A lot of people live consciously. By consciously I mean they enjoy their lives, they have less stress, they like what they do for a living and at the same time when they are at home and with their family they take life easy. We could say in a few words that they are aware of what they are doing. If so, it means they live consciously. In a conscious life style, individuals are content for what they have and they do not crave to have more at the expense of their own and other’s well-being; causing stress and negative emotions for themselves and suffering to their fellow humans. This type of lifestyle could be found in any layers of society, but it can be found more with the people with an average income, with some portion of religious beliefs, in rural areas, away for modern life and city noises.
Obviously, if everybody lived a conscious life, our world would have been a better place; with less wars and international conflicts, less poverty and illiteracy, less crimes and wrong doings, less mental suffering and a healthier planet with less pollution and less worries about a catastrophic effect of climate changes on the horizon.
But what is the cause of an unconscious living that is negatively affecting humanity and the planet on individual and collective levels? Is it a lack of development in science and technology? Is it a scarcity in resources such as food, water and what nature provides for humans? Is it lack of human knowledge and development in all areas? Are we humans in early ages of our civilization?
We all know that humanity and the planet are not lacking any of the above, but we know that something is lacking; can’t be anything but “Wisdom”, because it is the lack of wisdom which results in suffering.
Wisdom is different from what we define and acquire as knowledge through our social institutions. We can enumerate these distinctions. In a couple of words, wisdom starts from knowing ourselves; who we really are; why we are and what is our purpose as humans. How we acquire wisdom, is the subject of this topic.
Basically, man can acquire wisdom when he takes a spiritual journey. A spiritual path takes us through a shift of consciousness to achieve a conscious living and while taking the path, we are able to observe its attributes and compare it with an unconscious way of living which is the cause for all human suffering.
- The spiritual path/conscious living is to discover our true human nature; peaceful and still with no negative thoughts and emotions.
- Unconscious living is protecting the “self” , the “I” , the “ego” the “mask of personality”; suffering through negative thoughts and emotions
- Conscious living is in harmony with life, nature and the universal flow.
- Unconscious living is to crave, long, compete and try to run faster than the universal flow or procrastinate and move slower than the universal flow.
- Conscious living is in timelessness; it flows in the present moment; here and now
- Unconscious living is time dependent; dwelling mentally in to illusory dimensions of past and future
- Conscious living is contentment; to consume moderately with gratitude without abusing the rights of others
- Unconscious living is greed for possession and therefore abusing the rights of others
- Conscious living is to contemplate, appreciate and enjoy nature and the creation
- Unconscious living is to take our provisions for granted, overuse and misuse nature and the planet’s resources.
- Conscious living is to appreciate own body as the vehicle of soul and maintain it healthy with moderate eating and physical and mental exercises
- Unconscious living is seeking a non-ending satisfaction through overeating and perhaps substance abuse
- Conscious living is to be aware of the inner world, inner dimension and mind through positive thoughts, meditation, tranquility, stillness, peacefulness, patience, surrendering, love and compassion
- Unconscious living is to be unaware of the inner world, inner dimension and mind through overthinking, inner turbulence and negative emotions such as stress, impatience, anger or hate.
- Conscious living is to enjoy simplicity, and having no problem with solitude
- Unconscious living is not being satisfied with what one is and has, feeling of boredom and therefore depending on worldly attachments and making life complicated
- Conscious living heads towards awakening, enlightenment and living life fully, in a way that at the last stage of his life, man has not missed anything; no regrets and no unfulfilled tasks; just like being ready to go to sleep at the end of a fruitful day.
- Unconscious living is to waste a life which was a precious gift given to man but not appreciated, not understood, not felt and not used properly, lived with mental discomfort and suffering, in away that at the last stages of his life, man wishes to go back and live differently, taking different approach regretting for undone affairs.
- Conscious living, apart from fulfillment on individual level, can contribute to the well-being of humanity and the planet
- Unconscious living, apart from suffering on individual level, in many cases makes no contribution to well-being of fellow man and the planet and adding to the suffering of humanity and the planet as we witness in form of problems in our world.
In the above comparison, we have mentioned the effect of unconscious living on collective suffering as well as personal suffering. However to put it more clearly, one could imagine how the collection of the individual unconsciousness can adversely affect the well-being of family environment and society. Things will get even worse when unconscious and uncomfortable mindset will reach to the apex of social political platforms, and gain decision making power. In that case, how their unconscious decisions can impact humanity and the planet. If you would like to see a sample of the outcome, please feel free to tune to a news channel.
