Consciousness: Cloud Illusions I Recall

Consciousness: Cloud Illusions I Recall

The fact that you have come to this private Facebook Group might be an indication that you may have experienced higher states of consciousness already in your life. Possibly, through those experiences, you may also have accumulated a magnetic attraction to esoteric ideas and a yearning to have these experiences again. I know that is true for me and I would like to share a personal experience that continues to be a touchstone and reminder of what a higher state feels like to the lower centers.

I have a vivid memory of a particular conscious series of moments when I was a young teenager. My appreciation of the beauty of clouds has continued throughout my life, perhaps because of this experience. On a late summer afternoon, the sky was ablaze with a sunset that was peeking through and illuminating the drifting iridescent clouds. I had my old-fashioned camera with me, and I snapped many consecutive pictures of these dancing shapeshifters. Moment to moment the clouds changed and appeared to reassemble in spectacular shapes and colors creating a feeling of awe and awareness. This performance lasted only 10-15 minutes.

The entire outer spectacle is for consciousness to witness it. – The Teacher

I used up the roll of film that was in the camera and eagerly sent it away to be developed. To my astonishment, when the photographs came back a week later, each successive picture looked nearly the same as the previous ones! Although I was convinced while taking these pictures that it was the clouds that were changing, what had happened was that the sunset awakened a higher state and it was my awareness – a gift of prolonged presence – that afforded me to witness the miraculous moment for those short minutes from a higher state of consciousness.

A moment of consciousness is valid at any age of your life. ─The Teacher

From the perspective of the lower functions – in this case, primarily the sense of sight – there was an appearance of change in the swirling clouds and colors. The real change was a heightened consciousness and awareness. The moments were timeless, and I knew – even with photographic proof to the contrary – that there was a shift in awareness that perceived beyond the physical world.

The lower centers wanted to dismiss this experience and justify the contradiction by thinking that the development of the film was poor or that I was not able to capture the clouds with my camera, both of which are possible. Logical mind – a part of the four lower functions – often provides its own assessment that negates the perceptions from Higher Centers. Experiencing Higher Centers is a foreign experience for most people because we generally live our lives without engaging something beyond the power of the four lower centers.

There are no friends or enemies in consciousness—just the same opportunity every moment to take you to presence. The nature of consciousness is fluidity. – from a Conscious Student

Whatever creates Presence and evokes Higher Centers is invaluable for those seeking to make consciousness permanent. My example is a positive experience, but the emergence of consciousness is not always a result of inspiration. It can be a transformative experience from deep, real suffering that ignites our Higher Centers. When consciousness appears, it appears simultaneously with conscious love, and our wilted spirit rejoices with gratitude even in the midst of suffering.

Transformation of suffering not only produces consciousness but conscious love. – The Teacher

No one escapes the experience of suffering – everyone suffers – but I can escape sleep through self-remembering. With daily practice and perseverance, I can gradually loosen the hold of identification with suffering, convert its energy into self-remembering, and hold tightly to presence. An early 14th Century Persian Sufi, Bahauddin Shah Naqshband, writes, “Hold” is to protect the quality of awareness and presence.”

Transformation is still the primary way to produce consciousness. We are transforming unconscious tragedies with consciousness. ─ The Teacher

Whether through transformation or inspiration, relentless efforts are required to make consciousness permanent and Presence our reality.

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The Giant (1923), N.C. Wyeth