of a desire, the timeless gap between two thoughts or perceptions, a sudden moment of heightened emotion, or a moment of love, beauty or understanding.
Consciousness brings manifestation into existence by freely limiting itself with its own creativity, thereby actualising a segment of its own infinite potential. In other words, consciousness has to fall asleep to its own infinite nature in order to assume the form of mind and, as such, manifest and simultaneously know itself as the world. Thus we could say that when the mind wakes, consciousness sleeps, and when the mind sleeps, consciousness wakes. Of course, consciousness never sleeps; to ‘fall asleep to’ in this context means to ignore its own infinite reality.
As it says in the Bhagavad Gita, ‘That which is day for the many is night for the one, and that which is night for the many is day for the one.’ When mind is awake or active, consciousness is asleep to its own nature, assuming the form of the finite mind in order to manifest a part of its infinite potential, that is, to bring the world into apparent existence. When consciousness wakes up to itself and recognises its own infinite being, the mind dissolves or ‘sleeps’, and as a result, consciousness folds the world up again within itself. There is consciousness knowing its own infinite being, or consciousness veiling itself with its own creativity and appearing as mind.
It is in this context that the world is said to be ‘the forgetting of the self’ or ‘a dream in God’s mind’. When God falls asleep, She dreams the world into existence.
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How can infinite consciousness fall asleep to itself, or overlook its own infinite nature, when there is nothing in infinite consciousness other than infinite consciousness with which it could be veiled or limited?
Just as in a night dream each of our minds simultaneously creates and identifies itself with a new body, from whose point of view the dreamed world is known, so in the waking state infinite consciousness imagines and identifies itself with our body, from whose perspective it experiences itself as the world. As such, mind is the activity through which and as which consciousness limits and thus localises itself, and the body is an image in the mind of this localisation process. The body is not an object made of matter; it is an activity made of mind – the activity through and as which consciousness limits and localises itself.
Consciousness veils, ignores or forgets its own infinite nature by freely assuming the limitations of the body. Consciousness falls asleep to its own nature and dreams that it gives birth to the world inside itself, and in doing so seems to become limited to and localised as a body in that world, from whose perspective it now seems to know that world. It is for this reason that the mind, whether in the dreaming or the waking state, always seems to know the world from the perspective of a body; it is an illusion that lasts even after the nature of mind has been recognised.
In other words, consciousness enters its own imagination as a separate subject of experience, from whose point of view it knows the world, but in doing so it loses the knowledge of its own eternity and seems, as a result, to become temporary and finite. This is referred to as the Fall in the Christian tradition and ignorance – the ignoring of reality – in the Vedantic tradition.
It is for this reason that in the Vedantic tradition, mind is said to be a mixture of the knowing that belongs to pure consciousness and the limitations that belong to the body. What is often not made clear in this tradition is that this apparent limitation of consciousness for the sake of manifestation is not a mistake that is imposed on consciousness by some malevolent or ignorant external force, but is freely assumed by consciousness itself so as to bring what lies in potential within itself into apparent manifestation. It is an act of love, not an act of ignorance. It is for this reason that William Blake said, ‘Eternity is in love with the productions of time.’*
Although consciousness never actually becomes a separate subject of experience, it seems to be such from the perspective of the finite mind. In other words, the ego – the apparently separate subject of experience that seems to be located in and as the body – is only such from its own illusory point of view. It is only as this apparent consciousness-in-the-body entity that consciousness can know something that seems to be other than itself, that is, an object, person or world.
In other words, the world can only be known in duality, in subject–object relationship. Consciousness has to divide itself in two – a subject that knows and an object that is known – in order to manifest creation. It has to sacrifice the unity of its own infinite, indivisible being and seem to become a separate self in the world, which now appears, as a result, to acquire its own independent existence. Thus, the inside self and the outside world are the inevitable duality that constitutes manifestation. They are two sides of the same coin: the apparent veiling of reality.
Being two apparently separate entities, the self and the world seem to have two differing realities. Mind seems to be the essence of the self on the inside and matter is considered, from the perspective of that mind, to be the essence of the world on the outside. Thus mind and matter coarise as consciousness falls asleep to its own infinite reality and begins to dream the self-in-the-world into existence. As such, neither mind nor matter has its own separately existing, independent reality; both are temporary, finite modulations of the single reality of infinite consciousness.
It is no coincidence that psychiatrists have never found a discrete entity called mind, and physicists have yet to find matter. These substances will never be found, for they do not exist in their own right. Their apparent existence is borrowed from infinite consciousness, God’s infinite being, the sole reality of all that is or seems to be.
* From The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
* From The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.