As humans, our brains have enabled us to rise to the top of the food chain. Therefore, we have become brain-centered when we think of consciousness. But consciousness, our ability to perceive the world around us, is not just located in the brain. It is in the gut, the heart, and in every cell of our bodies. It is even beyond our bodies, in a field that is not physical.

The brain interprets the sensory input of our physical world. We register our awareness of our environment through our constant stream of thought. But each being can have a different sensory experience, depending on the condition of their physical senses and how they have evolved. A human sees a completely different world than a bee. Bees see ultraviolet colors that humans cannot see, yet they are both conscious beings. A blind person is conscious of the world in a completely different way than a sighted person.

Consciousness does reside in the body wherever our perceptions are felt or acknowledged. It is not solely centered in the brain. We may have gut feelings, feelings in our hearts, or a combination of heart, gut, and brain. We are aware of the presence of our soul mate through our gut and heart. Sometimes our brains don’t agree but we go with our hearts and guts anyway. A loving mothers’s heart goes out to her children or people can die of a broken heart. When we walk into a room and something doesn’t “feel right” we go with our gut, regardless of what our brain says.

And so it is a combination of brain, heart, and gut that comprises consciousness. Yet there is someone behind all these perceptual organs, where eternal consciousness lives. It is not dependent on blood flow or nourishment. It is the infinite intelligence of the Universe that never goes unconscious.

Western Philosophy, with some exceptions, is a temple to the rational mind. Reasoning and figuring out why things are the way they are, are the main focus. For example, the Philosopher Kant, formulated reasons for why we need to behave altruistically towards others. Even Descartes, with his, “I think, therefore I am,” emphasizes the rational mind. He does not say: “I feel therefore I am,” or “I witness, therefore I am.”
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Eastern philosophy is more concerned with going within to find who we are as an Eternal reflection of cosmic consciousness. To do this, we must bypass the rational mind and forget about the “why’s” of things. They are the way they are and no matter how bright we are, we will never get to the bottom of it all—but Who and What is it that wants to understand?

To find out who we are, behind the labels, masks, and conditioning, we must not be distracted by the constant stream of thoughts that swirl through the mind. It takes discipline to rise above this whirlpool. It takes training to recognize the tricks of the mind. This is what Eastern philosophy aims to do. And it offers pointers to how to move away from the collector’s search for never-ending knowledge.

In general, Western philosophy is about knowing. Eastern philosophy is about finding our unity with an underlying structure of reality that never dies and never changes. It presumes we can never fully know, but we can still unite in peace with All That Is, because, at base, this is who we really are anyway. All knowledge passes away, but the Soul, in its union with the Universe, is eternal.

We can collect as much knowledge as we want, but it does not bring peace or comfort. But once we go within, with a truly quiet mind, all the harmony of the Universe is revealed.

Soul and Spirit are both elements of the Creative Force of the Universe. They are both immortal and unseen with the human eye. But they can be felt with the heart.
Soul is the emanation of all things beautiful and holy about the universe. It is the essence behind all the harmony and exquisiteness of what we experience through our spiritual senses.
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Spirit is the energy behind the Soul. It is the driving force that impels attraction and creativity to be expressed through Soul. When Spirit is unselfishly and fervently invoked, qualities of Soul shine forth as a result.

The combination of Soul and Spirit is what we feel when we hear a great masterpiece, such as Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. He was already deaf when he composed it but was open to divine inspiration. He was a vessel for the complex beauty of the structure of All That Is. Therefore, he allowed the Spirit to move him and became a witness and transcriber of Soul.

Another example is any of the great spiritual teachers whose generous Souls brought them to share their wisdom and comfort with others. They channel the Spirit and express it uniquely and perfectly, being a witness to the ever presence of Soul and its everlasting beauty.

A squid changes colors to show emotions. A chameleon changes colors to camouflage itself. Both are unconsciously channeling the underlying intelligence of the Universe that underlies all of life. Animals don’t consciously decide, “I’m going to turn pink now.” But if it is appropriate for an animal’s survival to turn red, it will do so. It is merely the instrument of a huge chain of actions and reactions that are out of most of our controls.
The same idea applies to humans. We cannot willfully make ourselves turn pale or even blush but if our emotions or physical circumstances call for it, we will blush or look as if all the blood has run out of our faces. So many things are out of our conscious control. We cannot beat our own heart or demand that our pancreas secrete hormones. Most of what we do actually happens to us, as the Universe works through us. We just think we are in control.
The Universe is a huge dance of many mysteries and secrets that humans are always trying to decipher so we will feel that they we are in control. But so many things are out of our control. Squids, chameleons, and humans all are under the sway of the Laws of the Universe and only a few things are within our conscious control. Moral choice is one of them (but could also be unconsciously conditioned by culture and upbringing).
You may say, the squid is consciously deciding to eat that small fish over there and therefore it propels itself towards it to gobble it down. Yes, but what is propelling the squid to do this? It is not saying to itself, “I am going to move all my legs by stimulating their nerves with my ganglia to eat that tasty-looking minnow.” The same is true for humans. If you had to consciously tell each arm, leg, finger, hand, to move towards some food, it would take hours.
We are propelled to perform most of our actions for the sake of our survival, just as with the animals who magically change colors. It is one of the fantastic attributes of the Universe that it doesn't have to be so incredibly colorful and beautiful to continue the dance of survival. It just is.

It takes work, discipline, and practice to overcome the negative bias of the human mind and the fearful projections of “lower” consciousness. Many people are not willing to put themselves through the training it requires to achieve levels of consciousness beyond the mere day-to-day survival.

Many people do not even think it is possible or even care. They are consumed with getting by with the least amount of pain and loss. They have relied on others, such as priests and authority figures to tell them that such states exist but do not think they are capable of such exalted states of being.

To find their way to their inner light and Soul seems too difficult or impractical. They think that higher consciousness would interfere with accomplishing their daily tasks as they bask in the ecstasy of inner bliss. This is a misconception and comes from visions of hermits living in caves meditating in the mountains instead of people actively engaged with life.

Or higher consciousness has been mystified to be like an endless psychedelic trip of colors, lights and disorientation. This false concept of higher consciousness deters people from “going there.” How are they going to get anything done if they are in a constant state of uninterrupted joy and distracting visual effects? But higher consciousness is nothing more or less that realizing that we are one with the Universe and that it is working through us.
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Because of:

• All the untrue ideas about higher consciousness
• Ignorance that it even exists
• The belief it is the special province of anointed religious figures

. . .most humans have not attained the levels of consciousness of which we are all capable.

Confucius said, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” This is because holding onto anger, past hurts, and upsets harms you. You are not free to live a life of joy and peace because you are constantly rolling around in the mud of what happened yesterday. The other person may be just fine with what they did, you are the one who is suffering. To add more suffering to an already suffering world is not a solution on the path of wisdom and understanding.

It is better to leave it to Karma and to the balance of the Universe if someone has wronged you. If you keep holding onto it, you are continuing the sorrow, the hurt, and the problem takes over your life. It is much kinder to yourself to let it go. It is not up to you to be the judge, the jury and the executioner. Other forces of the universe are at work to put things to right. Let them do their job and just live in peace.
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There will always be people who are cruel and hurtful based on their insecurities and evil intent. You don’t need to add to the world’s burden of distress. The evil can stop with you. And in that way you will build yourself up to be strong and able to handle life’s misfortunes without thinking you have to set. everything right. It is not up to you. Just be free and know that no one gets away with anything in a perfect Universe.

The only absolute certainty is that the Universe exists, everything else is probability. Even the atom, when examined under scanning electron microscopes, consists of particles and waves that have a probability of being in a certain place at a certain time, according to physicist Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.

Heisenberg states that the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory. To bypass the details of his theory, but to get to the meat—-He is saying that even the most fundamental “building blocks” of material reality, are based on the probability of being there rather than certainty because we can’t measure them together. Position, energy and time, are unknown, except by probabilities because they cannot be measured simultaneously.

People who do not understand this think that everything they see is real and that everything they were taught by their religion is true. This makes people feel very secure and in control. It is unsettling to know that there is never absolute certainty from the human mind’s point of view.

But when we step into the world of the Spirit, it’s OK to be uncertain about it all. We can relax into the uncertainty. We know we are not in control and that the only thing we really can control is our thoughts and body movements (most of which are beyond our voluntary control anyway). It is probable that our heart will beat one more beat but one day that will be impossible too.
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When we see things from deep within our Souls we feel awe at the uncertainty and yet perfection of it all. The Universe is perfectly put together, with uncertainty built into its most fundamental nature. And yet it flows in an orderly fashion that will always be beyond human comprehension.

New Age philosophy does not promote narcissism but narcissists can use New Age philosophy to promote their own agendas. Then again, narcissists can use any philosophy to get what they want out of others. And what narcissists want is adulation, praise, and validation from strangers to create a sense of self that continues to elude them.

We really can’t blame New Age philosophy for what people have interpreted it to be. In essence, New Age philosophy is innocent. It looks forward to a “New Age” of love and light through personal transformation and healing. There is nothing narcissistic about that.

Here is where the problem comes in: The New Age Movement encourages self love. As RuPaul says, “If you can’t love yourself, how are you gonna love anyone else?” There is so much truth in this. Taken the way it’s intended, it means we have to care enough about developing our own inner light before we are even capable of seeing it in another.

Loving yourself can be misinterpreted to mean a puffed up, conceited over-evaluation of your gifts and abilities. Or it can mean grab everything for yourself in a never-ending quest for more, more, and more. But this has never been stated as an aim of the New Age movement. Loving yourself is deep, respectful humility in your recognition of the magnificent Universe of which you partake. It has nothing to do with petty egos bolstering themselves with magical thinking.
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If people have cheapened the New Age movement by using it for their own ego gratification, it is nothing new. All the spiritual movements of this planet have been corrupted through egotistical human interpretation. The golden embroidery on velvet priestly vestments is very different from the unadorned robe and sandals Jesus wore in the desert. Charismatic, egotistical, and narcissistic individuals will use any belief system for their personal advancement. The New Age Movement is no exception.

Silence is a great luxury today. And yet it is within silence that we finally see the some of the secrets of the universe that give life its meaning.
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So many people fear silence. They don’t want to be alone with their thoughts. That is not the silence I am talking about. I mean silence away from your thoughts. I don’t mean sitting there twiddling your thumbs while you worry from one subject to another and back again. I mean complete, utter silence beyond and above thought.

This takes training and intention, just like working out in the gym. If you let your mind run all over the place, it will be troublesome and flabby. But if you train it, it will, like an obedient pet, retire to the corner of the room and rest while you explore more important areas: Namely your soul, your spirit, and your unity with all that is, in perfect peace.

You can find silence in the midst of turmoil, such as in a prison setting where you don’t have control over your acoustic environment or in a crowd. But if you can find a place where it is truly quiet, it is a great blessing. I usually rise very early in the morning to experience this kind of true silence. The sadhus I encountered in India also followed this practice. It is very worthwhile when all the sounds and machinery of modern life are still. Just look up at the stars and feel the eternal silence and peace of what is eternal and real.

Every child has a pure soul. Moreover, every adult has a pure soul as well. The soul is that part of us that is eternal. It has nothing to do with value judgements of good or evil and it cannot perform any actions. It just is. Insofar as we can contact this part of us, we find peace. If we are distracted by our thoughts and other outer attention-grabbing devices, we are not at true peace. But this has nothing to do with the soul.

The soul is purity and perfection itself, for it is in union with the harmony of the Universe. Again, it has nothing to do with cultural ideas of right or wrong, good or bad, but its milieu is eternal peace. What the mind compels us to do once we have entered a body cannot affect the soul, which always remains perfect and spotless.

But once we enter this body and become conditioned by all kinds of forces, including the mind’s hard-wired ego drives, we may think we are killing our souls. No. We are obscuring our souls. Our souls can never be killed. It is always there and we are covering it over with a lot of tape. Some people use masking tape, some duct tape, some super 88 electrical tape. But it is all a substance that obscures the soul.
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Sometimes we see people with black auras. That still does not relate to the purity of their souls. It relates to the karma they have accrued through harmful and deadly actions based on deliberate cruelty. Their souls remain pure and when they find their way to their souls one day, their harmful actions will cease.