Dreaming at the Feet of Hades

Just as all things are held within consciousness, consciousness is held within all things.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

We are somewhat misled by the ego when attempting to understand what consciousness truly is. Because the ego is always present in our perspective of consciousness, we think that the 5 senses, thoughts, and feelings are implicit to consciousness. But they are not. Through meditation, you can see that these things are not necessary for the function of consciousness to be present. They are pieces that grow on top and out of it. And so, we find it hard to grasp how a rock or a cup can be conscious.

Consciousness alone requires none of these things. All it requires is beingness. We do not struggle to understand the consciousness of a rock because it is different and alien, but we struggle rather because we project our understanding of ego onto a rock or cup, and wrestle with the imagination of how a rock or a cup can see, hear, think, or feel.

But the rock doesn’t need to do any of these things to be conscious. All it needs to do it is be, and it already is. All things are. Rock-consciousness need not be anything more than the experience of touching the ground upon which the rock sits, and no other experience of phenomena is required in order for the presence of consciousness to occur. That beingness still entails dualities, like form and formlessness, self and other, and therefore, the rock is beingness of consciousness. This does not mean that the sense of sight, smell, etc cannot occur under those circumstances, but instead that they are not necessary for the circumstance of beingness to arise.

So, consciousness is in all things. All things have a nature of duality that defines its own existence. Do not limit yourself with what your personal experience of consciousness is, endowed with all of these incredible senses and ways of understanding phenomena around us. True consciousness doesn’t require all of those senses and ways of understanding. It is enriched by them, but it does not rely on them.

So, be a rock, sitting on the ground, and nothing else, and you will see that by simply imagining it, you have shifted your awareness to the point of view of that rock, and have in a sense, become that rock. This is why consciousness “sleeps” in the rocks. What do our bodies do when sleeping, but simply lie there? Does the relative inactivity and imperception of the body mean that consciousness isn’t there? Of course not.

But what of consciousness within air, or empty space? These are not singular identifiable objects in the traditional physical sense. All I need to say is, remember, all things are empty, even on the physical level due to the way that subatomic particles actually act. Even the rock itself is empty. So, do not mistake consciousness for existing in a singular identifiable thing, because there are no singular identifiable things. Therefore, consciousness also exists even within non-corporeal forms like concepts, thoughts or feelings. Consciousness is a frame of reference and experience, not an identifiable point or thing.