[Erock]

With David Hawkins and such we always talk about the levels of consciousness, but I was reading I Am That, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj discusses going "beyond" consciousness. Here are the quotes I was able to find mentioning this. Is there a way to go beyond simply being conscious or not?

What do you guys think on this?
Erock



"Q: Still, the question ‘Who am I’ must be of some use.
M: It has no answer in consciousness and, therefore, helps to
go beyond consciousness.

M: Consciousness and unconsciousness do not apply here.
Existence is in consciousness, essence is independent of con-
sciousness.

Q: What is your objection to consciousness?
M: It is a burden. Body means burden. Sensations, desires,
thoughts — these are all burdens. All consciousness is of con-
flict.

M: Knowledge has its rising and setting. Consciousness comes
into being and goes out of being. It is a matter of daily occur-
rence and observation. We all know that sometimes we are
conscious and sometimes not. When we are not conscious, it
appears to us as a darkness or a blank. But a gnani is aware of
himself as neither conscious nor unconscious, but purely
aware, a witness to the three states of the mind and their con-
tents.

M: There is nothing wrong in the idea of a body, nor even in the
idea ‘I am the body’. But limiting oneself to one body only is a
mistake. In reality all existence, every form, is my own, within my
consciousness. I cannot tell what I am because words can des-
cribe only what I am not. I am, and because I am, all is. But I
am beyond consciousness and, therefore, in consciousness I
cannot say what I am. Yet, I am. The question ‘Who am I’ has no
answer. No experience can answer it, for the self is beyond ex-
perience."