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Deepak Chopra

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What Is Consciousness?

Posted: 09/23/11 02:15 PM ET

Deepak answers questions about the nature of consciousness. How is consciousness defined and is the universe conscious? These questions are from readers of book War of the Worldviews: Science vs. Spirituality by Deepak Chopra and Leonard Mlodinow.

 
 
 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MerrieWay
03:58 AM on 10/03/2011
To know what you speak of ... connects us with our special threat of existence.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Vajara
vajara
09:51 AM on 10/01/2011
Consciousness is Witness (a natural and innocent state of being honest, open, accepting, allowing) and manifests as experience--unity, love, health, balance, happiness, creativity/innovation, relationship, interaction, fulness-emptyness--with absence of belief, judgment, interpretation or analysis.

Truth, Learning, Knowing and Wisdom are the fruits of consciousness-awareness.
06:46 PM on 09/28/2011
The mind is totally incapable of being consistant as it has no ground from which to work. Only Soul is grounded, and then not until it is Self and God Realized. The gounding of Soul is Divine Love.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Todd G Chavey
10:58 PM on 09/27/2011
Consciousness levels
Are parallel lines
Like an untuned guitar
The strings just don’t rhyme
The directions are the same
Regarding self
But some feel better
And that’s life’s true wealth.
An example of these levels
And the personalities thereof
Is when one speaks of hate
And then speaks of love.
Like a person who helps
The crippled and the blind
But opposes interracial love
And inconsistent mind.
So for love to be true
You just got to be
Totally consistent
In order to be free.
Because then seeing self
As others see you
Becomes a reality of life
You’re free to be true.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Vajara
vajara
12:34 PM on 10/03/2011
In other words, not as eloquent, but if everyone puts into practice the values and virtues of living healthy lives with deep respect, regard and love for others, we can become free & true to ourselves.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Todd G Chavey
10:26 PM on 10/03/2011
Yes. It's pretty simple.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Todd G Chavey
10:56 PM on 09/27/2011
Conscience is what separates man from animals. We were given a conscience which is driven by Love. This gift was given to us by the Father. Some religions or denominations call it guilt. Those of who think that of guilt is doing Satans work.
researcher
researcher
02:45 PM on 09/28/2011
a pet dog has a consciousness that is based in love, often unconditional love.

all animals have a level of consciousness.

how a society treats its farm animals reveals much about that society's level of consciousness.

your comments on guilt are interesting as indeed guilt is of the ego meaning it is self confirmatory to the ego as a separate enitity from all others. the ego takes to guilt like a duck takes to water and religious insitutions make a ton of money preaching that guilt.

as far as the concepts of god as father and a personal satan those are images that are made in the image of man. God is not a father or a mother but an infinite intelligence and vitality that expresses that intelligence and vitality as a universe and conscious life within the universe.

we are expressions of that intelligence and vitality. we are perfectly imperfect expressions of that intelligence for a divine reason. find that reason and a whole new world will evolve in one's view of the infinite.

the fallen or we fell asleep explanations are man's attempt to explain our imperfections both based in our lack of knowledge of the divine purpose of our unawareness.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Todd G Chavey
10:36 PM on 09/28/2011
If you feel as though a dog has a conscience, then you are mistaken. If you care about the treatment of animals and turn a blind eye on how man treats man, then you have lost your priorities.

Lose your ego and bury your pride. Guilt is your conscience telling you that you have done wrong. If you kill, you know that you have done wrong. If you cheat to win or steal and try and justify, guilt is put in place. If you feel as though this is a religious conspiracy, then again,you are mistaken.
04:23 PM on 09/29/2011
Todd:
There is NO satan only mind and karma. We all have the opportunity to take responsibility for our actions. We are NOT IN THE WORLD, the WORLD IS IN US. This is the divine's gift to Soul. We get to choose between mind and Soul. Blessings, Thomas
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Todd G Chavey
07:38 PM on 09/29/2011
You mention a soul. Interesting.
11:59 AM on 09/26/2011
"Consciousness is the unit of awareness that knows, sees, and has beingness, as well as the ability to act independently of all bodily senses."
A Living Param Saint.
researcher
researcher
02:46 PM on 09/28/2011
profound def of consciousness and all in one sentence. nice.
researcher
researcher
07:33 PM on 09/25/2011
three comments on consciousness. interesting aspect of the american culture.
researcher
researcher
12:55 AM on 09/25/2011
Consciousness is that which is manifested. Consciousness is the expression of that that is. i.e. Isness.

Consciousness is not ultimate reality; it is manifested reality. Absolute perfect reality is pure awareness.

Most of the world believes that consciousness creates awareness; it is the infinite awareness of Isness that creates/manifests/expresses consciousness.

As consciousness evolves greater awareness is attained; therefore awareness is primary.

INVALID STATEMENT: as awareness evolves consciousness is attained. Can you see how invalid this previous statement is?

We have no valid definition for awareness.

We can dance around the definition of awareness by stating awareness is observation with understanding but that definition fails on several levels.

Awareness is that which is of the Infinite and therefore cannot be defined; for to attempt to define Infinite is to limit Infinite and the very definition of infinite means it has no boundaries.

Dr. Chopra has yet to understand the difference between consciousness and awareness. But he will if not in this life than another. I.e. Hindu thing. :-)

When I met him in person I offered to explain these differences to him in detail. i.e. he declined. He already knows. i.e. guru knows all thing. :-(

Awareness and consciousness are the yin and yang of life. Can you describe why one is yin and which one is yang? :-) If you can you are way ahead of Chopra’s understanding of awareness and consciousness.
03:57 PM on 09/24/2011
DR. Chopra might make use of the short cut that His Holiness maharishi mahesh yogi ha dgiven to him ;make use of the powerfull law of nature " path of least action " ; that is how the unified field of life functions; that is how the immortal consciousness which created all and evolves all and sustains all functions

Dr Chopraknows or should know that transcendental meditation (TM) is consciusness itself ; TM is th eonly experience which by virtue of being immortal consciosuness enlivens the total brain . TM is th eonly meditation proven to create " total brain functioning " because it enlivens the immortal consciosuness which created the brain th ebody and th euniverse..only that experience of perfect stressfree state of zero entropy deep inside at Planck scale can neutralize entropy in body/brain; neutralizing entropy means healing stress....nothing needs to be done to know consciousness to know peace to know absolute bliss than to heal stress in the deep deep rest of TM state...consciousness is SATCHITANANDA and only stress stands between us and that omnipresent Reality

well one thing needs to be done : huffpost needs to place the spirit/meditation section moreprominently on its buttons..the peopel who run huffpost are either not enlightened enough or are placing their money interests ahead of their consciosuness interests

and i need to win the lottery so i can donate to maharishi vedic pandits , the premier peace creating experts in history
01:01 PM on 09/26/2011
Merlinspinoza: May I respectfully suggest that you make use of spell check. It will enhance your writing greatly. Your ideas are better represented that way.
Blessings.
06:01 PM on 09/23/2011
To a person who is on a quest for knowledge (and isn't everyone) I am glad the Deepak answers questions about the nature of consciousness. But in this New Age Of Enlightened Reason and one has achieved a level of understanding consciousness and universal conscious (thanks to OPRAHISM ie Law of Attraction etc) the answers to the questions are within. I am glad that people are awakening and hope the book is successful. I do not know all the answers but I have learned where to look and it is in the consciousnesses that surround me.