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Raising Consciousness: Literally?

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posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 02:10 AM
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And so I read things here and there about focusing opening the 3rd eye. They tell you just where you should place your attention. Naturally my skepticism tells me something about this may be an individual thing. Since I experience the location of my awarness relative to the rest of my body as a tennis-ball-sized lump approximately in the area of the pineal gland, I thought perhaps my attention should be directed specifically towards that.

My attention folding inward at this region, a pretty decent kaleidoscopic effect ensued; my body tingled with a salty energy and I burst into a fit of psychotic laughter. Needless to say, it was quite pleasant and it only lasted but a few seconds.

Later that night I asked my girlfriend to give it a try. I simply told her to clear her head and locate where her awareness seemed to be within her body. She lay quietly for a few minutes and informed me this center seemed to be "on her throat, under her chin." She asked if that was normal. I told her I had no idea. Like I did myself, she directed her attention into it and said she felt like she was opening a doorway, that it felt like she was dissociating from her body and that she felt lost in her mind.

I thought about the chakras. I'm not sure that I buy into all that but it did get me thinking, when talking about "raising consciousness", does it or can it literally mean raising its perceived center within the body? I only recall the phrase used in a figurative sense.



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 06:56 AM
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Another good post Enlighten, I always tend to like reading your questions and statements.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have been thinking about 'Instructions' a lot here recently. Especially instructions dealing with mental work. My interest in examining instructions has been mostly about Astral Projection but, it could be completely universal.

When we are working with consciousness or any mental work individuality can not be forgotten. Each person has a different mental make-up. Think of it like a computer: our minds may all be on the same operating system but some of us have different programs installed or we may just have unique personal options. Your girlfriends mind does not take the same Trail to get to the same Door as you do. You may arrive at the same location, but your paths are different.

This feeling of mass that you mention. It could be that it indicates your strong spot. Maybe it is indicating to you what your strongest point of focus is, sort of like saying "hey, here I am. Pay attention to me.". But, this could also indicate a point of weakness that NEEDS to be focused on and exercised. Given the way your GF described her experience it does sound like it would be the strong spot.

Lets say that the lump is your strong spot. Raising your consciousness is what you are doing when you are focusing on it and flexing it. The more you notice the 'mass' the more energy you deposit to it thus, raising it's consciousness.

At this point, so many people have thrown around the terms 'raising your consciousness' and they could all be referring to different things. I am sure some people have meant it literally. I would say that it means what ever you give it meaning to......

Gotta run to work...



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 07:00 AM
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reply to post by EnlightenUp
 


Descartes suggested the pineal gland might be the center of human consciousness, while others typically believe it to be among a variety of places/parts/bits/snatches of the brain.

Some scientists believe the brain is generally not a functioning computer like is widely thought, but rather, a large gland in and of itself.

The spinal cord is rich in all these brain-secretions, and begin their journey throughout the body in the neck, which is vital to our continued life. The throat too, is vital, and a part of our anatomy of which we are very protective. With good reason of course, as injury to this area can cause decidedly quick and sure death.

Although citing her throat as the center of her consciousness, your girlfriend later stated during the exercise she became "lost in her mind".

While I have little/no experience in meditating, and am not the best person to be commenting on this subject, I can tell you that as an inexperienced meditator, when I focus my attention on my consciousness, it is between my eyes, above, and deeper within.

So, I propose an experiment. Repeat the exercise once again with your girlfriend, again not directing her concentration to a specific location. Repeat this several times to see if the same results are obtained.

My thoughts are the results will be different.
In answer to your question in the OP: I have no idea. My perceptions and "self" tend to shift from my heart to my brain.



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 10:17 AM
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reply to post by Brahmanite
 


Thank you for the kind words. Your statements on astral projection in another member's thread did in fact serve as a lead in creating this musing of mine.


Are you perhaps indicating the region could be begging for attention like the noisiest bird in the nest? This would make it both strong and weak-- strong because it makes its needs known above all others, weak because its needs must be heeded in order to match its greater natural pace of growth.

Could other areas depend upon and benefit from strengthening that area further? Perhaps by being the noisest bird, until it has had its fill for the time being, the others will be denied their needs.



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 10:32 AM
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reply to post by ladyinwaiting
 


Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Allow me to elaborate on what happened.

When I asked her to do this, she in fact asked, "Where should I look?"

I said, "I don't know. Just find it yourself. You have to find that spot yourself."

I did quip that it could be in her big toe for all I know. I'm not sure if that was leading the subject too much.


When she said where she found that particular spot, I was rather surprised. I had assumed she would come up with the same area as I.

Your description of focussing on your consciousness matches mine pretty well. I also find that I percieve all points of my body as extended from this region; the closer the point, the more it contains the sensation of "me"; inside and more central within the region, the more "I" is posesses.

Yes, I will repeat it. Repetition with on myself always gives the same results. We'll see; we'll see.

The past couple of days I have been working on moving it. Trying to put it lower has a distorting effect where my body feels warped. Attempting to raise it above my head has the effect of making me feel as though I am ground-in gum being pulled off a shaggy rug.



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 11:05 AM
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First I have to say that I'm an atheist and I reject all forms of spirituality, religious, occult, new age or whatever.

In my opinion, one's level of consciousness is directly related to one's grasp of reality. You've probably heard about people who lose one sense finding their other senses have been heightened. Well, that's because we typically take in more sensory information than our brains can process in real-time. Our brains filter the information, processing what's believed to be important data and discarding what's non-essential. Losing one sense frees up processing capacity for the other senses. Similarly, meditation limits sensory information and allows one to focus mental processing power on a specific dataset. When there's too little sensory data our brains frequently do the opposite, however, and fill-in missing information with made-up data. That's the secret to creating illusions, optical or otherwise. So to achieve higher levels of consciousness means processing as much real data as possible and creating as little fake information as possible, thereby getting a clear and accurate picture of reality.

Sorry I don't have any chants or incense to recommend.



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 11:36 AM
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reply to post by Crito
 


Perhaps as an athiest you actually reject spiritualism and not necessarily spirituality. I can be a pretty good athiest and materialist when I need to be. I find the position an easily attainable reality subset.

For what reason to do you presume this information to be merely "fake" rather than "real". Why could it not be that by quieting of external sensory diversions, we gain access to and bring conscious awareness to processes that are relevent and important but normally out of our field of attendance? I've used it to solve programming problems so to me it has proven its worth.

Thank you for the offer but I use neither chants nor incense; they're too overwhelmingly noisy and smelly.



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 12:24 PM
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reply to post by EnlightenUp
 


What you are describing sounds like to me to be close to what is called Neti Neti Yoga. However your description seems to have a focus on certain physical regions of your body in a search for the awareness or consious center of awareness of your being. Am I reading you correctly?

Neti Neti (not this or not that) is an Upanishadic expression meant to convey that the ultimate reality is "neither this nor that," that is, is it is beyond all description. It's a meditative practice where any thought, feeling is discarded as you investigate that which is the I AM as I am "not this and not that." Once all that is false is discarded then all that remains is our true selves or the I AM. Pure being, pure conscious awareness, infinite.

Your consciousness or awareness is the very source of your being or the "I AM." It is infinite, without shape or form. It is only limited by our false identification with our body/mind. Therefore, your true conscious awareness has nothing to do with the body that you imagine as you. You are not the body. You are the immensity and infinity of consciousness.

We are so accustomed to think of ourselves as bodies having consciousness that we just cannot imagine consciousness as having bodies. Once you realize that bodily existence is but a state of mind, a movement in consciousness, that the ocean of consciousness is infinite and eternal, and that, when in touch with consciousness, you are the witness only.

Where as, that which can be perceived cannot be in any way or any part the perceiver. Simply put, the perceiver cannot be the perceived. You can observe the observation, but not the observer. Realize that "I am not an object in consciousness, but its source, its Witness, pure shapeless awareness."

So ... in some way I guess I'm saying forget the body or any part of it if your seeking the source of conscious awareness.... IMHO Your awareness has no need of a body or any part of it.

Descartes who stated, "I think, therefore I am," would have more accurately posited that, "I am, therefore I Think." .....and, I think I have a body.

Just some of my musings.

Peace!

[edit on 11-2-2010 by Emptiness Dancing]



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 03:26 PM
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Here is a little tutorial from the Arcturians on accessing higher dimensions.

I have been practicing 'oscillating' up and down in frequencies, and though it isn't what you are describing with your chakra's, it offers another way of accessing different parts of your consciousness, and parallel selves.



WHAT IS REALITY

We perceive your confusion, as your collective minds ask, “What reality are we in now? Are we actually fifth dimensional, or are we only fifth dimensional in our consciousness.” Our response to that question is that “only in your consciousness” is REAL, for ALL reality is a state of consciousness.” We understand that inter-dimensional travel can be very tricky. One minute you may be happily experiencing a lovely fifth dimensional day. Then, in the next moment you are stuck in traffic in a third-dimensional city. However, one thing you have learned is that being somewhat out-of-control in your inter-dimensional travel is much better than being trapped in the limitations of your physical world.

...

THE DIVINE MATRIX

The sixth dimension holds the Divine Matrix, which is projected into the lower worlds of third/fourth dimensional realities. It is in the sixth dimension that you can write, or re-write, the blueprints for your third and fourth dimensional holograms. The fifth dimension is not a hologram. Holographic realities are places for learning, schoolrooms, in the lower worlds of the third and fourth dimensions. Conversely, the fifth dimension is a reality where you integrate all that you learned in these lower worlds, as well as a format from which your SELF can assist your grounded, earth vessels.

Once you allow your Kundalini to rise into your Crown Chakra and download and integrate your Multidimensional SELF into your grounded earth vessel, your Personal Consciousness regains its expanded perceptions. As you experience reality through the multidimensional perception of your Soul/SELF, your “family” expands beyond the third dimension and into the fourth and fifth dimensions, to include your Galactic Family.

We are now accelerating our Corridor to the resonance the sixth dimension, so that you may merge with your sixth dimensional SELF. Yes, YOU have a component of your SELF on every dimension, but in the sixth dimension you will only contain your consciousness in a form for certain purposes. In the sixth dimension, you may choose to “put on your form,” as you would “put on a jacket” in your material world.

.....
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL REALITIES

The “fuel” for your inter-dimensional travel is unconditional love. Unconditional love raises the frequency of all it touches and is the force that will expand the Corridor to encompass the sixth dimension and beyond. As the force of your collective, unconditional love touches the perimeters of the Corridor, its resonance will escalate the frequency of the Corridor into the next dimension. In this case, it will extend the resonance of the Corridor into the sixth dimension. Do you see how we are having you participate in your journey now? We no longer need to guide you, for you are fully awakening. Hence, we now give you the tools and allow you to experiment with your expanding perceptions and powers.




The rest is here:

www.multidimensions.com... or
lightworkers.org...

It is very powerful stuff ~



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 03:38 PM
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reply to post by Emptiness Dancing
 


I think you basically are reading me correctly. I am also adding the exercise of moving whereever I care to at will, including outside the body. I have read a limit amount about Neti Neti and have seen in mentioned in threads. Perhaps I discovered it semi-independently in my own way, which brings direct experience into the fold, imbuing it with certain a reality that reading about it lacks.

This does hit upon an experience of the nature of qualia I've been beating like a dead horse around here. There essential answer is that there is indeed noone watching the qualia, rather, you are that. You are the red, you are the sweetness, you are the pain, you are the experience, which is a limited manifestation of your true unlimted being and all the potential to experience, but not experience. It is difficult to convey this. So yes, you are the witness. That being witnessed is itself, itself, thus not witnessed for there is no other and nothing farther back goes. The seemingly infinite tower of turtle has its final turtle. These aren't objects in consciousness nor are they processes. The processes constrain it to termporarily appear to have form. Philosophical zombies or not? Yes AND no.

The problem actually is not that difficult. It is "foreign matter" outside our logical systems and immediate intellectual grasp. What I describe is residue, not the experience. I do not really "get it" unless I'm there getting it, in which case I thus far have found I cannot simultaneously fiddle with keys on a laptop and be getting it at the same time. If it comes to me to exist that way for long enough, I'll spray it all over a new thread.



Just some of my musings.


And well-mused they are!



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 04:56 PM
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reply to post by EnlightenUp
 





Are you perhaps indicating the region could be begging for attention like the noisiest bird in the nest? This would make it both strong and weak-- strong because it makes its needs known above all others, weak because its needs must be heeded in order to match its greater natural pace of growth. Could other areas depend upon and benefit from strengthening that area further? Perhaps by being the noisest bird, until it has had its fill for the time being, the others will be denied their needs.


Yes, I think you are pretty much correct in that observation. Our bodies will almost always tell us what we need. We just have to learn what to listen for. I have never had this same exact experience you are mentioning but given your description it does sound like it may be trying to get your attention.

It is almost the same way dowsing works. Your body trains you to recognize what a Yes looks like etc., etc. You ask your body a question and it gives you the answer through the pendulum, it knows the answer. When you ask or tell your body to focus on its point of consciousness if you are in the right state of mind it will tell you. Same as being deep enough in and telling your toes to go to sleep and they do.. Your body knows the answer, you just have to know how to ask and acknowledge the answer.

It sounds to me, just like the trick of commanding parts of your body asleep, you had discovered a way to ask your body that question in a manner that it would respond.....Good Job!!!

These are the very types of things that I am working on. I am so fascinated by all the 'tricks' we can do with our bodies and minds. I want to discover and accomplish as many as I can!!!! Once we are in the right state of mind it is truly unbelievable what we can do.



posted on Feb, 11 2010 @ 06:12 PM
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Originally posted by EnlightenUp
reply to post by Emptiness Dancing
 


Perhaps I discovered it semi-independently in my own way, which brings direct experience into the fold, imbuing it with certain a reality that reading about it lacks.



Very well said! I would rather 20 minutes of true experience immersed in the pure bliss of beingness, the I AM, than read a 1000 books about "what it is like."


Originally posted by EnlightenUpThis does hit upon an experience of the nature of qualia I've been beating like a dead horse around here. There essential answer is that there is indeed noone watching the qualia, rather, you are that. You are the red, you are the sweetness, you are the pain, you are the experience, which is a limited manifestation of your true unlimted being and all the potential to experience, but not experience. It is difficult to convey this. So yes, you are the witness. That being witnessed is itself, itself, thus not witnessed for there is no other and nothing farther back goes. The seemingly infinite tower of turtle has its final turtle. These aren't objects in consciousness nor are they processes. The processes constrain it to termporarily appear to have form. Philosophical zombies or not? Yes AND no.


Understanding or knowing? The qualia, imho, IS the knowing. In the case of simple subjects, objects or colors it is finite. Once one "knows" the color RED is there more to know other than it's shades? In what we have been discussing here, can one "know" the infinite? That which we are, our pure consciousness and being awareness rises from the source and is infinite. Therefore the "knowing" is an infinite journey. Even as you move out from your very physical location, you can perceive infinitely outward even to the edge of the universe, you can also perceive infinitely inward into your very being. As You, the perceiver is a singularity between the two. That which you perceive as the "outer" is infinite, so is the "inner."

The "qualia" or the knowing of the "I AM" cannot be out into words, words pand explanations fail to frame that which is without form and is infinite.


Originally posted by EnlightenUpThe problem actually is not that difficult. It is "foreign matter" outside our logical systems and immediate intellectual grasp. What I describe is residue, not the experience. I do not really "get it" unless I'm there getting it, in which case I thus far have found I cannot simultaneously fiddle with keys on a laptop and be getting it at the same time. If it comes to me to exist that way for long enough, I'll spray it all over a new thread.


LOLOL Again well said! It IS foreign matter. As we have already covered, "Not this and not that." The Mind, the body, the thoughts even the feelings are all foreign to the I AM. BUT having said that, perceiving their very existence they are useful as pointers to that which is. The I AM, pure beingness without which there would be no witness. Discard the pointers and experience that which they are pointing to. No thoughts. No distractions. Pure being, awareness and consciousness.

Great philosophical discussion.

Peace!



posted on Feb, 12 2010 @ 12:30 AM
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reply to post by blujay
 


I was reminded of what was occurring in my mind when looking at the truely beautiful Mandelbulb pictures. I realized I could see a simple shell of a form, some curves and intricate details but became entralled by the realization that I cannot, as a simple-minded human, actually grok that in full infinite complexity and depth. I felt woefully and yet wonderfully ignorant, in the face of something generated by repeated and recursive application of simple rules.

In Fractals - The Colors of Infinity hosted by Arthur C. Clarke, which is about the discovery of the Mandelbrot set and the applications of fractals, Michael Barnsley remarks about how it was no longer necessary to connect our data with straight lines or make things from circles. With a simple formula it was possible to define and build something of organic form and perfect complexity and share the blueprints for anyone to do so. I realize when looking at the bulb how we tend to think and percieve in "circles" and "lines" when this really does not reflect the deep truth of reality, even when it is right before us, seemingly able to held in the palm of one's hand. The infinite possibilities of exploration within remain unfathomable by the senses and intellect alone. Even with the formula in hand, what it really is is elusive. There is no other way to know that "bulb" than to be it, to experience that you are it.


 


Thank you eveyone so far for providing thoughful responses.



posted on Feb, 13 2010 @ 08:14 AM
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Originally posted by EnlightenUp
reply to post by ladyinwaiting
 



Attempting to raise it above my head has the effect of making me feel as though I am ground-in gum being pulled off a shaggy rug.



Question. If you did accomplish "raising it above your head", would that not facilitate an out of body experience?

Or..technically, since your consciousness would be outside your body, eg above your head, then this would in fact, by definition, constitute an OoBE?



[edit on 2/13/2010 by ladyinwaiting]



posted on Feb, 13 2010 @ 09:44 AM
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Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
Question. If you did accomplish "raising it above your head", would that not facilitate an out of body experience?

Or..technically, since your consciousness would be outside your body, eg above your head, then this would in fact, by definition, constitute an OoBE?


Yes, indeed, that is what I am logically driving at and it does seem semi-detatched where I'm oriented slightly outside but not broken free. As I mentioned, it's really does feel like being gum being pulled from a carpet, with my corpse being the tenacious fibers and my consciousness the sticky gum. I've never successfully OOBE'd under my own volition and only when young, not really understanding the significance, and then a few times in more recent years on a fluke, being suddenly lucid of my current circumstance while sleeping. Quite probably it is my own seemingly indomitable resistance; you bet I will keep working on trying to release it.







 
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