Confusing Consciousness

Confusing consciousness confuses us.
Do we have consciousness, or are we consciousness?

Two paths that lead in opposite directions.
Because of this, we only communicate on a relative level.

True communication is rare.

Most humans believe that consciousness is just an organ of perception. This isn’t the complete picture, as consciousness can realise its true reality, its enlightened reality.

If we reason that we are the sum total of our perception, we may think that the more we perceive, the cleverer we are. The cleverer the ego? Clinging to ideas, we become more gross in absolute terms.

From the Dharma point of view, we are consciousness, pure and simple. How did this change into a gross consciousness?

Let’s take a closer look:

We are born with particular unique, subtle tendencies. Whether this due to previous lives or just one of those things, what matters is that we have certain inclinations that are different from others. In general, we are – more or less – open books but, depending on our upbringing, we are influenced by local and cultural ideas, and either go along with these or reject them – more or less. If we don’t question the direction in which we are heading, we will follow the collective in its belief that we have consciousness – and join a world of chaos, competitive confusion and indifference.

A time will come when each of us will question our current path or way of life.