I’m More Conscious Than You

[Slade]

Now that I have your attention... haha

 

How do we judge our progress along this journey of becoming more conscious beings? I think there’s danger in learning spirituality and taking it as a belief rather than actually embodying it. I don’t want to trick myself into thinking I’m more “conscious” than another just because I study more spiritual theory. So how do we actually know how conscious we are and how much we’ve grown? What are the signposts that we can use to judge our progress? 

[Joseph Maynor]

That's what I just went through over the past couple of weeks.   The Truth is inside of you.

[Slade]

@Joseph Maynor Okay but isn’t it possible to trick ourselves into thinking, “oh I must be more conscious because...”. Pragmatically, how do we know? 

[Joseph Maynor]

19 minutes ago, Slade said:

@Joseph Maynor Okay but isn’t it possible to trick ourselves into thinking, “oh I must be more conscious because...”. Pragmatically, how do we know? 

It's a process of unlearning that you have to embark on.  You want to just watch and accept reality exactly as it is.  That's it.  But -- see -- here's the paradox, you can't really see why this needs to be this way until you've exhausted theory, until you've made your peace with it.  And the theory is still important, just not as important as we think it is in this work.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Truth]

@Slade

How much are you reactive to people and things?

how good is your ability to be calm in the storm?

How much cognitive dissonance do you have during the day? 

How good is your ability to self reflect? (ability to see that the only obstacle is yourself and going beyond that.)

How attached are you to things in your life? (people, emotions, your past, your future, the present moment.)

How much do you care to the point of neurosis? (judgements and criticism to others and yourself)

How much do you not care to the point of neurosis? (pertaining to meaningless/pointlessness, being lazy, no purpose, no discipline, quitting, comfort etc.)

These are some good questions to be asking yourself to help determine where your consciousness is.

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by Truth

[SOUL]

5 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

It's a process of unlearning that you have to embark on.  You want to just watch and accept reality exactly as it is.  That's it.

There is life after 'awakening' though.... once we are at peace with just being, observing the unfolding and in acceptance, we can interact with our life intentionally without attachment to it.  In this presence of being is the genuine expression of fulfillment and enjoyment, the monk can come out of the cave and walk their bliss in life.

Edited January 11, 2018 by SOUL

[pluto]

A good way to understand how conscious someone is, is by observing their ability to judge. The more judgemental one is the less conscious they are. That is how i see it which mostly comes from studying and practicing Buddhism.

[Privet]

You can measure you meditation skills:

• Concentration power (stability of attention + ability to keep it expanded or contracted + ability to move it intentionally)
• Sensory clarity (what part of the sensory experience is in your conscious perception, and what is not)
• Equinimity (can you shoot your leg and not suffer because of the pain?)

You can measure how many awakening experiences you have had.

You can measure how disidentified you have become from your mind and body.

You can measure how much of your unwanted behaviour and habits you have reduced.

You can measure how happy and fulfilled you are.

[cetus]

10 hours ago, Slade said:

How do we judge our progress along this journey of becoming more conscious beings?

@Slade There is no one to judge progress. There is no being to become more conscious. There is only consciousness. All else is just ripples appearing on consciousness as the illusion of separateness.

[Joseph Maynor]

3 hours ago, pluto said:

A good way to understand how conscious someone is, is by observing their ability to judge. The more judgemental one is the less conscious they are. That is how i see it which mostly comes from studying and practicing Buddhism.

If you do judge, you watch yourself judge.  Don't try to repress the Ego, just watch it.  Let all your regular shit happen, just watch it.  One of the mistakes you can make is to try not to judge -- that's a mistake!  You want to let things happen authentically and naturally.  Paradoxically, this is how you achieve Ego Transcendence.   Awareness alone is curative.  But don't try to repress things!  That's the Ego trying to control reality.  I think a lot of people don't yet "get" this.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Nahm]

@Slade equanimity. 

[Pointer]

I really like this topic, I’m going to make it my signpost for measuring how spiritually developed a person is.

[Faceless]

Lol

[Faceless]

The measurer is slave to measure 

[SOUL]

@Joseph Maynor @pluto As JoMay spoke to, judge not your self judging, just observe the ego make it's measure as someone else in this thread mentioned in their measure of this thread. If we judge our self judging we perpetuate judgment not cease it, we are telling our ego that 'judging' is bad/wrong in trying to stop it but we are also telling it judging judgment is good/right by judging it.

It's contradiction and sets up an environment for distress and turmoil within us so just observe the ego doing it and don't agree or endorse it with intent by judging judgment, it empowers this identity as conflicted as it may be. Eventually the ego will reflexively express in our mind this pattern we intend for it so it unifies with our awareness in judgment free observing instead.

It is this obviously simple once the illusion dogma veil is dropped from the eyes of our awareness.

@Slade As far as finding some litmus test for consciousness... what purpose does judging how 'conscious' we are serve our self? What itch does that scratch in your psyche? What desire does it quench in the ego? Try asking yourself those questions to see how conscious you really are, it will reveal much about your consciousness.

Edited January 11, 2018 by SOUL

[pluto]

Yes guys ultimately what i meant With Enlightenment all of those things explained come naturally.

[alyra]

21 hours ago, Slade said:

So how do we actually know how conscious we are and how much we’ve grown?

why does it matter to measure it? why does it matter who is greater or who is not? 

 

idk... 

[Joseph Maynor]

8 hours ago, Faceless said:

The measurer is slave to measure 

This is the trap that thinkers fall into.  Enlightenment is never gonna be a science.  

[Natasha]

@Slade Leo has a good vid Real Growth vs Fake Growth where he covers this topic in depth, check it out.

[Faceless]

@Joseph Maynor

I was actually referring to measure in the sense of comparison.