Why Consciousness May Be Confused With Spirit

             Last week, I wrote again about two approaches to nonduality. One is that consciousness is God. And the other is God is beyond consciousness. I pointed out it can be difficult to discern which approach a certain teacher takes because sometimes they have not sorted it out for themselves. They may confuse consciousness with the Presence of Spirit in consciousness. I will explain why here.

Consciousness represents duality in two ways. It seems to be a part of God sort of “carved out” for the idea of not-God to play out. So, it seems there are two realities, God and consciousness. And within itself, consciousness is split between the idea of not-God (ego) and the idea of God (Spirit), because God is All and cannot be wholly absent anywhere, not even in a false construction of reality.

Ego is an idea in consciousness that denies the Onlyness of God through the assertion that consciousness is reality, either the only reality or a reality beside God. In doing this, it sets itself up as the authority, or god, that determines reality. In consciousness, ego is continuously asserting its and consciousness’s reality, conflating them. Not only does it identify with consciousness through an expression of consciousness in the form of a person, but it projects its identification with consciousness onto consciousness, so it seems consciousness identifies with it. But this is not so. Consciousness is simply a neutral space that registers the presence of either ego or Spirit. It has no agency of its own with which to identify with anything.

Unlike ego, Spirit knows It is real, and does not have to prove it by constantly asserting Itself in consciousness. So, it allows consciousness to simply be the space it is. It coexists with consciousness in a quiet union which consciousness registers as a still, quiet peace and happy lightheartedness. And this is why, when ego is gone, and only Spirit is left in consciousness, some confuse consciousness with God.

For ego, consciousness without it is a terrible emptiness to be avoided, because the awareness of consciousness as a neutral space indicates ego is not the same as consciousness. But if you do get past ego’s interpretation of consciousness without it as emptiness and discover consciousness as a beautiful, still, quiet spaciousness sometimes more actively filled with Light and Love (Spirit), the last bastion of ego as the denier of God is to assert the unity of consciousness is God.

Some become aware of God before they become aware of consciousness as consciousness. Others become aware of consciousness and believe it is God before they become aware of God beyond consciousness. And still others become aware of consciousness and believe it is God and never become aware of God beyond consciousness.

I write these articles to clarify the distinction between the two approaches to nonduality, not to imply one is right and the other wrong. You do not have to “get it right” or you “won’t go to heaven.” Consciousness is not a journey or a path to a destination. It is an expression of a false idea and its undoing, not a means to an end. God is completely untouched by it. It was an idea that appeared and disappeared as it was simultaneously undone by God’s All-encompassing nature. Your seemingly individual consciousness (represented by a person) will be drawn to whichever teaching it is to express.

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If you have a question the answer to which you feel may be helpful to others, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in this newsletter/blog.

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