Click for audio: Understanding Consciousness
“Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).
In New Thought literature we use the term consciousness to represent two aspects of our thinking. We accept the commonly held usage of consciousness as awareness of one’s self and one’s surroundings. More importantly, consciousness is the sum of our beliefs about ourselves, about God and our life in general.
The beliefs we hold are centered on and influenced by the way we see ourselves. In the above parable, Jesus refers to this as the two foundations: one of rock and one of sand. The soul is the rock and the senses-based self-image is the sand. The house is the sum of our beliefs.
Many people approach the spiritual path trying to simply remodel or rebuild their house on their foundation of sand. They will adopt positive affirmations and denials, affirming their oneness with God and their right to have all good things in their lives. The self-image foundation, however, remains unchanged.
As we take the more difficult path of understanding and experiencing who and what we are at the soul level, that rock-solid core of our being, our house of consciousness naturally begins to reflect this stabilizing foundation. We take our mind off having and focus on being. We learn to be still and allow the truth of our being to rise into our awareness in a way that establishes our life on earth as it is in heaven.
While this inside-out approach runs counter to what much of the world is recommending, you will find that the quality of your life will never exceed the quality of your consciousness, and the quality of your consciousness will never exceed the manner in which you see yourself.