Why does consciousness seem to be dependent on specific behaviours?

[Rigel]

Why do behaviours like meditation, psychedelics, yoga, breathwork, etc seem to increase consciousness whereas addiction, lying, eating unhealthy foods, etc seem to decrease consciousness?

It doesn’t make sense to me that consciousness would limit itself to specific behaviours but at the same time it is my experience that some behaviours work to increase consciousness while others do the opposite.

Why aren’t addicts awake & why do supposedly awake people act like very limited sage-like characters? Only exception to this I can think of is Alan Watts.

Could consciousness just awaken to itself in the most dysfunctional humans or even animals spontaneously?

[Sugarcoat]

I would say saying higher vs lower consciousness is not specific enough as to what it means. I think it’s more accurate to say people have different selves, that are configured differently and perhaps differently dense. So activities that affect this will affect the so called “consciousness”. So psychedelics is the most obvious example, it reduces/loosens the sense of self thus “increasing consciousness “ , breathwork and mediation etc can do the same, lessen the sense of self by being in a flow state and reducing thoughts which correlate with the self. Those activities that seemingly “decrease consciousness” let’s break them down one by one. With addiction it’s someone stuck in a compulsive pattern (which corresponds to a certain identity) so it’s the self that is dense and stuck in its configuration, so “low conscious”. Eating unhealthy foods can cloud the mind and make you sluggish so less clarity = less consciousness. Lying , depends on the reason for lying, but let’s say you lie about how good your life is because you’re insecure, the insecurity is a negative identity that is stuck so that’s “low conscious” . So it’s all about how the self is. Kinda, just my two cents…

[Breakingthewall]

Awareness doesn't increase or decrease; it closes or opens. The ego closes awareness because it focuses it. Addiction is a compulsive focus that closes; meditation opens focus. You can learn to fully open your focus. This means temporarily removing the self from the equation, because the self is an energetic focus that creates a defined reality.

[Norbert Somogyi]

From my perspective the body appears to be an interface of consciousness. A thriving body resonates well with consciousness and can allow it to expand within, while a polluted body clouds the mind and leaves little room for expansion. Judging by how some yogis for example, stay healthy and energetic well into the 100s.

This does not mean that a thriving body expands consciousness by itself (although I'm sure it can happen, but usually an intent and focus needs to be there), nor that people with severe addictions or health issues can not (Alan Watts is a good example, Eckhart Tolle is another - I'm sure there are other outliers - Hey Leo!). Genetics definitely play a big factor too.

[Salvijus]

Why does peace behave differently than restlessness? Why does joy behave differently than despair? Why does wisdom behave differently than foolishness? Kinda self explanatory if you ask me. 

Edited Friday at 05:02 AM by Salvijus

[PurpleTree]

It just "seems“ that way for the seperate self i think.

[LastThursday]

One aspect of consiousness is that it has a sequential nature. It moves its focus from one thing to the next. When it's focused on one particular thing, it excludes everything else.  To some degree we all focus on the same things repetitively, making our sphere of attention smaller. We are then less conscious because we miss the chance to notice everything else around us. Addiction and lying tug on our attention repeatedly to the detriment of other things, bad food can make our attention foggy and unclear.

We want to notice other things, because there's great intelligence there, which we should want to absorb and learn from - to increase our consciousness. Meditation and other activities are a way to pull our attention in a different way from normal, but also a way to train our attention so that we're actively in control of it, rather than passively.

Edited Thursday at 09:19 PM by LastThursday