Consciousness is what we can know best and explain least. It is the inner subjective experience of what it feels like to see red or smell garlic or hear Beethoven. Consciousness has intrigued and baffled philosophers. To begin, we must define and describe consciousness. What to include in a complete definition and description of consciousness?
What is unconsciousness?
ReplyDeletejrbarch,
ReplyDeleteIt has always been said: what you are looking for is already inside of you.
Yes, this is because gnosis is guarded by its ineffability. As such, it cannot come from outside oneself.
Am I unconscious when I'm asleep?
ReplyDeleteOr does it require a couple of left jabs from Sonny Liston?
jrbarch,
ReplyDeleteIt is a very peaceful and lucid state of awareness – but not of the outside world. Everything that perceives the outside world is still asleep.
When Orientalists first encountered the terms Ahadiyyah and Wahidiyyah in Sufism, both of which have the meaning of unity, and having encountered similar terms in Hinduism, they called Ahadiyyah "Unity" and Wahidiyyah "Unicity", to differentiate the two terms.
After a while, they realized that that wasn't very helpful, so they dropped the word "Unicity", retained the word "Unity", but qualified it with an adjective.
Ahadiyyah is now referred to as "Exclusive Unity" and Wahidiyyah as "Inclusive Unity", the words "Exlusive" and "Inclusive" relating to the world. The mystic, while in the state of Ahadiyyah, does not perceive this world, i.e., a vision of unity that excludes this world.
This is, of course, what you've just so beautifully described.
Everything that perceives the outside world is still asleep.
Even more, Junayd's master said: The slave may reach a point that if his face were struck with a sword, he would not feel it.
I think everyone has experienced the transition from sleep to wakefulness, followed by alertness. Similarly, it's near impossible to fall asleep when thoughts are racing through your mind, short of sleep deprivation.
ReplyDeleteApart from lucid dreaming, your self-awareness vanishes during a dream. Your identity may get replaced with another identity, sometimes so vague that it is nothing more than an observer. A good book can sometimes do the same for me.
This might be of interest to philosophers:
ReplyDeleteLight Accelerator - Agendas
Pollination is my agenda :)
ReplyDelete