Consciousness

SUN., JUNE 27, 1982, 4:50 AM
FARM, STUDY

To be conscious is to be alive. You seem to have difficulty, o son, in writing down what you hear. Tune your consciousness to Me, for I am ready to use that consciousness for your education and, thereby, for the education of others. You awoke from unconsciousness (though you were dreaming, which is a form of consciousness) and came to this desk and began this small ritual. And another teaching commenced, with a title to which you had given no previous thought. Where can this possibly lead? Write and see.

Consciousness comes first, followed by awareness and appreciation. You were conscious as you were brushing your teeth and putting on your clothes, but you were not yet aware of Me… not yet attuned to My voice. Consciousness is a first step toward purposeful learning.

You used a mechanical device this morning to bring you to consciousness. You manipulated a natural process, for consciousness is an active state and seeks to return as soon as rest is sufficient. All right, you are now conscious. What can you do with this state?

In sleep your body rests, but is still minimally conscious. Your body reacts to discomfort… muscles contract and work, even though relaxation is the desired state. Your mind is unconscious except as it becomes involved in dreaming. It, too, is resting, readying for another time of consciousness. You are alive, technically, in the sleep state, but when consciousness returns you are able to think, to act, to respond to others (including Me… and I’ll come back to this), and to learn. And this is what “being alive” really means.

Fundamentally, life is both a passive and an active process. You are alive even though you are asleep and unconscious, but it is a passive stage… a resting time. Then with consciousness comes the capacity for action, the coordination of spirit, mind, and body.

Is death a loss of consciousness? Some would say so, and it is possible. It is possible for death to be a time of prolonged unconsciousness, but it need not be. If your spirit is strong and developed and, particularly, if you are attuned to Me and expecting to retain consciousness you surely shall. Just as a small baby sleeps much of the time, a person with a poorly developed spirit can remain unconscious after death. What rouses such a being? The baby analogy continues. There is a need for nourishment that arouses, so it can come from within self. Also other souls may rouse an unconscious one and urge consciousness, the return of life and the state in which learning and growth can take place.