What is the difference between our Minds and Conscioiusness?

"The Mind is the great Slayer of the Real.

Let the Disciple slay the Slayer." - The Voice of the Silence

Certainly, the Consciousness and the mind are not synonymous:

Consciousness

"Wherever there is life, there exists the Consciousness. Consciousness is inherent to life as humidity is inherent to water." - Fundamental Notions of Endocrinology and Criminology


From various dictionaries: 1. The state of being conscious; knowledge of one’s own existence, condition, sensations, mental operations, acts, etc. 2. Immediate knowledge or perception of the presence of any object, state, or sensation. 3. An alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation.


In Universal Gnosticism, the range of potential consciousness is allegorized in the Ladder of Jacob, upon which the angels ascend and descend. Thus there are higher and lower levels of consciousness, from the level of demons at the bottom, to highly realized angels in the heights.


"It is vital to understand and develop the conviction that consciousness has the potential to increase to an infinite degree." - the 14th Dalai Lama. See also: Level of Being.

"Light and consciousness are two phenomena of the same thing; to a lesser degree of consciousness, corresponds a lesser degree of light; to a greater degree of consciousness, a greater degree of light." - The Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology


"Wherever there is light, there is consciousness." - The Great Rebellion

Mind

(Sanskrit, Manas) Superior Manas (Tiphereth) and Inferior Manas (Netzach).

"In the name of truth we must state that in synthesis we have three minds.

The first one we can and must call the Sensual Mind.

The second we shall christen with the name of Intermediate Mind.

The third we shall call the Inner Mind." - The Great Rebellion

It is taught that the development of the Kundalini allows more for the Mind to be a vehicle for the Consciousness and Inner-Mind, as opposed to the egos and sensual mind:

Kundalini

"Kundalini is a compound word: Kunda reminds us of the abominable “Kundabuffer organ,” and lini is an Atlantean term meaning termination. Kundalini means “the termination of the abominable Kundabuffer organ.” In this case, it is imperative not to confuse Kundalini with Kundabuffer." - The Great Rebellion

These two forces, one positive and ascending, and one negative and descending, are symbolized in the Bible in the Book of Numbers (the story of the Serpent of Brass). The Kundalini is “The power of life.”- from the Theosophical Glossary. The Sexual Fire that is at the base of all life.

"The ascent of the Kundalini along the spinal cord is achieved very slowly in accordance with the merits of the heart. The fires of the heart control the miraculous development of the Sacred Serpent. Devi Kundalini is not something mechanical as many suppose; the Igneous Serpent is only awakened with genuine Love between husband and wife, and it will never rise up along the medullar canal of adulterers."- The Mystery of the Golden Blossom

"The decisive factor in the progress, development and evolution of the Kundalini is ethics." - The Revolution of Beelzebub

"Until not too long ago, the majority of spiritualists believed that on awakening the Kundalini, the latter instantaneously rose to the head and the initiate was automatically united with his Innermost or Internal God, instantly, and converted into Mahatma. How comfortable! How comfortably all these theosophists, Rosicrucians and spiritualists, etc., imagined High Initiation." - The Zodiacal Course


There are seven bodies of the Being. "Each body has its “cerebrospinal” nervous system, its medulla and Kundalini. Each body is a complete organism. There are, therefore, seven bodies, seven medullae and seven Kundalinis. The ascension of each of the seven Kundalinis is slow and difficult. Each canyon or vertebra represents determined occult powers and this is why the conquest of each canyon undergoes terrible tests." - The Zodiacal Course

This is why Vishnu and the Buddha are sometimes seen depicted with Seven Serpents Raised above.

Thanks for the informaton on Kundalini. Seems that within every philosophy and religion are seeds of the truth available for the fertile mind to embrace. We are creatures of habit and l am no different. I look at knowledge and embrace that which resonates with my existing paridigms. I know that limits my openmindedness, but it is all I know. I can understand why a school of thinking arose from a discussion like this, and presents itself in a culturally valid form like Kundalini.

It did make me rethink my own particular paradigm, which I would have to put into my own words from my own perspective. Again, there is an inherent problem with linguistics and my command of language in communicating such an esoteric concept.

I see two main things here, which spawn a third. On one end of the spectrum of determinism we have the physical Brain. Our personal quantum computer locked inside our skulls. It is very quantifiable, physical and real to us. At the other end of the spectrum of indeterminism we have the "Yang" to the Brains "Yin", we have consciousness. It may indeed have many levels too.

Then there is a byproduct created by the interference patterned found in the duality of Brain and Consciousness meeting. This third thing I would call the Mind. When the structured world of the Brain meets the chaotic world of the Consciousness, a third pattern emerges from the collision, and thus it could be said the the Mind is both and epiphenominon of the Brain and of Consciousness.

An example might be looking at the Brain as the quantum CPU of a complex sensoral biological system. Powered and ready to go, but it needs an operating system which can drive the biological system to function in the physical reality it inhabits. This could be said to be the Mind. Then the functioning system needs a user to give it purpose and direction, to create output and data, that could be said to be the Consciousness.

The computer cannot interact with the User without first going through the OS, and the reverse is also true.

What makes me ponder is the idea of transference. For example if we carry the computer model forward, we can see that if my computer die's, I can transfer all the knowledge stored on the memory device or backups, onto another similar computer, by loading the same OS onto the new device. The only thing that has changed is the physical device. The User is the same. In this reality it is very easy for Users to jump from one Computer to another, across different OS's and platforms, or even remotely. In the reality of the human system, we have not yet found a way to make this kind of transition to say a perfect blank cloned body/brain/mind. Well at least that I know of.

to me they are two ways of saying the same thing - your 'single speck of consciousness' is conduit to your larger mind (everything is dynamic btw). larger mind isn't to be confused with what the overwhelmingly vast majority of people wear in their colon tho, keep that in mind. that's just the little self, not the vastly larger self 'that contains all selves'.

this single speck, your conduit to the 'powers of the universe' - your mind - is also very mobile and puts all the cartoon 'superpowers' to shame.

try to imagine looking at yourself from some arbitrary spot on the wall - concentrate and try it. it is your 'single speck of consciousness' (aka mind) that actually moved to this same arbitrary spot. but keep in mind you're looking at yourself from conceptual realms, so it may not appear exactly as it is in the physical. the conceptual picture does get clearer over time tho, with practice and exercise.

and also keep in mind the 'brain' is only physical, and just an anchor and amplifier.

also, the ability to move this 'single speck' throughout any part of your body is prerequisite to any self-healing techniques - and you have the ability to move this 'single speck'anywere in the universe you please, and it permeates all solids and thought is, by far, vastly more quicker than the sped of light. the speed of light pales mightily in comparison to the speed of thought.

you remember being told 'all things are possible' ? well, this that was just very quickly described is your own personal access to this state.

step out of yourself, out of the box - and then maybe, just maybe we can, finally, march into our golden age that will dwarf any yet to be conceived - and you may just see this in your own lifetime.

but alas, personally i'm getting bored here - thanx for the forum time & the individual that began this post is definitely one of 'us' - i'd listen to what is posted by that name if i were the sleeping you.

me ?? lol, beer to drink n herb to burn n ladies to get sweet with - ciao all !!

[edit on 7-7-2007 by effinlunatic]

Sounds like we are all mostly in agreement. I might more simple state the difference thusly;

And it comes from the old saying..."If you don't mind, it doesn't matter"

Our Minds are of matter, our Consciousness is not.

Here is another link to a debate guide on the differences between Mind & Counciousness:

www.philowiki.com...

Some interesting and thought provoking stuff here. Hope it helps.