A Deeper Meaning Behind “Expansion of Consciousness”

An image of the Buddha sitting in meditation, with large consciousness permanently expanded from his head.

In the last few decades there has been a lot of talk in various spiritual circles about expansion of consciousness; that in order to be spiritual, the person needs to expand their consciousness. Many people say that by using meditation or some other spiritual practices, that they have expanded their consciousness. If you would to inquire more about what they mean by this, often time you would get an answer that they have become more aware in daily life and more conscious of the things that previously they were not.

Levels of Understanding Through Consciousness and Inner Work

It has been often said that teacher comes when student is ready. This readiness of the student depends on his level of understanding. In the beginning he finds the work and teachers, and then as his understanding increases he is able to understand more and more of the esoteric subjects. This increase of understanding is directly related to his own inner work. If the work is not taking place inside him, the level stays the same, and sometimes it can even disappear (if we go backwards), though I think this loss of understanding is temporarily taken away.

The Purpose and Importance of Meditation

In today’s day and age, in the pace of life that tries to keep up with the modern system of living, where almost everything revolves around making money and survival, many have started questioning if this is the true way to be, if this is our true nature, and are turning towards silence. This can then eventually lead them to meditation.

There are also those, however, that the prompting guide for meditation is not only to ‘slow down’, but also to search for answers within themselves, for the mysteries of their Being.

Whatever the case may be, meditation comes to be almost as something that saves from falling into a dark pit. Many have said that without this tool they would still be stuck in the repetitive mechanical ways of life that mercilessly squeeze out the energy out of them.

Astral projection or Lucid dreaming: Which One to Choose

I decided to write this post as a sort of a clarification, and to expand a little bit upon the meaning of these two abilities. I noticed that many people think about lucid dreaming as something that is happening exclusively in the mind, and believe that through it they can satisfy their unfulfilled desires, have a lot of fun, enhance their personality, as well as work on various obstacles that they have in daily life. Such usage is what many ‘experts’ in this field promote. The former boast with the titles of ‘scientist’ and use it in authoritative way to explain what lucid dreams are all about. Such people ignore, ridicule, or demean the ability of astral projection, which is defined as the projection of consciousness (inside the astral body) out of the physical vehicle. For these people, there is nothing in us that can be projected out in that way, so they label it as a silly occult mumbo-jumbo. Or, there are some others in this field who think of it as real, but also as something that is happening solely within ones own mind.

Spontaneous Practice in India: Meditation in Space

Last year I was traveling in India, visiting many of the interesting places with temples and heightened energy. There are many religions in India, and people practicing them are co-existing peacefully with one another. The spiritual energy permeating many of the places in India has attracted spiritual seekers for centuries, and being there last year for the first time I glimpsed as to why that is so. Such a long tradition of spiritual activity has left tangible charge to the country, and while visiting some places one may tap to sources of intuitive feelings, which is why many seekers come to India in the first place – to get an insight that they need in life.

Self-observation for knoweldge of the self

Once we tackle the exercise of self-remembrance and grounding ourselves in the here and now, the next step is to observe within. By so doing, we see what is happening in our five psychological centers where the egos (subconscious defects) manifest. These defects govern our lives in so many ways, but when we start observing them from the point of view of an observer, we are then able to detach from them and not go along with what they want us to do.

These defects control us through the five psychological centers. These are: intellect, emotion, sex, motor and instinct. In each of these centers these egos manifest in a different way. In the intellectual center as thoughts; in the emotional center as emotions, in the motor center as unconscious movement, and in the instinctual center as instincts, and in the sexual center as the sensations of lust. What connects them all together is that they often manifest bellow our radar, and without us consenting to them.

Because we have such a small level of consciousness, most of what arises in us in any moment of the day is subconscious states. When we are in the state of self-remembrance and when we self-observe the above mentioned centers, we can then see which of them is taking hold of our psychological centers, and subsequently can deal with them.

In order to practice the self-observation exercise well, we first need to remember ourselves and thereby become conscious of the present moment, and then begin to look within at the five psychological centers. As we do this more and more, the sense of self-remembrance and self-observation will become like one single sense. In other words, when we become conscious of ourselves it will be natural to look both ways at the same time – both within and without.

The free consciousness that we are is still very small and undeveloped, and it is like a piece of driftwood in a stormy sea – it is just a matter of time until it will be overridden by the waves of egos. To not allow that to happen you have to guard it by being aware of your egos and in this way you prevent from taking control. Buddha said how consciousness is like a candle flame amidst fiery winds – we need to surround that flame with our hands (self-observation) so that it doesn’t get extinguished.

The exercise of self-observation is the second step to the revolution of consciousness. Without it, no further development is possible.

HDP (revised March 2020.)