What is your Awareness of Reality?

Do you fancy yourself to be more of a rational thinker or unbridled spirit – a man or woman of reason, or a child of God?  Depending on one’s level of awareness, perhaps you do not make a distinction between the two.

Independent of your worldview, one thing holds true – at some level of granularity, your journey through life is 100% unique. This also means that, at some level, all journeys are 100% the same, paradoxical as it may seem.

This series is designed to explore, challenge, and ultimately/ ideally expand your level of awareness. Depending on your current vantage point and your receptiveness to expanding it you could be in for a wild ride, so buckle-up.

Chapter 1: Your Reality Check Bounced!

In this installment, let’s start with the beginning and end points – two points make a line, let’s see where you draw yours!

The “Starting Point”:

A single cell on the fingertip of an outstretched arm

Stretch your right arm outward and extend your right index finger as if you are pointing to something in the distance. Close your eyes and picture a single cell on the utmost tip of your finger.

Envision THIS single point as your current point of awareness.  

THIS single cell and everything within it is your universe.

Is this single cell too small to utilize as an analogy for your entire universe? Yes, no, maybe – all of the above.  After all, what is ‘small’? An objective assessment of the term would lead an individual to conclude the word is ‘relative’ at best! So let’s start here – because it is THAT relativity which will help tear down your ‘relative’ walls of perception.

While your universe is encapsulated in a single cell – there is no shortage of activity, potential, and quite literally, LIFE, within it. It has been said that a single cell in the human body contains 100 times as many atoms as there are stars in the Milky Way (which has hundreds of billions of stars).

Now envision the world as you know it (a microcosm of the universe), as one of the trillions of atoms existing within the single cell on the utmost tip of your right index finger.

On that morning, you became aware of the other universes around you

Imagine that one idle morning, while oscillating with nearby friends and family somewhere in the universe of your fingertip, something changed.  YOU BECAME AWARE.

You functioned as a critical component in a critical atom which made up a critical cell – and the combination of awareness, perception, individualism, and ego were the ingredients which caused you to once believe the universe stopped there….

But that critical component you played in that critical atom which was part of a critical cell was part of something bigger.  By being part of something bigger – one can feel smaller at first, or recognize that their contribution has not changed, but rather, they are contributing to something greater as well.

You became aware of the other cells which make up that fingertip around you.

And your universe expands to include those adjacent universes …

As one acknowledges the other universes contributing to the same cause your ‘original’ universe is – one can stop differentiating between them.  Their separation was caused by your perception that they are separate – but at some level, they are not separate at all. Thus, your awareness of ‘your universe’ expands to include those adjacent universes.

And it continues. Your awareness expands exponentially.

You see your part in the finger, and the finger’s part in the hand. You see the hand as an extension of the universal arm, you see the universal arm as a limb in the universal body.

Even within that single cell, which you still perceive yourself as residing in, you become conscious of a ‘greater whole’, and your consciousness shifts from ‘that of the cell’ to ‘that of the body’.

The “Final Point”:

From a sub-particle to a cell at the tip of your finger, your universe expanded beyond to recognize the part you played, not just in the cell – but in the hand, the arm, the limb, and body as a whole.

You have the consciousness of “the body”. This is now “you”, and YOUR UNIVERSE. But what was the real lesson learned?

The lesson learned was not in a “finite point” my friend – it was in the PATTERN ITSELF…. You broke down (cellular) walls to see life beyond your original perspective, freed yourself from the concept of time (a whole other series), freed yourself from the need to ‘stop’ just because ‘you started’ — you embraced the pattern.

An infinite loop – the circular reference of perception:

For there you sit today – with the consciousness of the body. You have a name – and you recognize that there are others around you, similar but unique, you are together but separate.

Have you ever felt you were ‘a part’ of something bigger?  As your consciousness resides in the body – THAT IS JUST THE TIP! That body is part of an atom in the fingertip (perhaps the country you live in) – which is a component of the hand (perhaps planet earth) – which is a part of a limb (perhaps the solar system), that is part of a body (perhaps the milky way)…

You recognize this as the body of “all that is”… and with that recognition, you’re reminded of the pattern…. and you wake up, all over again.

And in conclusion, there isn’t one.

You recognize the pattern, it is infinite. This ‘expanded awareness’ lead you back to the same place all over again – the body of the milky way, seen from an expanded vantage point, is merely the cell of a body in the tip of your (our) right index finger. One is bred to perceive one body.

This cycle continues through all time – time is a characteristic making up other aspects of the similar but different universes.  There are cells as they are today and bodies made of cells as they were yesterday and others as they will be tomorrow.

What hasn’t changed is your role.  No matter your level of awareness and current perception of reality – you are always a critical part of a critical atom in a critical cell which makes up something greater.

You are a critical part of an infinite cycle in a finite world, a critical milestone in a timeless trend in a world bound by time.

Expand your awareness and, in the next installment, this awareness will help you perceive the patterns of creation!

Shout out to Bert!

This series was inspired by a conversation between Bert and myself in the comments of the “What are you gaining” one-liner (“all that is gained in life is lost in death”).

There is some great dialogue in those comments regarding the concept of the ego, afterlife, the state of ‘being’, and perception of the ‘whole’ for those interested.

Please take some time to review the great perspective he has to offer on his “Who is Bert”  blog – “a dialogue on mind, consciousness and existence”.  Relevant to the topic at hand, I recommend his recent post on “identity, separation and love”. Enjoy!

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(Part 1) Universe You: Intro to Connecting the Dots
(Part 2a) Universe You: Positive Relationships
(Part 2b) Universe You: 3 Pillars of a Positive Relationship
(Part 3) Universe You: Why YOU Matter
(Part 4) Universe You: Giving Yourself Space