The mind is a strange and fascinating instrument. It can be compared to an old and trusted friend or a rowdy and troublesome teenager. It can seem to be deep in sleep or wide eyed awake. Perhaps because it is so unruly and hard to understand, we have invented all kinds of alternatives to help us cope.
As I lay in bed recently wondering about the content of this column, I wished for paper and pen beside the bed, so I could jot down some notes. On the edge of sleep, I didnt trust my mind to remember until morning. Maybe my mind was in a childish mood, petulant about being asked to empty the garbage or make the bed. Or perhaps there would be some unsought, unexplainable dream-time thoughts that would render any wake-time thoughts irretrievable.
We need to write things down if we want to remember: the grocery list; the tasks for tomorrow; the books I want to borrow at the library; the Christmas gifts I need to purchase. Or maybe we type it out; or make notes on the computer; or maybe AI will offer a new alternative to trusting the mind.
Then theres the whole question of consciousness. My granddaughter often accuses me of being oblivious. Shes right, of course. I am often mentally absent from my body. I cant say exactly where that is, but my consciousness is off in space while my body is (more or less) firmly planted on the ground. I like to think thats the sign of a serious student of theology and philosophy, thoughtfully at work in the heavens with roots in the good soil of the earth. More likely, Im just being spacey, as she says, oblivious!
When oblivious, Im not aware nor concerned about whats happening around me. Isnt that inviting, as well as potentially useful? As they say, the world is too much with us!
Of course, being oblivious has its dangers as well. It can lead to train wrecks of all kinds, including the end of democracy as we know it.
But there is also the possibility of heightened consciousness. For me, its an awareness in the mind that has a full body impact. Mind and body are not separate from each other but joined intimately in shared experience. I was reminded of this at the recent Christmas concert at the university. We were sitting in the very last row in the balcony. There was no place for the sound to go, behind or above us. When the soprano soloist hit that high final note, it impacted all of my mind and body and brought unexpected tears to my eyes. It was a whole body experience. I felt that note, a full auditorium away!
In the same way, the eyes can be the vehicle for heightened consciousness. Winter sun makes magic in our living room. With south facing windows and lace curtains; with mirrors and glass doors; with all manner of objects to receive or share the sunlight; it can be a whole mind-body experience of warmth and light. Ones consciousness expands, of the essence of life on this planet and that star in the sky that fuels it.
My ears dont function as well as they used to. Still, there are experiences of heightened consciousness that arrive by way of that sense. We were sitting in the church listening to the priest read from the Scriptures. I believe it was from the book of Revelation where Jesus is: the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Once again, here was a whole body experience. Those Greek words Alpha and Omega, (and I never took Greek in Seminary) impacted me like the sopranos last note. It was an experience of heightened consciousness that has left me intending additional personal study of the Scriptures (especially as Ive retired from active ministry).
Its all there! We can be conscious or unconscious. We can be oblivious or wholly present. We can be sensitive or insensitive. The magic in life is in Being with a capitol B; since the Ground of our Being (Paul Tillichs term for God) has given us life and consciousness to Be.
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