Today I will talk about Witness Consciousness.
Buddhists think that cravings lead to attachment. Attachments are when we think that some thing, experience, or person will bring us happiness. Attachments distract the mind from the happiness within, with what is an unconscious, self‐ conditioned response.
One way to get free of attachment is to cultivate the witness consciousness. This is to become a neutral observer of your own life. The witness‐place within you is just simple awareness, the part of you that is aware of everything — just noticing, watching, not judging, just being present, being here now.
The witness is your awareness of your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Witnessing is like waking up in the morning and then looking in the mirror and noticing yourself — not judging or criticizing, just neutrally observing the quality of being awake. That process of stepping back takes you out of being submerged in your experiences and thoughts and sensory input and into self‐awareness.
Along with that self‐awareness comes the subtle joy of just being here, alive, enjoying being present in this moment. Eventually, floating in that subjective awareness, the objects of awareness dissolve, and you will come into pure consciousness, and be filled with joy and compassion.
The witness is your centering device. It guides the work you do on yourself. Once you understand that there is a place in you that is not attached, you can extricate yourself from attachments. Pretty much everything we notice and are drawn to in the universe is a reflection of our attachments.
Jesus warned us,
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt . . . For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Matthew 6:19, 20
Desire creates your universe; that’s just the way it works. You can become free, just by letting go of desires, and being in the present moment, with no expectations, no agenda, no plan, just simply being.
So your first job is to work on yourself. The greatest thing you can do for another human being is to get your own house in order and find your true spiritual heart. Taking action to lessen the power of attachments in your life is a very big step towards this. Cultivating the witness consciousness within you is an important tool in your spiritual practice.
NOW, ON TO A VIDEO ON WITNESS CONSCIOUSNESS
This is by Swami Sarvapriyananda, a young Indian swami who is the head of the Ramana Krishna Center in New York. His talk is: Is it My Mind or The Witness Consciousness