Consciousness is bliss, Unconsciousness is misery

Truly Consciousness is the factor which can transform our lives.

Eckhart Tolle, in his classic book, The Power of Now, guides us to experiencing the truth of a seemingly outrageous statement. He says that nobody has any problems at all in the Now, in the present moment. Now you may be having any number of problems and challenges in your life. Before you classify this statement as absurd and stop reading try this exercise. Ask yourself what problems you have in this present moment – only in this present moment, in the Now. Not 2 days from now, not 2 minutes from now, not even 2 seconds from now, but Here and Now. In this present moment, in the second that you can experience fully only if you let go of all thinking, all conceptualization, do you have any problems. Try this exercise and come back to read the rest of this article.

When I tried this exercise I found that to be in the Now I had to let go of all thoughts and concepts. To be really in the present moment I had to let go of both the mind and the ego - just be aware and conscious. And, outrageous as it may seem, there were really no problems at all in the Now, in the present moment. I am sure you must have had a similar experience.

And that is what is meant by Consciousness – being mindful, being present in the Here and Now. It means just experiencing the Now without any thoughts or concepts. In such moments we are free of the ego with all its miseries, we are not identified with the mind with all its problems. We are open to experiencing bliss.

This is consciousness; this is bliss. And what is misery? It is our being caught up in our cravings and aversions; the being identified with the mind and the ego; the not being available to the experience of the Now. At such moments – sadly the rule for almost all of us – we feel that we carry the weight of the world on our shoulders; we are completely burdened by our own problems.

We seek to escape from these problems not through becoming more conscious but by attempting to become even more unconscious. We may take refuge in alcohol or go watch a movie. For a few hours if we are caught up in the movie we forget our troubles and ourselves. But the moment we step out of the theatre it is back to square one. This is not true happiness; this is not the road to bliss.

The way out is to first of all accept responsibility for our actions and ourselves. Let us resolve to be mindful, be conscious, aware, a witnessing presence at all moments. It is not an easy task for we have to reverse the habits of a lifetime – perhaps even many lifetimes. But it can be done and the beauty of it is that the benefits are immediate. Every moment that we are mindful, we are free of our ego and ourselves and we will be calm and serene and perhaps even blissful. Virtue is truly its own reward.

The way to do this is simply to be a witnessing presence. Do not identify with your thoughts and feelings; do not identify with the mind. Simply observe the antics of the mind without reacting. If you take up the practice of meditation you are sure to make rapid progress. I am doing Vipassana meditation and I find that I can more easily step out of the mind with all its antics and be more open to experiencing the present moment.

Here are 2 books that I have found inspiring and useful. Both are available at Amazon. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is a modern spiritual classic. It will change the way you look at and approach life. The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh is another classic in the field of meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh describes many methods of being mindful that we can practice as we go about our day-to-day lives.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Stay tuned for more.

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