Does Awareness/Consciousness exist prior to I Am? I mean does the Untouchable Source live in purity never ever being born (but at the same time being born) and is the I Am (a sense of self but not as a separate self come next and then the me or me as an object come after that? I am trying to figure out a question I have had for a while, regarding Aloneness (all one ness) versus a horrilbe scary sense of being the only one who is real and that I am alone in darkness. Some one once said to me that Aloneness = all one ness. But I am wondering if the True Self/ Counsciousness exists prior to any knowledge/description of itself. Even the knowledge of self, even the knowledge of existence even the knowledge the I AM? Does this mean that my/our true nature is unborn? Forever unknowable (but in a good way?) Any help would be lovely, thanks Patricia
Dear Patricia,
In this moment, you are reading my words. That which is aware of these words, whatever that is, is consciousness or awareness. It is also that which we call “I”, since you can legitimately make the claim “I am reading these words”. It is also that which we call “I am”, since the claim “I am, reading these words” is also legitimate. Therefore the words “awareness”, “consciousness”, “I” and “I am” refer to the same reality/experience. In order to avoid any confusion, we have to remember that in the process of naming a thing, the thing (the referent) is prior to the thought of the thing (the concept), which is itself prior to the word that names the thing (the name). In that sense, the reality/experience “Awareness-consciousness-I-I am” is prior to any of the **thoughts “**awareness“,”consciousness“,”I" or “I am”.
In ignorance, the reality “I”, the real “I” is forgotten, we are hypnotized by the attributes of the “I”, as in the sentence “I am reading these words”. The world is real, the words are real, the body and its reading are real, the “I” is out of sight or vaguely replaced by an impersonating objet such as a concept or a body sensation. In knowledge, the reality of the “I am” experience is fully recognized, as in the sentence “I am, reading these words”. Whether the words, the reading, the body and the world are real or not (as in a dream), the reality of the “I am” experience is irrefutable.
Just as the reality/experience “Awareness-consciousness-I-I am” is prior to any of the **thoughts “awareness“,”consciousness“,”I" or “I am”, it is also prior to any other perception (thought, sensation or external sense perception) that appears to it or in it. Therefore no perception (no phenomenal experience) can tell us anything about the reality/experience**”Awareness-consciousness-I-I am“. Two consequences follow from this:
Since the scope of science is currently limited to phenomenal experience that can be verified by multiple independent observers, science can tell us exactly nothing about the reality/experience “Awareness-consciousness-I-I am”.
Neither phenomenal experience, nor science can establish that consciousness is limited, personal, conditioned by time and/or space and therefore mortal. As a result, the widely spread belief among some scientists that “consciousness is an emergent property of the brain” is just that, the “credo” of an exotic form of religion devoid of any scientific foundation.
Going back to the last part of your question, your true nature is forever unknowable objectively, but forever knowable subjectively, through a direct mode of knowledge. In this apperception, it reveals itself as timeless, unborn and eternal Presence.
Love,
Francis
Index