What is Consciousness?

When you think of consciousness, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Most will say, well it means you are awake and alert vs. being unconscious, like when you're asleep. At this level, we most likely all agree on this simple definition.

However, when we dig a little deeper and look at the definition of consciousness as shared on our About page which is "Perceiving with a degree of controlled thought, observation or sensing, acting with critical awareness, being genuinely interested with strong feelings" we start to uncover are richer meaning of the concept of consciousness.

In my view of consciousness, there is no limit to the level of consciousness that we can achieve. What does that mean? How can consciousness be limitless?

Every level of awareness that we attain opens us up to more comprehension of the world around us and the worlds beyond. On the journey to define consciousness, we can only make our stand from our current level of awareness so that means we may all have slightly different versions of a definition of what consciousness is.

Can we say that consciousness is our current and expanding level of awareness, perception of reality, inner-knowing of what is real? Is it the sum of our thoughts, feelings, emotions, knowings accumulated in this lifetime? Is it all that we know to be true at any given moment including all our perceptions of what is unknown?

Can we even make an assumption as to a definition of something that is limitless? If so, it may be best to leave it a bit open ended so as to be expandable as our consciousness grows.

For example, let's take humans awareness of the shape of the earth. Prior to the 6th century BC, the general consensus was that the earth was flat based on their observations and ability to see and travel. Then the Greek philosopher Pythagoras proposed the theory of a spherical earth based on observing the moon during a lunar eclipse. Later Eratosthenes, the chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, made his own round earth assumption based on detailed measurements of the sun in different locations at the summer solstice. And then we have Galileo in the early 1600s who made observations of the cosmos using his new telescope and determined the earth to be more spherical than flat. And the rest of the story is mostly clear and we have a general consensus that the earth is spherical in nature. Or is it?

More than 400 years post Galileo, we have a growing contingent of truth seekers working diligently to convince others that the world is actually flat. How can this be and what does this have to do with consciousness? If consciousness is our awareness and perception of reality, then look at how much variability we have had on earth over the simple question as to it's shape. Based on new information, people's perceptions of things change. We went from a flat earth a few thousand years ago to a spherical earth a few hundred years ago and now many are questioning this fact and proclaiming it to be flat yet again.

So what is the point? What does it matter to define consciousness? For me, it's all about how do you want to live. Do you want to live awake and aware in this reality field we call life or do you want to be sleep walking your way along as if in a dream? We've all heard the response before when asked, "How are you?" and someone says, "Just living the dream!" Wow, what a statement. They are actually admitting that they are asleep and simply living a dream!

So to truly wake up and expand our perception of reality, we have to make a choice to do so. The levels of our awareness of reality can only expand based on our choices. Our thoughts, feelings and actions will determine our level of consciousness in life. One thing I know for certain, the more I expand my consciousness, my awareness and knowing of all that is, the more meaningful and abundant life becomes and I get one step closer to unravelling the secrets of the multiverse and our abilities to experience more of it's multidimensional qualities.

If you are on the journey to expand your consciousness, you may want to become a site member by clicking on the Log In link in the menu and experience more of what we have to offer here. You may also want to explore our approach to meditation. You can also download our free eBook on Meditation: An Essential Guide for Conscious Coherent Living here.