“Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror.” — Kahlil Gibran
This quote provokes an immense process of thought regarding the fundamental existence of consciousness. Many questions arise involving how and where consciousness began, or when and at what point it may cease. Beginning simply . . . has consciousness always existed? Can it be defined as an energy field or something else? If it is something else, what parameters of reason or logic frame that response? Taking it one step further, does that response encapsulate reason or logic at all on any level? And then perhaps, after all the elite thinkers from the centuries of civilizations over time including the present from the fields of science, theology, mathematics, and the like . . . come up with the same or additional questions, we are left in the same place that we began. In the last analysis, there may exist a continuum of questions, that will go unanswered with man venturing into the unknown of eternity with the only finite constant . . . consciousness.
As we process our present moment, for those not desensitized by the bombardment of electronic technology which has addicted a great percentage of the world population, permeating every age group without much exception, our experience acknowledges a repeating construct of unrestrained chaos and confusion. In some quarters we have become intellectually lazy and taking that one step further in Billy Hallowell’s book Fault Line “,,, we can no longer separate personal standards that are shaped by thought and reason from the broader societal narratives that are imprinted and reinforced through universities, media and entertainment.” What does this mean regarding our consciousness of being right now, today in this moment? Thoreau had a very simple response to that question . . . “Men have become the tools of their tools.”
Our culture and society is an arrested prisoner of several sources, none of which are easily addressed, re-constructed, rehabbed, or transformed because it would appear there is no strength of will, vision, passion or courage to do so. That being said, we know as students of history through the millennia . . . crisis, chaos, confusion, disruption, misrepresentation, and the lack of reason was ultimately replaced by those embracing a constancy in conscious awareness, who envisioned another process through the veil of an existent truth as Joel Goldsmith shares with these words, “There is a specific truth for every problem, and the abiding place of that truth is in your consciousness.”
The appearance of disconnectedness in our present society and culture, reflects a pervasive lack of conscious awareness removing us from our intent of purpose regarding who we are, why we are here and where we are going. Unless and until we assimilate the essence of our existence, we will continue floundering in a directionless abyss of darkness. We have the opportunity right now, in this moment to awaken that sleeping visionary within the recesses of our existence that will calm the turbulence of discontent, direct our steps, and illuminate our lives with a constancy of hope. The Bhagavad Gita illustrates that hope with this quote, “Fear not. What is not real, never was and never will be. What is real, always was and cannot be destroyed.” The mirror reflects eternity for all of us. JLR