Interplay of Consciousness

The Journey Towards Nondual Suchness

As we embark on the exploration of the human psyche, we encounter myriad forms of consciousness, each serving unique purposes. These different forms are not isolated islands but are deeply interconnected, forming a complex web of cognitive functioning. To understand their nature, we must delve into their characteristics and functions.

**Conscious Mind**: This is our regular state of awareness. It encompasses our present thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, enabling us to interact with the world directly. This realm processes information we are actively focusing on.

**Subconscious Mind**: Operating just below the conscious level, the subconscious mind is the repository of our experiences, memories, and skills. It controls our automatic reactions and plays a pivotal role in shaping our behaviours and habits.

**Unconscious Mind**: This level of consciousness is like an immense iceberg submerged beneath the ocean surface. It houses deep-seated fears, desires, and past traumas that we may not be aware of, influencing our behaviour profoundly.

**Superconscious Mind**: This is a higher state of consciousness, often associated with intuition, creativity, and spiritual insight. It is the realm where we tap into universal wisdom or collective intelligence.

Now, let’s explore the collective counterparts of these levels of consciousness.

**Collective Conscious**: This level of consciousness refers to shared beliefs and ideas within a society or group. It acts as a social force shaping collective behaviour and societal norms.

**Collective Unconscious**: Coined by Carl Jung, this term refers to universal symbols, archetypes, and instincts that form a common psychic heritage for all humanity, influencing our dreams, myths, and behaviours.

**Super-collective Conscious**: This is the collective wisdom and shared higher knowledge of humanity. It’s a consciousness level where collective enlightenment exists, encompassing the highest values and spiritual truths.

**Super-collective Unconscious**: This would represent shared unconscious themes across humanity, including collective traumas or deeply ingrained fears that influence our collective behaviour and world events, often without our collective awareness.

These diverse aspects of consciousness intertwine in a dynamic dance, forming the symphony of our existence. When we experience moments of ‘nondual suchness,’ we step into a state where all these levels of consciousness converge. In these instances, there’s no sense of ‘other,’ no separation between the individual and the universe, no distinction between conscious and unconscious realms. All divisions dissolve in the light of pure awareness.

During this event, it feels like plunging into an ocean of interconnectedness where one can sense the seamless unity of existence. It’s an experience of transcendent clarity, profound peace, and unbounded love, wherein the notion of self and other, subject and object, time and space cease to exist. Everything becomes here and now, one and whole.

In this ultimate state of consciousness, we don’t merely understand or conceptualize unity; we live it, we breathe it, we become it. It’s not a theoretical understanding but a direct, experiential realization.

In conclusion, the different levels of consciousness, with their unique functions, are not separate entities. They are interconnected aspects of our mind continuum, merging into the ultimate experience of nondual suchness. And as we learn to navigate these depths, we open ourselves to new dimensions of self-awareness, interconnectedness, and profound understanding of the universe and our place within it.

Morgan O. Smith