Dissolving into pure consciousness is a fun topic to talk about because it is very different than what most people think it is. Dissolving into this space of “Is-ness” is not about going some place. Rather, it’s about knowing in the fullness of you that you’ve never left it, never been apart from it. That is the truth of consciousness. Consciousness is in all things including the unconscious ego.
This may seem paradoxical, but paradoxes are often much more true than anything else. Paradoxes allow us the freedom to step out of overly rigid ideas and thinking structures/rationales to embrace a much fuller universe, that (for as far as I can tell) has NEVER played by human rules or reasoning and rationale.
As a corollary, dissolving into consciousness isn’t a word-play game or a mental idea. You can’t simply say, “Oh, well, I’m already consciousness, cool. Great. I’m done.” This is one of those ways where the ego tries to “win” at spirituality, but in our hearts, we always know. We know if we’ve truly accepted and embraced this truth or if we’re playing a game with ourselves to try and feel good and accomplished or whatever it is the ego is trying to get. And there’s nothing here to get either. Becoming spiritually free isn’t about getting free; it’s about seeing that we’ve always been free.
After the Jailbreak
I’m writing this blog more for those of you past the initial fires of awakening, but don’t worry, there’s always plenty of nuggets of truth to go around for everyone. This table is never empty. This is the truth of the spiritual path. Especially when the proverbial plate of love or truth seems empty in your life, that’s the perfect time to ask why this is so. Why is there no feast here for me in this moment? What is standing in the way? What am I waiting for? These can be helpful questions to look at the unconscious criteria that stand in our ways to the love and awareness that we already are. Oftentimes, there’s a criteria around how our body must feel or how we emotionally should feel, but these ideas and desires for certain sensations or feelings are also in the way. Consciousness doesn’t disappear in these moments; it is still right there. There’s nothing to do but to accept each moment as it is and to let go into it more deeply.
For those who woke up and burned through attachments like a bonfire for several days, months, or even years, you may find that you are not “perfect” as the firestorm subsides. Some of you may find huge blindspots and levels of unconsciousness still hanging out. A part of you might be asking, “Did I do this wrong?”
Of course not.
You are simply rediscovering that you are a human being and that human being has A LOT of attachments.
Discovering Unconscious Associations and Feelings
The Deepening Connection with Unconsciousness and Blindspots
In the old days, the unconscious ego denied that it had unconscious attachments or blindspots. Or perhaps it played the victim role and pretended it was powerless and that it never would be able to know anything anyhow. Whatever that was about, much of it will be gone after actively embracing significant spiritual shifts. However, some old patterns, behaviors, and attachments like to hang on. Perhaps they are simply part of your life lesson to more gradually grow out of these things. The key difference is that you know they’re there, and so when they get ignited, it’s infinitely clearer what’s going on.
In that awareness, you can choose your actions more wisely than in the past. It still doesn’t mean that things will go easier for you in life now that you can see these elements of yourself. Life can do what it wants. However, taking conscious action is part of spiritual maturity. That means you continue to notice and address blindspots and unconscious programs still running inside you, and in turn, your awareness and surrender naturally allows them to dissolve, revealing more of Consciousness.
The Arising of Action
To the ego, it seems impossible that we can simply have action arise in a moment without lots of thinking or–from the other end of the spectrum–without it being mindless, instinctual, and unthought-out. So in this way, we discover that intuitive action is both mindful, but not lost in the mind. It is a way of thinking and acting that accords itself with the divine knowing that is within you and within all of us. In some situations, it is the only way to make a sane choice because there is simply no way to get enough information and analyze it all in any reasonable sort of way.
Consider going to a university these days. Do you have any idea just how many educational institutions there are? I saw one number online that stated there are over 4,000 just in the U.S. How in the world do you choose reasonably from all of that? Obviously, there are plenty of criteria that can be used, and doing so mindfully helps you to narrow things down to, I don’t know, say a good 50 schools. But let’s be serious; it’s a big decision, and there are countless other criteria that you really can’t intellectually know until you are there. As a result, choosing intuitively can truly be the best if not the only way to make the right decision for you.
But before we get too far afield with examples, it is enough to say that conscious action does arise from surrender. It’s not magical. It’s usually very practical.
Awakening to Action (Webinar Recording)
Sitting in the Quiet Spaces
Sitting in silent awareness helps to reveal the truth of consciousness. All the ideas, upset emotions, wounds, and so forth took space. They covered up your inner spaciousness, which is just the tip of the iceberg of consciousness. It’s like all the boxes and junk in your living room have been removed, and now you are feeling so much better. It’s still your living room, but you’ve got so much more room to stretch out and enjoy life.
In that way, I find that quietly meditating or simply sitting with my eyes open being present to a moment naturally reminds me of that spaciousness that’s always there within me and Is me and Is everything. It’s a simple practice with no need for timing it or achieving an experience. In fact, the need for any kind of experience is gone. Once again, any elements of an unconscious spiritual ego trying to get experiences and high state feelings will only get in the way of the truth. The truth is you don’t need any experience or feeling to be dissolved in consciousness. Whatever is going on, good, bad, or indifferent is part of consciousness.
The Remaining Preferences
I think some people believe that dissolving in pure consciousness means that they’ll be nothing but a smiling pile of goo or something, but as I said, all we’re doing is no longer denying what we are. In the unconscious space, that denial goes on at every level of us from mind to heart to body to subtle energy fields. When we no longer do that and reside in consciousness, we simply are. From that space, we may notice that we still have certain preferences. Preferences include humor, sleep, food, exercise, and so forth. These, of course, are much less rigid than before. The unconscious ego held onto preferences and external reference points to define itself like a drowning man in the middle of the ocean clings to any piece of driftwood. So, you will have preferences, and this isn’t a bad thing. This a human thing.
I think it is really important to emphasize that transcending base desires and unconsciousness simply allows us to be more human. We are more human in the sense that we really are living in the world and not in some made-up fantasy. In all honesty, the current made-up world fantasy doesn’t really jive with my preferences, and I much prefer living in the real world, which acknowledges that ideas don’t explain all of life, that we are all interconnected, that hurting another is hurting ourselves, and so forth. I know it may sound different for some of you to hear me describe the real world as such, but trust me, the more dissolved in consciousness you are, the more you will see life clearly and feel more grounded in this world than ever before. Yet, you will also have a flexibility that allows you to go from the strength of the roots of a mountain to the soft shifting of the winds of change.
No Where to Go
At some point, you may fully realize that there is no where to go. Afterwards, then you can go anywhere. This is part of being untethered from the unconscious ego. During the initial shifts, it may be very confusing to the old ego self to have no desire to go anywhere, but afterwards, there’s a greater ease in not needing to go anywhere. There’s also more ease with going anywhere. It’s all a play of consciousness, so it can all be enjoyed. There’s no need to force anything, and there’s no need to receive any kind of outcome. From this gentle, but strong place, you also will notice that you have become immensely powerful. People may take way more notice of what you say or do than ever before, and so as I’ve mentioned responsibility on this blog many times before, you will see why cultivating that deeper appreciation for responsibility has been so important.
However, your external world engagement changes, the reality that you ARE consciousness does not change. So whenever you are confused about what is arising in life, surrender. Come back to reality. Rest as consciousness and let the confusion and deeper attachments dissolve.
For more on this topic of dissolving into pure consciousness, you can check out this video:
Updated 9/27/2020
2 Comments
Thank you for this article. You have allowed me to see so much that has been hiding from me. I finished reading this and I am just laughing at myself because the ego managed to wrap itself in a spiritual cloak and convince me that I was done with inner work, all in a bid to preserve itself and i had not seen that until I read this. Thank you
You're welcome, KM. Thanks for your comment.