So many things have been going on lately that I don’t know where to start, what to write, what to publish…
These days I’ve been thinking about what exactly words “consciousness” and “awareness” mean and how to use and expand them as widely as possible.
Our conscious mind processes 1 byte of information per second and our subconscious mind 10 billion bytes! Noticeable difference!
“How would you define awareness and what is the difference between consciousness and awareness?” I asked my shamanic friend Uchu today as we were having our ritual coffee. His typical look from behind the glasses and then explanation that made my day for its simplicity and clarity.
Those of you who read Castaneda are familiar with the following terms. In our back, between shoulder blades, we have an important energetic point: assemblage point. Usually it’s the size of a golf ball. The universe is comprised of countless energy threads, however we sense only those running through our assemblage point. These form our reality. If we manage to move the assemblage point just for parts of a millimeter, our reality changes. Imagine if we learn to expand the assemblage point! Shamans know how to do this.
Consciousness is information, light, intelligence, something abstract. If we go high enough, we all share it: everyone and everything as part of one and the same consciousness. Awareness is more practical. It is basically what we are aware of. Part of our consciousness (ourself) we are aware of – usually the percentage is very very low. So low that one doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
It has been scientifically measured how much visual input (picture frames) human brain is able to process in one second. The number is about 60. What is more, our brain (conscious mind) doesn’t sense anymore. Our subconsciousness is able to process incomparably (hundreds of thousands more) more information. For those who prefer computer language: our conscious mind processes 1 byte of information per second and our subconscious mind 10 billion bytes! Noticeable difference! Experiments proved that one person who has just drove 100 kilometers is able to remember all the little details (number of persons seen, number of trees by the road…) that he perceived while driving if he is put under hypnosis, while in his “normal” state he (his conscious mind) barely remembers anything.
How do we expand our awareness? One of the possibilities is this simple exercise: pick any object that you will put your attention to. For example: when I go out I will observe how many people in red coats I see in the street. Or pick a car brand or car color and put your attention on cars that drive by. Or: how many dogs will I see… It can be anything. Then just attentively observe the world around you and when you spot that certain object, mark it in your head: “Aha, there it is!” That is all! If you wish you can also count them.
What is the purpose of this exercise? Exercising, practicing our attention. It will expand range of consciously noted things around us and develop our capability of observing. As Uchu puts it: “It is the effect of a snowball rolling downhill.” Once you set it in motion, it magnifies going faster and faster. And here we are, changing our realities!
During our talk I discovered I had been doing that same thing spontaneously (another synchronicity)! In the last weeks a funny thing started repeating itself to me: birds of prey would fly around me in all sorts of unusual places, sometimes coming very close to my car while driving. I feel bonded with these birds.
As these encounters started escalating, I started playing a game. Before I left home I would say to the hawk: “Well, show yourself there and there if you really are bringing some kind of message!” Our conscious mind will always tell us we are imagining such things, that everything is merely a coincidence, that those birds just happen to be there, they are everywhere anyway…But the hawk was almost always where I told him to be! Once I even started screaming in the car as it was becoming so surreal. I wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t happening to me. Uchu told me to ask the hawk what message he brings. In the past such answers would irritate me, I would think: “Oh, yes, of course, obvious, I just ask the BIRD, sure, and it will write a memo in response!” But experience taught me that one way or another, if we ask, we get the answer!
The hawk sent me thoughts: “What my message is? Just that I am here, that I am working with you, that I am a part of you. The spirit of the hawk is at your service!” This sounds so shamanic! But I can put my counting of the hawks into more modern terms: among other things I started training my awareness by observing them. What more could one want? Hehehe.