High Consciousness vs. Bodily And Mental Ailments

[Ima Freeman]

Hi everyone 

There is something about spiritual work that concerns me a lot. This may be just a rant about things I do not understand, but for me this are serious questions. 

Bodily and mental ailments are reducing ones awareness or richness of consciousness a lot. How should one get more conscious  and stay istay that way, when things like this happen:

• Bodily discomfort like back pain reduces clarity of perception
  What if someone has chronic pain or disfunctions that do not go away even with therapy?
   
• Phases of more severe ADHD and brain fog hamper awareness
  What if someone has persistent cognitive impairments?
   
• Mental exhaustion from intelectual work, like studying or programming etc. reduces consciousness
  How should someone work hard if needed and stay very conscious?
   
• Emotional states like: social anxiety or other phobias, frustration because of personal setbacks, confusion because of things overwhelm you
  How should one get more conscious when these emotions reduce ones awareness or even lead to disinterestet in spiritual work and life in general?
   
• Tiredness reduces consciousness. 
  How to be aware and doze off at the same moment? Sleep is like non-existence. Where is consciousness here?
   
• What if someone suffers a head trauma or a stroke? 
  How to have high consciousness then?

 

You get the idea. The body and mind are constantly under attack and compromised. You can do alot to reduce or heal bodily ailments. You can structure your life to have more stable emotions and get tired less frequent. 

But in the end consciousness seems like a fleeting and unstable thing for me. This hampers my motivation for spiritual work.

What are your perspectives on this? Do you have ailments that limit your spiritual work? Does consciousness seem to be fleeting for you? Or have you managed to transcend this vulnerabilities?
 

[Nyseto]

17 hours ago, Ima Freeman said:

Hi everyone 

There is something about spiritual work that concerns me a lot. This may be just a rant about things I do not understand, but for me this are serious questions. 

Bodily and mental ailments are reducing ones awareness or richness of consciousness a lot. How should one get more conscious  and stay istay that way, when things like this happen:

• Bodily discomfort like back pain reduces clarity of perception
  What if someone has chronic pain or disfunctions that do not go away even with therapy?
   
• Phases of more severe ADHD and brain fog hamper awareness
  What if someone has persistent cognitive impairments?
   
• Mental exhaustion from intelectual work, like studying or programming etc. reduces consciousness
  How should someone work hard if needed and stay very conscious?
   
• Emotional states like: social anxiety or other phobias, frustration because of personal setbacks, confusion because of things overwhelm you
  How should one get more conscious when these emotions reduce ones awareness or even lead to disinterestet in spiritual work and life in general?
   
• Tiredness reduces consciousness. 
  How to be aware and doze off at the same moment? Sleep is like non-existence. Where is consciousness here?
   
• What if someone suffers a head trauma or a stroke? 
  How to have high consciousness then?

 

You get the idea. The body and mind are constantly under attack and compromised. You can do alot to reduce or heal bodily ailments. You can structure your life to have more stable emotions and get tired less frequent. 

But in the end consciousness seems like a fleeting and unstable thing for me. This hampers my motivation for spiritual work.

What are your perspectives on this? Do you have ailments that limit your spiritual work? Does consciousness seem to be fleeting for you? Or have you managed to transcend this vulnerabilities?
 

Consciousness or awareness is not affected by its contents. Consciousness doesn't increase or decrease as it is infinite. What decreases or increases is your identification with thought. Sure, bodily and mental ailments can make it more challenging to be conscious but it can also make it easier by forcing you to surrender. It's nature is to be free. Consciousness is the one element of your experience that remains unchanging.

Edited January 4, 2021 by Nyseto

[Ima Freeman]

@Nyseto

So, this means when I get tired, everything gets retracted because my experience is less rich, and when I fall asleep, literally everything stops to exist?
If consciousness stays the same, this must be the case, or not?

[Mohammad]

Good questions. I believe when you have these problems, you should try to fix them first, and then focus your energy on consciousness work. Some of them are more challenging, like chronic pain, but psychological issues can be fixed, and you should first try to overcome them. Leo old episodes address some of these issues pretty well, and I believe he has mentioned several times that you have to first improve and fix more basic issues and then concentrate on your higher purposes.