by June Konopka
We have a personal mind that is possible because of the consciousness that underlies it. As we quiet the personal mind can open, with intention, to become Universal Mind supported by Universal Consciousness. Our consciousness lies embedded within Universal Consciousness.
The fact that we have a personal consciousness allows us to know ourselves as Universal Consciousness, and eventually as all of Its manifestations. No extraordinary efforts are needed. It is who we are.
I spoke the above to a student recently who was struggling to grasp who she was beyond her ordinary body/mind/personality, and was exasperated that she would ever be able to realize her True Nature. She listened attentively, then immediately dismissed my words by saying she understood the concepts, but they didn’t change anything inside her. As she immediately started to move on to some other aspect of her story and life problems, I stopped her, feeling that she hadn’t listen with her Whole Being. Her mind wanted to get on with the job of problem-solving and fixing that something inside her that kept her from obtaining her Realization.
I sensed she had many layers of herself available for listening, after decades of spiritual unfolding, yet she was somehow not remembering to utilize them. I asked her if she listened with all of herself, or just the surface analytical mind. She noticed that the latter was the case, and that this is a habit of hers. I asked her to slow down and listen again, with as much of herself present as was possible. With this kind of listening, she immediately began to sense her deeper truth. She subsequently set aside time regularly to quietly be present with herself while gently inquiring into her Reality. Without expectation, she learned to let the answer arise from her own Being.
It takes more than our everyday mind to inquire into the true nature of Reality. If the surface mind is all that is available for inquiry, not much new will be realized. Only the present moment holds the Truth of Reality, and the surface mind will favor the past stories and the future possibilities. The deepest part of our Being, at home in the present, is that part of us that can know Reality.
© June Konopka 2009