Sunday Greetings, May 1, 2016…
How we use words is always half the problem. This 4th essay from my book ‘A Better Idea of God’ continues my quest for redefinition and precision. Please pass it on to any friends who are in the exploration with you, and suggest they subscribe to the series. I’m dedicated to moving these precise ideas into circulation because clarity about our own nature seems essential now.
Be well, Jeff
God is a Very Useful Word
The reality of consciousness: the consciousness of reality
We must not say the word ‘God’ without first realizing that no such thing exists! But once we realize that, ‘God’ is a very useful word. More than a concept, it is a waypoint in awareness. It points us, backward or forward, to a place where the veils of ordinary perception are lifted, and the walls of consensual reality crumble. It points us to the vastness of consciousness itself, consciousness without object, residing in a mind that, at least for the time, has let go of positionality, self-reflection and separateness. It points us to the one, pure consciousness that animates us and every sentient being, yet is not the sole property of any.
This one consciousness, just because it is not a thing, is indestructible. Every living thing dies, but consciousness itself is immortal. Consciousness, just because it is not a thing, is out of time and place. Consciousness is the infinite no-where or now-here (as in Ram Dass’s book ‘Be Here Now’). Consciousness and only consciousness meets all of the standards we have set for God. Consciousness is immaterial (spirit). It is not separated (everywhere/nowhere). It is non-local and non-temporal (infinite), and as the essence of mind itself, it is all knowing.
Interestingly enough, this very description of consciousness, which also meets the standards we have set for God, is the same description of reality that has emerged in the discipline of quantum physics. So, we now we have a three-part equivalence.
Consciousness = Reality = God
Jeff Eisen, Ph.D. 