Remember the old riddle: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Well, we have our own version of it: which comes first, consciousness or the body?
But we have a twist: how we answer our riddle has a lot of ramifications.
There is an intriguing question here. Did the human body evolve first and form consciousness as it developed, which is the position taken by science? Or has consciousness always existed throughout the universe, as the vedantic religions of the Far East have believed for thousands of years?
The answer here is very important. There are two possible answers and each answer creates very different possibilities for what we might experience while we are alive.
A little background. We have said that at our very core who we are is consciousness and a body. Now we want to take a closer look at the relationship between the body and consciousness. The two centers are where consciousness and the body come together to do their thing.
One form of consciousness—awareness—works with the brain to create a mind. Awareness brings perceptual data to the brain so that the mind can process what it is perceiving and to make decisions about anything that might need to be done. The head center’s first priority
is to make sure the needs of the body are being met by the environment around the body.
The heart center works in a parallel way. Universal consciousness works with the heart to enable the heart to understand what any given situation is. This consciousness sends vibrational patterns to the heart and the heart knowns how to process these patterns. The priority of the heart center is to maintain an aura of love throughout all of life. It begins with our inner world and then projects outward into the physical. In this way love becomes the foundation for all our life.
The answer to our riddle now becomes very important. If science is correct and consciousness originates in the brain, then in effect the inner world as I have described it cannot exist. The human brain is not capable of creating the kind of experiences I have been describing. At best, what we are experiencing is some kind of hallucination about the nature of the universe. The brain would have no way of knowing what the inner experience might be like.
When you experience the deep inner world there is knowing that comes with the experience. You just know that what you experienced was real. This is actually one of the defining characterisics of the deep inner experience. You know that your understanding of this experience is accurate. And you also know that other people cannot understand what you have experienced until they experience it for themselves. None of this can be explained by the scientific theory of consciousness.
Only the eastern version of consciousness can explain the deep inner experiences people have encountered. The eastern version helps to explain how such experiences are possible. It suggests that while the inner world is internal to the body, the deep inner world is actually way out beyond the body. The heart center is the portal through which we—as consciousness only—travel to experience the universal love throughout the universe.
This experience of universal love is a game changer. Once you experience it you never forget it. You cannot explain it to others but you know it to be true. You realize that it is the underlying foundation for all life. And you recognize that it is missing in humanity today.
Put simply: we need to get more people to experience the inner realm and to recognize that the inner world is not the same as the personal realm. Right now most people conflate the two.
The head solves problems; the heart feels our human needs. Together the head and heart work in a balanced way to understand the human situation that lies before us.
