We all voyage through life like combers over matter, or slow, measured surges — a form of explicit, or resourceful, transformation. This is part of our time and space expanse, or continuum. It delineates us and précises our existence — of who we are, as self-regulating entities, with each of us being as unique as our signature, or fingerprint.
This is the parable of our being too — it accentuates our mindfulness, existence and thinking processes, including the quintessence of our evolution. You may call it the most simple, insightful, and profuse element of life, irrespective of the fact that most of us, in a manner born, or expressed, live more in our heads, or self-image, rather than in the totality of our being.
When we fail to cuddle the soulful unity of our being, or the dainty luminosity that resides in us, we remain more than a tad detached, without ‘attachment’ to the self, or others. We certainly can, on the contrary, provided we are willing, change the whole framework, or crux, without hubbub — because, all it calls for is not rocket science, but the simple profusion of what we already know to nurturing the wholeness of our being, while connecting ourselves more to our mind, body, spirit, or soul. This is because our life and existence present to us with all the elements that we can identify, embrace, or distinguish, within and outside of the infinite activity of our mind and also body.
The philosopher Plato thought of it all as a mirror manifesting in the soul through our persona. The soul, for Plato, embraced three components, viz., 1] logistikon, 2] thymos, and 3] epithymia — which translates to 1] the thinking component, with emotion being the organisational element; 2] the zealous, adoring side that yearns for respect, appreciation and admiration, and 3] the prospective, reckonable part that hankers for things that fulfil our sensual, biological and material yearnings. In his Allegory of the Chariot, Plato exemplified thymos and epithymia as the two horses that tug the chariot of our personality, or soul. He expressed that it is wholly up to each of us, the charioteer, representing logistikon, to fix the route and speed, while orchestrating the movement of the two steeds to charting the chariot’s course. What does this presage? To live a life of righteousness, as Plato underlined, it is critical to bring in balance and harmony between the three cogs. Else, the probable upshot would be nothing but dissonance in life.
We all have the proclivity to believe that our soulful self, also self-consciousness, is, for the most part, a rational process. Hence, the argument — that conscious-awareness of the ‘divine in us’ ought to be a spiritual process. For most people who delve into and are focused on their spiritual awareness, their intent is apparent — to retain and embrace the ‘divine in everything,’ at all times. The most fascinating part is when one embarks on their eternal quest, for the divine context, one is always bound to understand that the core of self-awareness and conscious-awareness of the divine is not as much related to the mind as one’s inner, inhabitant soul. What does this connote? That true consciousness, including what philosophers and mind scientists refer to as ‘mindfulness’ is the archetypal essence of our entire being — a sublime prism that exemplifies the breath of life, or prana, juxtaposed by the composition and syntax of all our feelings and emotions. Conventional medicine calls it immunity, while holistic, integrative medicine refers to it as not just immune mechanism, but also our inner healing agent that we are all endowed with.
When you place them all — awareness, consciousness of being, the divine context, and mindfulness — in one carry bag, they characterise our conscious experience in its completest form. Of each of us being the epitome of all reflective thoughts that occur in the mind regarding the self — including the divine. This appears simple on the surface; but, it is actually intense; also, deep. This is because no matter the quantum of our life experiences, there are certain thought processes that are not perpetual. They are simply fleeting, not long-lasting. It is only when we achieve a stable state of constant, continual awareness of our self, that our conscious awareness becomes long-lasting, also self-achieving, as it were. This is, in more ways than one, not just spiritual oneness, but also unification, or fusion, of our psyche, as also the soul, with the divine.
There is a definitive need for each of us to reach the most profound level of our [un]conscious self through a constant, enduring sense of self-awareness — this is, of course, not as easy to achieve as it may sound. The reason being — what we consciously experience, or understand, as the divine is perceptibly limited to our unconscious self, including the perimeter of our thoughts and feelings from deep within and also from the inside out. What is also significant is far beyond a specific point — that we ought to submit to the ‘divine in us’ to take the next step. Once this happens, we transcend the humdrum and attain a lasting state of conscious awareness — one that is in complete synthesis with the cosmos, or the universe. Our consequent progress is foreseeable. As the divine takes full initiative, it helps us to prevail over most challenges, or obstacles, of everyday life, through our own conscious-responsiveness.
The emergence of this simple, also profound harmonious state occurs through transformation — where the divine element expands. To know it from the inside out is not certainly unchallenging, because such a transformation does not illustrate itself in a form we’d automatically know, or understand. One vivid mode of knowing the context, or what is what as it is, is through self-awareness. When such a profound facet gets enriched and becomes truly divine, one gets the feeling that the ‘divinised’ self is all there in its whole essence — to feel and emote in a manner born.
It is not that one should be always, also imperiously, prepared to ‘separate’ the chaff of the self from the divine grain, miss the plot and fail miserably, while transcending the commonplace. Well, if one were seamlessly receptive and humble to the point of being self-effacing, it would all appear like a ‘big leap’ forward for the ‘divine in us’ — a state of breath-taking spiritual experience. When such a thing as sublime as this occurs, you’d describe it vividly and also just as articulately — as you’d want to — while breaking fresh terrain and, in so doing, attaining a whole new state of mystical, also expansive wisdom and spiritual fulfilment.
— First published in Madras Courier
