A Basic Understanding of Reality
The experience of reality can vary drastically. Not only from one being to the next, but also within the same being. Consciousness is your inner experience of reality. It's a very subjective thing to study because we know it exists but don't really have a way to measure it objectively. There are a lot of ways to think about it and to understand it. There are plenty of theories and perspectives on consciousness from a variety of different fields like psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and spirituality. No one theory is perfect or complete because consciousness is a complex thing. They were chosen because they are particularly helpful for personal growth and understanding human behavior.
A Basic Understanding of Duality
As one explores different types of consciousness, the ego loves to make it all about itself. It wants to think it is 'better' or 'less than' someone else for having a different level of consciousness. It's not. Consciousness is simply an experience of life. Think of it like temperature. Is cold air 'better' than warm air? Some may think so, others would say they prefer the cold. It is subjective. Is a cat's consciousness better than a dogs? It is kind of a silly question, don't you think?
The ego does this because it is a dualistic creature. It differentiates, compares and ranks everything. The ego sees opposites where they don't really exist. For example, the ego sees 'hot' as the opposite of 'cold.' These aren't two opposite things - there is only one factor, the amount of heat. It sees light as the opposite of dark, but that is just an intellectualization. You can either have a lot of light or very little. Where the ego sees two variables, there is only one: the amount of light present. The ego likes to think chocolate is the opposite of vanilla. They are just two different flavors.
If your ego starts making you feel superior or inferior as you read this, take note - because this type of dualistic thinking is part of what we need to let go of if we are going to save this world.
