Are We the Living or the Dead?

Whatever is omnipresent has nowhere to go. It is already there. That would include whatever anyone calls God, with all Her or His attributes. (At least in Hebrew YHWH represent both the masculine and the feminine principles, which would make SheHe androgynous). We can only assume that those attributes include consciousness, intelligence, benevolence, and a few other traits without which our physical universe would have disappeared long ago.

Here we shall tackle consciousness.

It, in its omnipresent state is static, and dynamic when individualized. The individualized unit of consciousness expresses itself in movement. This movement can be in space or in time. This movement we refer to as life.

That’s you and I. We are individualized units of consciousness in movement. When our bodies are ‘dead’, they are no longer conscious. The consciousness had left our bodies. Where did it go? It was here a minute ago…

Most of us still appear to think that the state of consciousness is generated by our physical bodies. Ask any scientist. They have no idea how, of course, but they insist that it is.

Not so. Our physical bodies are essentially dead until consciousness enters them. I say essentially, because there is a rudimentary consciousness generated by biological/physiological form as in all animals and plants. That is why the discussions regarding abortion are so abortive. Try my article “Blood Bath” in my collection of essays Beyond Religion II.

In some ways the “lifers” are right. A fetus is moving thus life is in it. Even as it is in sperm. Or in a blade of grass. But aren’t we taking about a different sort of life? Different consciousness?

Yes.

We are talking about self-awareness. Or… the awareness of Self. Of our REAL SELF. Unless we are aware of Self, we are not… not really alive. As yet. Or as Buddha would put it, we are not yet awakened.

The mystery of life is that we are both, static and dynamic. For a little while, we abide in a state of duality.

So… life is consciousness?

In the physical reality, life means only one thing: change. Or movement. A transient condition which only stops when we vacate our physical bodies. Unless we were more than our bodies, we would never inhabit them, giving them Life. Note the capital L. Life having the potential of becoming aware of Self. It seems like a fair arrangement.