The Physical effects of consciousness...

[demk]

How does the physical state of being consciousness feel for you?

When I am in what I call a conscious state of mind It feels as if I am physically different. Mentally I am more lucid and clear minded, Physically I am more relaxed. I feel peaceful and I always have a sense of the awareness that percieves, that stillness. When I am in this state my intentions seem to become real so much more easily. Positive little things will cross my mind and then appear in reality. Meditation and understanding the ego and how it drains your energy has been my biggest progress towards this state. After reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle was the first time I experienced it (I observed my egoic thoughts all day and eventually they went quiet). It is totally different to my "natural" state which consists of up-and-down energy, a cloudy mind and thoughts that are all over the place.

Luckily I am experiencing this more and more so I would love to know if anyone relates to this or has other experiences. What do you find makes you conscious?

[Paul C]

I have also begun to seriously observe my thoughts throughout the day, to be mindful of my ego and how it effects my actions. So from what you have said, I'm experiencing something very simliar.

What I've also found, after making meditation a constant habit, is that I appreciate the quite far more. Feel far more patient as well.

Going outside and just listening to nature is also becoming far more enjoyable and peaceful. Just 'Being' as they say, instead of always doing.

[november]

I feel multiplicitous. (Is that an established word? I do like to make up words. )

When I am my most aware, I feel the different parts of myself more clearly. I am The Observer, The Doer, The Thinker, The One Who Does Nothing...there are more. The more aware I am, the more separated I feel.

[Scott H Young]

I have a question: How do you know what the absence of consciousness feels like to compare it to feeling conscious?

[november]

Originally Posted by Scott H Young

I have a question: How do you know what the absence of consciousness feels like to compare it to feeling conscious?

The way "consciousness" is used here is misleading. The use in this thread is synonamous with conscientious.

[AndyMartin]

Originally Posted by Scott H Young

I have a question: How do you know what the absence of consciousness feels like to compare it to feeling conscious?

I see it as a question of degrees rather than presence vs. absence.

Like the spectrum of sleeping and waking states; it's not a binary condition. Even when you're asleep, some portion of your awareness is active, aware at least of the content of your dreams, if not of the fact that you are dreaming. But it's clearly a separate state than waking because even basic memory doesn't translate well in either direction.

But if you start to become lucid in your dream, you experience a combination of the active aspects of sleeping and waking states. To some degree, you perceive the mutability of your environment and you have the faculties to create the reality you choose. And you can tell how lucid you are by how well you perceive the nature of the dream and how well you can affect it.

I see it like that" You can go through your day letting the dream unfold before you, which is what most people do most of the time. But as you learn to do so, you bring a new awareness to your waking state to increasing degrees. And just like in your dreams, you sense it according to what faculties you have available to you. And the more aware you are of it without disengaging from it, the greater that awareness becomes.

In response to demk's original point, my experience leads me to believe that body, mind and consciousness interact on subtle levels, and raising our awareness has positive analog effects for the body and the ego.

[demk]

Originally Posted by AndyMartin

I see it like that" You can go through your day letting the dream unfold before you, which is what most people do most of the time. But as you learn to do so, you bring a new awareness to your waking state to increasing degrees. And just like in your dreams, you sense it according to what faculties you have available to you. And the more aware you are of it without disengaging from it, the greater that awareness becomes.

I also use the sleep/wakefulness metaphor to describe consciousness. The more conscious you are the more awake you are.

To answer to Scott's question about what not being conscious is like a good example is daydreaming. It is closer to sleep than full wakefulness and the part of you that is aware is barely there. When I am not in a conscious mood or state I daydream and my mind wanders, usually it repeats habitual thoughts over and over. It seems to me that the mind is actually limited by the fact that it is purely physical and exists only within the brain (as opposed to your consciousness which is connected to everything and therefore has access to much more knowledge/processing power). This means it has to rely on the habitual function of neural pathways and why I observe my usual daydreams and thoughts as being extremely formulaic and repetitive. Becoming more conscious means rising above these habits of the mind, training your awareness and taking control back from the unconscious habitual patterns of thought and behaviour conditioned by your environment.

[demk]

Originally Posted by Paul C

I have also begun to seriously observe my thoughts throughout the day, to be mindful of my ego and how it effects my actions. So from what you have said, I'm experiencing something very simliar.

What I've also found, after making meditation a constant habit, is that I appreciate the quite far more. Feel far more patient as well.

Going outside and just listening to nature is also becoming far more enjoyable and peaceful. Just 'Being' as they say, instead of always doing.

I agree.

I have been experiencing the joy of being more and more recently too. I define it as when the awareness becomes aware of itself. Somtimes I can be aware of a positive emotion and then become aware of myself being aware of the emotion which creates some sort of feedback loop which magnifies the initial emotion. Its hard to describe lol. A flow chart would get the point across better ha ha.

[demk]

Originally Posted by november

The way "consciousness" is used here is misleading. The use in this thread is synonamous with conscientious.

Being conscious definately makes you more conscientous. In one way they mean the same but where they come from is different. Being conscientious implies effort. Consciousness produces concientiousness effortlessly when you connect to the Source (or whatever you call it). In my experience shifts in consciounsess have appeared effortlessly along with the physical and mental benefits.