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Post by earnest on Apr 14, 2014 21:57:35 GMT -5
Consciousness vs Awareness - Is there a difference between these two?
"Consciousness is an attribute, while awareness is not
One can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness"
- Nisargadatta
So,.. is the difference that things (thoughts, feelings, sensations etc) are consciousess, while awareness is that which perceives the contents?
For example,. as my fingers tappity-tap on the keyboard there is a changing stream of sound, and texture. A pause, then it resumes. That arises and passes away without leaving a trace. Touch consciousness? Sound consciousness?
Awareness, in the most utter silence, notices the changing sound and texture,
That then is still a duality though - the thing and the awaress of the thing - even though they are inseparable (form & emptiness?) .. I've heard Adyashanti mention something about that duality collapsing by itself at some point though.
Sorry, a bit rambly,.. but would appreciate comments.
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Post by Reefs on Apr 14, 2014 22:25:28 GMT -5
Two very impressive buzzwords, indeed. I suggest to discuss being conscious vs. being aware instead of Consciousness vs. Awareness.
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Post by earnest on Apr 14, 2014 22:36:19 GMT -5
Two very impressive buzzwords, indeed. I suggest to discuss being conscious vs. being aware instead of Consciousness vs. Awareness. How would you describe the difference? |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2014 22:45:47 GMT -5
Consciousness vs Awareness - Is there a difference between these two? "Consciousness is an attribute, while awareness is not One can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness" - Nisargadatta So,.. is the difference that things (thoughts, feelings, sensations etc) are consciousess, while awareness is that which perceives the contents? For example,. as my fingers tappity-tap on the keyboard there is a changing stream of sound, and texture. A pause, then it resumes. That arises and passes away without leaving a trace. Touch consciousness? Sound consciousness? Awareness, in the most utter silence, notices the changing sound and texture, That then is still a duality though - the thing and the awaress of the thing - even though they are inseparable (form & emptiness?) .. I've heard Adyashanti mention something about that duality collapsing by itself at some point though. Sorry, a bit rambly,.. but would appreciate comments. Some would say that we know that we are the awareness but very few of us know the nature of the awareness that we are. So to know it's nature we have to explore deeper than just the knowing of I am. The problem is that the one who makes that exploration or placing of attention on the I am, is the I am. And since we can't attend to the nature of I am as an object we can only BE knowingly ones self. Or abiding as ones self. And here's the part I don't get. The abiding of ones self is often referred to as being conscious or the consciousness. So it would seem to me that we are this knowing, this conscious presence whatever it is. At this point awareness and consciousness would be the same thing, wouldn't they? |
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Post by enigma on Apr 14, 2014 22:47:09 GMT -5
Consciousness vs Awareness - Is there a difference between these two? "Consciousness is an attribute, while awareness is not One can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness" - Nisargadatta So,.. is the difference that things (thoughts, feelings, sensations etc) are consciousess, while awareness is that which perceives the contents? For example,. as my fingers tappity-tap on the keyboard there is a changing stream of sound, and texture. A pause, then it resumes. That arises and passes away without leaving a trace. Touch consciousness? Sound consciousness? Awareness, in the most utter silence, notices the changing sound and texture, Yes, that's how I see awareness and consciousness. Awareness is always present. Consciousness, which is the content of appearances, comes and goes on the 'screen' of awareness. It's just a way of talking about it. Things are not really separate from consciousness and consciousness is not separate from awareness. The arising of apparent objects is consciousness, and consciousness is a movement occurring in/as awareness. Awareness, and the movement of awareness, are not two. |
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Post by laughter on Apr 14, 2014 23:44:38 GMT -5
< .. must .... stop ... noooo! ..>
(** grabs right hand with left **)
(** drags self out of thread ... )
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Post by topology on Apr 15, 2014 1:18:10 GMT -5
Consciousness vs Awareness - Is there a difference between these two? "Consciousness is an attribute, while awareness is not One can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness" - Nisargadatta So,.. is the difference that things (thoughts, feelings, sensations etc) are consciousess, while awareness is that which perceives the contents? For example,. as my fingers tappity-tap on the keyboard there is a changing stream of sound, and texture. A pause, then it resumes. That arises and passes away without leaving a trace. Touch consciousness? Sound consciousness? Awareness, in the most utter silence, notices the changing sound and texture, That then is still a duality though - the thing and the awaress of the thing - even though they are inseparable (form & emptiness?) .. I've heard Adyashanti mention something about that duality collapsing by itself at some point though. Sorry, a bit rambly,.. but would appreciate comments.  |
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Post by earnest on Apr 15, 2014 1:49:45 GMT -5
Consciousness vs Awareness - Is there a difference between these two? "Consciousness is an attribute, while awareness is not One can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness" - Nisargadatta So,.. is the difference that things (thoughts, feelings, sensations etc) are consciousess, while awareness is that which perceives the contents? For example,. as my fingers tappity-tap on the keyboard there is a changing stream of sound, and texture. A pause, then it resumes. That arises and passes away without leaving a trace. Touch consciousness? Sound consciousness? Awareness, in the most utter silence, notices the changing sound and texture, That then is still a duality though - the thing and the awaress of the thing - even though they are inseparable (form & emptiness?) .. I've heard Adyashanti mention something about that duality collapsing by itself at some point though. Sorry, a bit rambly,.. but would appreciate comments.  ha totally |
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Post by Reefs on Apr 15, 2014 5:22:34 GMT -5
Two very impressive buzzwords, indeed. I suggest to discuss being conscious vs. being aware instead of Consciousness vs. Awareness. How would you describe the difference? There's no real difference between being aware and being conscious, is there? |
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Post by laughter on Apr 15, 2014 6:05:15 GMT -5
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Post by teetown on Apr 15, 2014 7:31:10 GMT -5
Yes, that's how I see awareness and consciousness. Awareness is always present. Consciousness, which is the content of appearances, comes and goes on the 'screen' of awareness. It's just a way of talking about it. Things are not really separate from consciousness and consciousness is not separate from awareness. The arising of apparent objects is consciousness, and consciousness is a movement occurring in/as awareness. Awareness, and the movement of awareness, are not two. Would you also say the sense of "being aware/I AM" arises with consciousness? To me it seems that "being conscious" includes the sense of being the one who is conscious of things. |
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Post by topology on Apr 15, 2014 8:41:11 GMT -5
Yes, that's how I see awareness and consciousness. Awareness is always present. Consciousness, which is the content of appearances, comes and goes on the 'screen' of awareness. It's just a way of talking about it. Things are not really separate from consciousness and consciousness is not separate from awareness. The arising of apparent objects is consciousness, and consciousness is a movement occurring in/as awareness. Awareness, and the movement of awareness, are not two. Would you also say the sense of "being aware/I AM" arises with consciousness? To me it seems that "being conscious" includes the sense of being the one who is conscious of things. That sense of "being the one who... " is a form of self-consciousness. There are nonreflective states of consciousness where there is no sense of "the one who... ". This is most easily recognized in flow experiences (being in the zone) where the feedback loop between perception, attention and dynamic response is so tight that there is no room for reflective thoughts. The reflective thoughts and recognition of having been in that state come back when the feedback loop loosens and the mind can spare processing cycles to run the ego-subroutine. |
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Post by Reefs on Apr 15, 2014 8:57:40 GMT -5
Yes, that's how I see awareness and consciousness. Awareness is always present. Consciousness, which is the content of appearances, comes and goes on the 'screen' of awareness. It's just a way of talking about it. Things are not really separate from consciousness and consciousness is not separate from awareness. The arising of apparent objects is consciousness, and consciousness is a movement occurring in/as awareness. Awareness, and the movement of awareness, are not two. Would you also say the sense of "being aware/I AM" arises with consciousness? To me it seems that "being conscious" includes the sense of being the one who is conscious of things. i.e. self-conscious? |
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Post by Reefs on Apr 15, 2014 9:04:49 GMT -5
Would you also say the sense of "being aware/I AM" arises with consciousness? To me it seems that "being conscious" includes the sense of being the one who is conscious of things. That sense of "being the one who... " is a form of self-consciousness. There are nonreflective states of consciousness where there is no sense of "the one who... ". This is most easily recognized in flow experiences (being in the zone) where the feedback loop between perception, attention and dynamic response is so tight that there is no room for reflective thoughts. The reflective thoughts and recognition of having been in that state come back when the feedback loop loosens and the mind can spare processing cycles to run the ego-subroutine. Actually, there's a sense of being in control in flow experience, a sense of doership. That's how flow is distinguished from what non-duality is pointing to. Being self-conscious does not require reflective thoughts. |
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Post by topology on Apr 15, 2014 9:06:52 GMT -5
That sense of "being the one who... " is a form of self-consciousness. There are nonreflective states of consciousness where there is no sense of "the one who... ". This is most easily recognized in flow experiences (being in the zone) where the feedback loop between perception, attention and dynamic response is so tight that there is no room for reflective thoughts. The reflective thoughts and recognition of having been in that state come back when the feedback loop loosens and the mind can spare processing cycles to run the ego-subroutine. Actually, there's a sense of being in control in flow experience, a sense of doership. That's how flow is distinguished from what non-duality is pointing to. Being self-conscious does not require reflective thoughts. That's not how I experience what I identify as "flow experiences", but I digress. Edit: by reflective I was meaning self-reflective. Perhaps reflexive may have been a clearer word choice. |
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ha totally 