What we find difficult to understand or imagine we consider our right to deny. But if we are to truly understand the nature of reality we must meet it on its own terms. We cannot know reality by looking at it from the outside because we are inescapably on the inside; we distort reality by removing ourselves from it. Yet, we cannot adequately comprehend the universe by viewing it from within. It is, therefore, literally true: “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” (Albert Einstein)

If we suppose the unity of matter and consciousness to be unbroken, we arrive at the existence of consciousness inhabiting even those forms we don’t recognize as conscious. If, on the other hand, we contend that matter-energy is intrinsically devoid of consciousness, we have to deal with explanations that are inadequate and strained. We have to explain the apparent ability of consciousness to be both the result and utilizer of the material brain. To say consciousness “emerged” from matter explains nothing. The physical organism and what occurs in it no more explains consciousness than the construction and operation of an engine explains the energy that drives it. If consciousness were unapart from matter, the opinions and judgments of consciousness are products of mechanical or statistical necessity and consciousness is not really conscious at all. “There is no question of one judgment being more true than another, any more than there can be a question of the phenomenon fish being more true than the phenomenon bird.” (Alan Watts)

Some traditions contend that matter is consciousness withdrawn or gathered inward, away from the conscious response to external influences. Though still a minority view, is view gaining support among Western scientists. British cosmologist Arthur Eddington, a contemporary of Albert Einstein, said: “To put the conclusion crudely—the stuff of the world is mind-stuff.” Quantum physicist Erwin Shroedinger wrote: “Consciousness is a singular of which the plural is unknown.” And, of course, there is theoretical physicist David Bohm’s idea that we exist in a seamless reality that is in a constant state of flux. He believed that deep down the consciousness of mankind is one; that people in the past had insight about a form of intelligence that organized the universe, personalized it, and called it “God.” He was wrong, however, to say that a similar insight can prevail without it being personalized.

To argue that Reality is not blind energy but an “impersonal super-consciousness” or “impersonal mind” means about as much as black whiteness or a circular square. It is the result of understanding the word “personal,” as if God is an organism, form or composite structure like man (or green unicorns). Maybe the term “personal” is badly chosen; maybe “transpersonal” would be more appropriate.

It is not reason that discerns the difference between being and the self that has being. Just as we know the eye by its seeing and not by what is seen; we know the conscious self by its awareness and not by the objects it perceives. To know life, to know being, we must look beyond the ideas that captivate our attention. Otherwise, we are like a one-eyed colorblind man trying to comprehend the depth and color of distant sunset.

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"Esse est percipii."

While i agree that the unity of matter and consciousness is unbroken, i don't think that Consciousness inhabits matter, as such - rather that the energy which constitutes matter is shaped into matter by Consciousness.

That is, in other words, i think that it is Consciousness which creates matter from energy.

If it is the case that Consciousness inhabits matter, this seems to imply that the brain is capable of creating its' own consciousness (and life), which goes against what many modern scientists - Erwin Shrödinger, Fritjof Capra, David Bohm, and Amit Goswami included - suggest to actually be the case.

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"An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is, or is not, tinged with the colour of the object. "
Patanjali - Sutra 4:17

Metaphysically, the physical universe, in it's entirety, was manifested by The Creator – from this point on called God (my "personal" choice) – out of the stuff that existed before said creation.(?) Eternity is the absence of time and therefore exists whether or not time does. Time came into being at the instant Creation began, even in the absence of watches. The only thing around before Creation, in Eternity, was God. God expressed himself (made in His Image) through the manifestation of everything that exists on the physical plane; all matter, solids, liquids, gases, every atom, molecule, photon, protein, electron, gene, everything each of these things were before they became what they are and everything they will ever become!!!

Many Truth seekers throughout the ages have come to think of God as universal consciousness (omnipresent), perhaps because they can't get their minds around their concept of Him any other way. Well, of course, this concept is just as valid and accurate as any other and more so than some who choose not to be so generous, for their own reasons.

Long story short, (I promise). We are all ONE in God, and evolution–whether we're talking about flora, fauna or mineral–takes shape in the spiritual before it's manifested in the physical. Nothing exists in the material or physical world without it's framework or "prototype" first having been realized in the spiritual. Everything has spirit guides that facilitate it's growth or advancement on it's spiritual path. You, me, Orca's, Fido, Polly the parrot, the tomatoes in your garden, the bedrock on which we build civilization, EVERYTHING!! Nothing we see, on any level, has arrived the way we now see it without going through millions or billions of years of change, Divinely guided. EVERYTHING has precisely the degree of consciousness that best serves it's needs and spiritual advancement. Yes, all being One with God, we have a shared consciousness. Don't confuse consciousness with awareness or sentience. That's still the privilege of you, me and Orca's. {=oD

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Only Love Prevails,
Don