Consciousness
“Becoming
a conscious person means finding and maintaining a pathway into
yourself that results in an ever-growing awareness of what is
important in life and what inner forces motivate your personal
actions.”
Caroline
Myss (Caroline's Blog: Life Settings that are Game Changers, Part 1)
Today is Thanksgiving in
America. We will feast—at least those of us who can afford to will
feast. Afterward, millions of us will head to the malls and shopping
centers and, in a frenzy, will buy and buy and buy. Our thankfulness
for the blessings in our lives will be eclipsed by our rush to cash
in.
Consciousness brings
awareness—of our motives and our underlying, and largely
unconscious, goals in everything we do. It moves us to ask the
question, “why am I doing this?” and then go deeper than “because
I love a bargain.” We often assume that all our intentions are
good—I'm a good person, we say, of course I intend no harm. But
without looking honestly at all the things we say and do without
self-awareness, we can bring great harm. A current example is the
gross misstatement made by Mississippi's Republican Senator, Cindy
Hyde-Smith, about choosing to be “on the front row at a public
hanging” in a state that lynched more African Americans than any
other. Obliviousness can cause harm not only to oneself, but to
others who are innocent. Self-knowledge is the heart and soul of
consciousness, and getting there requires that we dive in, head
first. In the words of Caroline Myss, you must make “the decision
to know yourself deeply, honestly, truthfully.” I won't tell you
it's easy or painless, because it isn't. But it is essential if we,
as a species, are to evolve beyond self-interest.
It is purely a
misunderstanding to think, “this is my private life, and only I am
impacted by the decisions I make.” Each and every one of us,
regardless of who we are or what station we occupy in the culture of
our time, are like pebbles thrown into a pond. Everything we do,
every decision we make, every single choice, ripples out to affect
everyone around us. We can impact others in positive ways or in
negative ways, and we can be conscious about it, or we can be
oblivious. We are far more likely to actually “do good” if we are
conscious.
I wish you the all
blessings of consciousness this Thanksgiving Day. May all your
motives be positive.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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