By Dr. Jonathan Isibor
The great aim and purpose of man in evolution is to reach self-consciousness at all levels of his being-in concurrence with the sage’s maxim, “Know Thyself”.
Let me hasten to say that this discourse is only considering the type of consciousness known to us on earth and does not preclude the possible existence in other and perhaps more wondrous forms upon other planets in the cosmos.
The plans for universal structure have been given; the correlation between things has been clarified; and the keys to the accumulated wisdom of the ages are available.
Everything is conscious at its own level and on its own plane of perception. Each level or each degree of consciousness in the cosmos has its individual frequency of vibration of the life force.
We achieve awareness on the astral plane when our brains are developed highly enough to respond to frequencies of the astral plane.
The problem man has at the moment is that in his waking consciousness he is mostly limited to physical awareness.
The reason for this is not far-fetched. In the evolution of man, self consciousness had its earliest beginning in a center in the physical brain and man usually identifies himself with this brain center.
However, a fundamental point which is worth knowing and appreciating is the fact that consciousness of the absolute goes beyond time and space, and man has the potential within him to commune with the absolute.
Just what do we mean by the term consciousness? I shall restrict my definition to that which pertains to man.
Generally speaking, consciousness is an attribute of the soul. It is the all-inclusive reality. Although consciousness is usually described in triple parts as spirit, soul, and body, it is clearly one.
While the physical body is the temporary tool or instrument through which the soul finds expression, the soul is the spiritual essence or germ of divinity within us.
The spiritual body is relatively permanent. Many accept that it lasts through the whole development of an individual as he passes through experiences in one life after another.
The impermanent dense cloak, after a brief period of expression, returns its elements to mother earth from which they came.
The spiritual body is thought to retain the accumulated memory of experiences gained life after life.
According to Rosicrucian philosophy, consciousness is the mental aspect of life which includes sensation, realization, and reasoning of which the active principles are imagination, aspiration, and inspiration.
It is the center of man’s life, poised between two worlds, and naturally open to both. These we can broadly refer to as the conscious and unconscious worlds.
Our conscious world includes our objective and subjective consciousness. When one realizes or experiences certain impressions of things existing outside him, he is said to be objectively conscious of his environment.
This awareness is usually made possible through the use of our five receptor senses, as seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling.
On the other hand, “when such sensation as will, recollection and imagination predominate, i.e. when impressions formerly registered on your screen of consciousness are reassembled or recalled, you are then in a subjective state of consciousness.
The subjective phase of the mind is, consequently, that aspect of the mind that is concerned with impressions engendered by the mental processes themselves”.
From the foregoing we can see that our objective and subjective phases of consciousness lie within our conscious world. Let us now consider another world which man is ordinarily unconscious of.
This is the subconscious. In contrast to the objective and subjective, the subconscious constitutes those functions of mind of which we have no consciousness in the same manner as we do objectively and subjectively.
The subconscious is that level of the whole stream of consciousness which lies behind our realization of self and the external world. It is more directly related to the Cosmic Mind.
Thus when one meditates one tries to go further than the subjective level of consciousness to commune with the very foundations of self, the Cosmic Mind.
Nevertheless, we can regard consciousness as a continuous stretch. At one end is the past; at the other end is the future.
With our memory, we can transport consciousness into the past, and with our imagination we can transport consciousness into the future.
It is established that Consciousness, Life Force, and Mind are related and come into and go out of the body together.
We also learn that where consciousness is, mind exists. Each cell of the human body has this consciousness.
With the foregoing analysis properly understood, we can now better appreciate the subject matter of this discourse.
Evolving Consciousness:
Our consciousness is said to be evolving when we allow the essential core of our being to experience a gradual development, an unfoldment toward perfection.
There is progressive growth in evolution. The evolution of the universe, the evolution of man from a primitive being into the present can be divided into cycles.
The Hindu belief recognizes that all forms of consciousness are a continual process of change and growth. Evolution is onward and forward.
From historical perspective there have been interesting developmental stages in man’s evolving consciousness. Primitive man lived in a very dangerous and exciting world.
Then, he was conscious at first only of very elemental conditions such as fear of the elements or danger from the huge beasts he hunted for his food.
Slowly he became conscious of other things such as devotion to his loved ones and need to live in communities. At this level, man knew of his world only by means of his five senses.
He became aware of simple facts, such as similarity of some objects in life. This awareness led him into the aspects of thinking such as simple reasoning and knowledge.
As the life pattern continued to develop, man became conscious of higher things in life and he formed his philosophies and religions in the different parts of the world.
He formed science to make his life more pleasant. He thought beyond his home to his city, state, nation, and in a few cases, his world.
There was as yet little awareness of his universe but as he began to study and chart the movement of the stars and the relation of the earth with them, he began to realize a little of the vast wonder and mystery of the Cosmos.
Finally, we arrive at that level when man began to realize his extrasensory perceptions and eventually discovered that he possessed a higher consciousness far beyond his mundane life.
Imagine what it would be for a child kept in a room until his tenth birthday, never being permitted to look out through the windows to see the grass, the trees or the sky, to be suddenly taken outside for a long ride in the country.
Until he took that ride he would naturally believe that the entire world was the room in which he lived. He could not imagine what there was outside of that room.
As the country around him would begin to expand in distance and unfold in different scenes and different qualities and conditions of things, his own consciousness of the world would begin to expand.
“Growth in consciousness has been aided through the ages by man’s longing to be in attunement with the greater whole.
This greater whole, the all pervading essence, is what can be referred to as Cosmic Consciousness – that consciousness radiating from God which pervades all space (and hence all things), having vitality, mind, constructive power, Divine intelligence.
Into this consciousness is projected all the psychic consciousness of all Masters, and all Adepts may attune with it. It knows all past, present and future”. The consciousness of man on earth is at present in the early part of the Aquarian cycle.
But, what about the technique in the evolution of consciousness? The technique of projecting one’s consciousness beyond the limits of the receptor senses and beyond one’s self-awareness is relatively simple to explain in theory.
In practice, it is far more complex. It involves the conscientious dedication of one’s time and energy to study and practice, as nothing good comes easy.
Development on the mystical path does not come by leaps and bounds, but in the hourly and daily progress we make and by viewing our experiences from the wiser insights of a spiritual consciousness.
The trials and difficulties we experience on the path provide the opportunity for our growth in consciousness. We find however, that all men are at various levels of consciousness determined by the actions and progress made in their previous lives.
Origen (A.D. 185 – 254) states in his work De Principles, “every soul comes into this world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of his previous life”.
In the words of, Dr. H. Spencer Lewis “As the inner consciousness of man expands and develops, it forces the physical part of man to mold itself around the consciousness in harmony with it. What is more important, as the inner consciousness develops in comprehension, it becomes more attuned with the Cosmic and attracts to it prosperity, happiness, power and contentment”.
“May the Cosmic continue in us our evolution to where all races and all men will be lifted into the ideal man of Cosmic consciousness, and bring peace and power to all people that we may eventually have true universal brotherhood”.
Dr. Jonathan Isibor is an Associate Professor of Microbiology at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State of Nigeria. He can be reached at: joe_isibor@yahoo.com
