be aware, consciousness, be conscious
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BTW: The German version can be found here.
The expansion of our awareness is only possible through solving those tasks which are matched to the actual status of our training. The tackling of tasks which are «too difficult» does not lead to any kind of acceleration of our development. In fact it is the opposite, it leads to a slowing down or even to a standstill or to steps backwards. The same is also true where the demands are insufficient.
This is immediately obvious in virtually every other form of training: A music student who learns a piece which is too difficult for him during his training will not make faster progress in his learning process than another musician, who only plays pieces which are matched to his actual abilities. If a good piano player only ever plays quite simple pieces with one hand, in time he loses his ability with the second hand: He takes steps backwards or forgets what he has learned about two-handed piano playing. A car driver who also drives a formula one racing car, will not become a better car driver because of this. A sportsman who trains to run over a length of 5 km will obtain no advantage at all for his 5 km stretch by completing a 42 km marathon, even if he finishes the marathon in a very good time.
Now let’s return to the description of human development towards the living of the basic rights of existence so as to achieve internal harmony. As the next step we would like to consider what actually changes in a person when he fulfills the preconditions for the development, in other words he would like to respect – without preconditions and from his own free will – the basic rights of existence and then take the steps necessary for this.
We have seen that we can compare human development with the achievement of virtuosity in a particular activity (for example making music, sport, handcrafts etc.). The basic rights of existence (the equal right of all beings to be on the earth, to develop and to carry out their tasks) must be so strongly internalized that in every situation we automatically act according to these rights without having to think about it. If we wish to pass through this development stage, our subconscious – amongst other things with subjective perception (glasses model) – will help us to eliminate the causes of violating the basic rights of existence. We learn step by step and hence build our own pyramid of human development. Within the scope of our personal development our perceptive ability with respect to everything around us and the important interrelationships in life also increases. In particular our abilities to intuitively perceive and evaluate important information for the respecting of the basic rights of existence also increase.
The same is true for the perceptive and expressive ability in connection with the living of the basic rights of existence. We refer to this ability in the following as awareness. The word «awareness» (to be conscious of something) describes well the interrelationship described above: He who is properly conscious when carrying out a certain activity is very «aware» of all the useful information. Unlike the less well-practised he has trained his senses to be able to take in lots of additional information and to express it. He who lives his life as a virtuoso, i.e. automatically allows himself to be guided in all situations by the basic rights of existence, in other words he who lives the basic rights of existence «is» the basic rights of existence. He becomes virtually «fused» with the law and has similarly trained many of his senses which help him in this activity of living the virtuoso life or even make it possible in the first place. With respect to life he has become aware of «his existence». We would say he has a great awareness.
We can use the model of a bright lamp to represent our level of awareness or level of higher consciousness: Our body represents the lamp which is lit ever more brightly as our awareness increases (higher consciousness). The brightness of our awareness lights up our surroundings so that we can see and hence perceive additional aspects of ourselves and our surroundings.
The model of the awareness sphere is extremely appropriate for discussing some of the characteristics of our personal development or spiritual growth:
As many and diverse as we human beings may be once our existential needs are satisfied we all strive for the same thing: We want to feel happy and satisfied the whole time and to be able to live our lives without fear and worries. This search for harmony and inner peace, for self-fulfilment, for calmness, or however we may wish to describe this condition, is indisputably the top goal in the case of virtually all models of human needs.