CHAPTER 7
WHAT IS
CONSCIOUSNESS?
It is being Aware, Blissful, Peaceful
Have you ever heard of the term 'Consciousness'? Of course, you know what it is to be conscious and awake, unconscious and asleep, as the subconscious continues to breathe. But what has consciousness got to do with Peace?
When do we experience Peace? It is only when the Mind is still that one can experience true Peace. The problem is that the Mind is never still. The Mind is a rascal. It takes us from thought to thought as it jumps from the present to the future in fear, and then to the past in regret. And it doesn't stop. It continues to ponder on many things and steals our Peace in the bargain. To experience Peace of Mind, we have to stop the Monkey from its constant rumble and mumble. We have to become conscious of its moving from thought to thought.
The moment we watch the Monkey Mind, as if by magic, it stops jumping. It becomes still, as we become conscious. This is consciousness. Some refer to it as 'Mindfulness'. In reality, it is awareness. It is about becoming an observer of the Mind. The moment we become an observer, we stop the Mind from creating chaos within and we experience Peace.
What is the problem? The Mind does not permit this consciousness. Just like a slippery fish, that slips out of our hand as we try to catch it, the Mind slips out of consciousness and jumps to another thought. And then it is over! It goes from thought to thought, then another thought, and another.
Pushpa was trying to get some Peace of Mind. She had just read about consciousness and enjoyed a few moments of Peace. Just then, her little Monkey Mind jumped to thoughts of her mother whose blood pressure had gone up. As she was thinking about this, the Mind jumped to her brother who wanted to visit from Australia. Then the Mind thought, there are no flights, how can he come? Immediately, the thought of the global pandemic created fear. She then brought her consciousness back to the present moment, which was peaceful. There was no issue, either with her, her mother or brother. It was her Monkey Mind that broke free from her consciousness to create worry.
Peace of Mind comes with a price to pay and it is not easy to remain tranquil. To constantly go and fetch the Mind from the thought it has jumped to in a matter of moments is very stressful. It will jump from London to New York. Then from Singapore to Sydney! It doesn't need a flight, nor a car to go to the supermarket. It can think of all the delicious food in the gourmet section and create a churn in our stomach, just by thinking. But when there is consciousness, and we become the observer, we can make the Monkey like a Monk. We can make it still! Initially, it will be very difficult to control the Mind from going from thought to thought. But as we become awake and aware, we become more conscious, more peaceful and blissful.
In fact, the key to our Peace is consciousness. It presses a stop button on the jumping Mind and watches it. When the Mind is a Monk, there are no thoughts. We experience Peace and tranquillity, till such time that the Mind releases the 'pause' button and gently takes us into thinking. When we start thinking, there is no consciousness and no Peace.
Stop for a moment and do nothing. Keep the body still. Stop all actions. Stop singing and talking. Stop eating and listening to music. And first of all, switch off the biggest enemy of Peace – your mobile phone! Observe your Mind. It may try to jump to what you have to do later on today. Bring it back to the present moment. As you do, it may slip back into something you achieved this morning. Stop it! Bring it back to the 'now'. Watch the Mind. Witness its Monkey behaviour and make it sit like a Monk. Become conscious of your Peace in the 'now'.
As you live in the present moment, you will experience the stillness of your consciousness, if you have tightly tied your Mind to sit quietly. Consciousness is about being aware. You become conscious of the silent Monk that your Mind has become. As your body is still, you observe the surroundings, the breeze, the trees, the leaves, and everything around you. True consciousness will virtually make the entire world stop for you as you will experience Peace. Although the world is moving and people are running, if you have made your Mind still, and are conscious as you observe it, you will be in a state of tranquillity.
Why is it so difficult to live with consciousness? If this simple exercise can give us that much-desired Peace and bliss that we seek, why can't we remain aware, peaceful, and blissful? Why can't we remain as the observer, the one who witnesses the Mind? Why is it that the Mind jumps to a thought, which then creates feelings and leads to action? Does the Mind stop at thinking about that amazing hot chocolate fudge? No! It leads us to want to eat it. We call to order it or we order it online and then our thought, which became a feeling, leads us to action, and soon, we are eating ice cream! It doesn't stop there. As we are creating the online order, we see a WhatsApp message from our childhood friend inviting us for a picnic. Wow! We look forward to that, but it is conflicting with a meeting that is already fixed on that day. It is time to call our secretary and juggle that meeting, but as that is happening, the payment for the ice-cream does not go through. The Mind returns to that because we truly yearn to eat it on this hot summer day. What happened to our Peace of Mind? We were enjoying calmness when the Mind started its usual thinking process.
The Mind is made into a Monkey more with the Ego. Together, the Mind and the Ego become the ME and start thinking, desiring, and craving. It is very natural for ME to take away our Peace. In fact, it is our Ego that drives the Mind by saying 'I want this and that.' Its constant thinking about my wife, my kids, my family, my business, my house, my car causes the Mind to jump again and again from thought to thought. We don't realize that it is the Ego that stops us from being in that state of consciousness. It gives reason to the Monkey Mind to jump from thought to thought, as it craves and desires. As long as we don't transcend this ME – the Mind and the Ego, we will never experience true Peace that comes from consciousness. There are so many ways that the ME loses its Peace of Mind and with it, our joy and bliss.
Robert realized that the enemy to his being awake and aware, to being conscious and at Peace was his mobile phone. It had different ring tones for different people, and it connected Robert to the world. Robert was so active on Facebook and Instagram that he had forgotten the meaning of Peace. He had actually become a prisoner of his mobile phone. Robert was living such a stressful life that he started to switch off his mobile. He no longer wanted to see his e-mail or WhatsApp, nor did he want to share anything on Instagram or post an update on Twitter and Facebook. He wanted Peace and the only way he could find it was to switch off from the world of social media. As he contemplated, he realized how all these apps made his Mind live like a Monkey. There was so much anxiety and stress, that he switched on some meditative music to be still. With the mobile phone off, he was cut off from the world and he enjoyed it. He walked into his garden and looked intently at a flower. Although it was there all along, he had never noticed its beauty. It hardly mattered to Robert what was happening in the world outside, because he was drinking the nectar of Peace in the stillness and silence of his Mind. For a moment, the world had stopped for Robert and he was enjoying the consciousness of who he was.
Does it need an anxiety attack for us to choose this stillness, this being aware and conscious? Does it need the Mind to reach that state of agitation that forces us to switch it off? In such cases, the moment we unwind, the Mind will take us back on its journey through the forest of thoughts and it will make us get lost in the woods. We need to make it a habit to be peaceful and blissful in the present moment. This is consciousness.
Consciousness is about being in the 'now'. It is about living life moment by moment. It is not wandering from thought to thought. Consciousness is about awakening the intellect and making it the