Anthony J. Fisichella...
Choicless Awareness
Excerpted from Echoes From Eternity
Having attained a certain level of ability in manifesting change in my life through the understanding of the laws of attraction and resonance I then chanced (chanced?) upon the writings of J. Krishnamurti. This stage of my growing spiritual understanding demanded not so much that I use consciousness as a tool for creative projections but rather that I make a 180 degree turn and thereby reverse the process. As a two-way radio may receive as well as broadcast, I was to use consciousness as a sensing device to perceive realities altogether separate and apart from my own. This required that I curtail the incessant internal dialogue that was going on in my head and refrain from projecting my desire-latent images upon the environment. The theme was this: if I wanted to see the reality of that which was occurring within and around me and my relation to it all, unclouded by personal desire, I had to learn choiceless awareness. This meant disowning past conditioning, detaching from future personality choices, and cultivating a consciousness more intent upon becoming aware of what was transpiring within and around it than creating acceptable images of existence within which it could live with an illusory sense of comfort and security. I had to learn to step back out of the way and observe the universe as it is here and now instead of trying to shape it into what I thought it should be. Only in this way might I achieve that… “inner illumination by which we can ultimately see things as they are, beholding all creatures—the animals, the angels, the plants, the figures of our friends and all the ranks and races of human kind—in their true being and order” (Edward Carpenter).
There are no absolute approaches to Truth and so, potent as this method for stimulating conscious development is, it too holds a snare for the unwary, for it reduces us to observers and observers alone, unwilling to unleash the creative aspect of consciousness for fear we may violate some absolute reality that should remain inviolate.
All reality proceeds from consciousness upon some level; all truth exists nowhere but in consciousness; nothing exists apart from consciousness. The purpose of quieting the mind and adopting the role of observer is to afford you the opportunity to see realities entirely separate from your own, set in motion by those around you in your immediate environment, by some exalted beings, by the collective consciousness, or, ultimately, by God Himself. This is not to suggest that these realities hold greater truth or importance than one’s own, only that they are different and must be taken into consideration if a truly inclusive and encompassing view of existence is to be attained. Your consciousness will increase in creative potency, content, and relative perspective as you assimilate and understand the perspective of the many varied levels of consciousness that inhabit the universe.
Then there is another important payoff to this process. As an artist must occasionally step back from his work in order to gain a broader and truer perspective, so too is the individual by occasionally curtailing the creative process, thus quieting the mind and bearing witness to its created reality, enabled to gain a clearer, detached, and more relevant perspective of the mind’s projections. Thus, are you afforded the opportunity to assess where your reality is lacking in depth and beauty, indicating the need for a corresponding change in consciousness. Therefore, each of us must alternate roles as participant and spectator in the creative process. Remember; use your environment as a feedback device and Rorschach test.
This notion led me to the system I currently employ, which is a composite of both earlier-stated stages and which I now suggest for your use. Since all proceeds from consciousness and since the ultimate goal is union with Universal Consciousness, it is therefore important to maintain its creativity while at the same time monitoring its projections and their relation to all else transpiring, first in your immediate environment and later, as growth occurs, in whatever segment of the universe, however vast or small, with which you are able to align. This shuttling between the role of creator and observer will help you to develop your own creative power, a clearer, more precise perspective of your creation, a knowledge of the relationship between cause and effect (karma), and, finally, a broader, more tolerant appreciation of the realities of others, human or otherwise. That includes developing an awareness of the divine reality, the Divine Plan for humanity, and the creative role you are destined to play within that Plan.
There is another aspect of this to which we must address ourselves, which, incidentally, offers another potential trap. Each of us not only creates our own realities, but we then proceed to arrogantly judge our creation, assigning it an arbitrary value. This brings us to the second facet of our original premise: consciousness is not only the creator of all; it is the measure of all. Nothing in the universe has an intrinsic value. The value of any given item is totally dependent upon the perceiver. There are no absolute values - no good, no evil, no absolute right, no absolute wrong. “No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong, what is against it” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). It is consciousness that imposes value - and make no mistake about it, it is an imposition - and then insists that others subscribe to the same value system. Clearly, there are values and belief systems that are widely accepted and which form the basis for national and cultural societies. They are, however, not absolute and are born of the desire for social intercourse and human relationship. It’s really a matter of paranoid pragmatism. I’ll agree not to steal from you if you will promise not to steal from me. I won’t hurt you if you will somehow guarantee my safety also. It doesn’t matter that, karmically speaking, no one can steal from or hurt anyone else without their consent. “The power that men possess to annoy me I give them by a weak curiosity. No man can come near me but through my act” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
All that seems to matter to the social order is the establishment and maintenance of its arbitrary rules of conformity in order to maintain control and insure the illusory sense of security demanded by those who, under no circumstances, will feel truly secure. Again, we turn to Emerson and read, “Society is a joint-stock company in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each share holder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Who so would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the names of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”
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