How You Have Imagined The Universe

Hello, friends. Over 90 books, 94 books, innumerable articles and videos, I have shared with you over and over how you and the universe are awareness, that you are consciousness, which is infinite, unbounded, borderless, spaceless, timeless, and irreducible, and that it modifies itself into every perceived and conceived experience. As you know, I'm obsessed with that. And I feel that only a critical mass of awakened people can help upgrade the dreamscape that we call reality so that we can all enjoy a more peaceful, just, sustainable, healthier, and joyful world. I apologize a little bit for the lighting. I'm in a hotel in Manchester, UK. And I've tried everything to make this as clear as possible, but it's where we are. The projection is this. So I frequently talk to you in a stream of consciousness, which appears random and sometimes disorganized. And occasionally, I make notes to organize my thoughts. And help articulate my random stream of consciousness in a more coherent way. So today, I have organized my thinking a little bit. And I will share with you the exact way that consciousness conceives, governs, constructs, imagines, and becomes the universe, which includes you, you yourself. And that how, actually, fundamentally, you are the source of the universe, including that which you call your own body-mind. So first, let's try to redefine, once again, the nature of consciousness, and also the nature of the universe. So consciousness, in its most fundamental form, is the essence of all existence. It is the primordial ground from which all phenomena arise, including the universe, and all its observers, and observed objects, which are actually observed phenomena. This understanding is very central to some of the non-dual traditions of the world, including Advaita Vedanta, Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, which view consciousness as the ultimate reality underlying the apparent duality of subject and object, mind and matter. According to these non-dual traditions, and according to our own experience, myself included, consciousness is not a product of the brain or the result of neurological processes. Consciousness is the very fabric of reality. And it is the substratum upon which all experiences and phenomena are based. It is the unmanifested, undifferentiated source from which all manifest forms and experiences arise. And manifest forms are experiences. The process of manifestation is very interesting. According to these traditions, and according to the experience of those who have transcended thought and experienced the source of all experience, the process of manifestation happens as a series of stages through which consciousness conceives, constructs, and becomes the universe. This process can be summarized as follows. Number one, consciousness modifies itself into sensations. Consciousness in its pure, undifferentiated state begins to differentiate itself into various sensations, such as sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Consciousness experiences itself as sensations through its own inherent power of what we call self-reflection, experiencing these sensations as its own modifications or expressions. Consciousness then modifies sensations into perceptions and conceptions. The sensations are further refined and organized into both that which we perceive and conceive, allowing for the recognition and understanding of objects and experiences. Once again, all objects are experiences before we call them objects. Consciousness then conceives, governs, constructs, and imagines the universe. Through the power of its own imagination and creative potential, consciousness conceives, constructs, becomes the entire universe, including all observers and all modes of observation, as well as all phenomena that are observed. This understanding emphasizes the apparent duality of subject and object, mind and matter, as ultimately an illusion created by the limited perspective of the individual mind. In reality, there is only consciousness, which is both the observer and the observed, the subject and the object. The recognition of the primacy of consciousness and the illusory nature of duality has profound implications for our understanding of reality and our experience of life. It suggests that we are not separate from the universe or from other beings, but rather we are all expressions of the same underlying one consciousness. This understanding can lead to a deep sense of interconnectedness, inseparability, compassion, and inner peace, as we realize that our true nature is not limited to the individual ego, but is the vast, infinite, and eternal consciousness that is the source and substance of all, all existence. So I hope that is clearer than some of my stream of consciousness. Now, we can begin this journey through various ways that alter our normal, everyday experience of reality, which, as I have frequently said, is a lucid dream in a vivid now. So the most effective way to do this is through meditation. First of all, meditation reduces stress, anxiety, and depression. It improves focus and emotional regulation, and it improves overall well-being. This is the basis for beginning to go into the deeper journey of transcendence. Our everyday reality consists of dream cycles, daydreaming, deep sleep, and all those experiences that we have every day, right? But during dream, there's rapid eye movement. It's what is called the REM stage of sleep. We experience vivid dreams that represent what people call altered states of consciousness, distinct from waking reality. But even waking reality is a moving scene. It is ungraspable. It is also a lucid dream in the vivid now. Of course, in dreams, there are more bizarre scenarios, distortions of time and space, and what we might call lack of rational control. Then we also, during the day, we have daydreaming. When our minds drift away from the present moment and what we call the projected external reality, we enter a spontaneous altered state of consciousness known as mind-wandering or daydreaming. This involves becoming immersed in inner thoughts, fantasies, and imaginative experiences. But when we transcend through meditation and other contemplative techniques and have mindful awareness of our five senses, mindful awareness, experiencing sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell without commentary, without evaluation, mindful awareness of our body without commentary, without labels, definitions, evaluations, mindful awareness of mental space without evaluation, just looking at sensations, images, feelings, thoughts, mindful awareness of the web of relationship. And then finally, going to the source of all these experiences, we end up with the source of all that exists, including this body, this mind, all bodies, all minds, and the entire universe, and even multiverses. Whatever is conceivable and imaginable comes from this pure consciousness, which is neither conceivable nor imaginable, but self-organizing, self-differentiating, self-evolving, self-regulating. And the most fundamental state of equilibrium, infinite possibilities, infinite possibilities, because it is infinite. And this is the source of all experience. And this is who you are at source. This is what everything conceivable and imaginable is at source. So at source, you have conceived, constructed, governed, imagined, and become the universe. What you're experiencing right now is a very limited, narrow band of activity in that wholeness of being. And you call that my mind, my body, my relationships, my house, my car, my love, my mother, my father. OK, very limited perspective. Go to the source and know yourself as the universe. OK, I know this is repetitious, but I needed to say it. Thank you.