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Cosmic Consciousness? Your Opinions?

DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
edited March 2011 in Faith & Religion
Cosmic Consciousness? Your Opinions?

Comments

  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited March 2011
    I think we covered that one in another thread. That's not a Buddhist concept....
    (Moved thread to Buddhism & World Religions since I'm not sure which religion that's from.)
  • StaticToyboxStaticToybox Veteran
    My opinion is that I need further elaboration before forming an opinion.
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    you mean new-agey cosmic consciousness?
    ...I think it is a new developement.

    "Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves."

    Third Eye - Tool

    "So crucify the ego, before it's far too late
    To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical,
    And you will come to find that we are all one mind
    Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable.
    Just let the light touch you"

    Reflection - Tool
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    to put it bluntly it's the contemporary interpretation of "emptiness".

    emptiness is everywhere. emptiness is form. form is emptiness.

    emptiness is also aware. meaning emptiness and consciousness are the same thing.
    so cosmic consciousness is awareness of emptiness.

    thus emptiness of emptiness of emptiness of emptiness of emptiness.
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited March 2011
    Cosmic consciousness is another grasp at eternalism, IMO. A "universal mind" that one takes to be something they're born from and return to, a way to speculate about a continuity of self to avoid looking at the empty nature of mind and form. A way to say "I'm this speck of consciousness here, have always been and will always be".

    And yet consciousness arises due to conditions. Do we really think we've always been a speck of universal mind? What we are has always been, but it's not-self, and it's not consciousness.
  • sukhitasukhita
    Hinduism: atman = cosmic consciousness (I think.....)
    An example
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    there is a distinction between emptiness and mind?

    when you say mind what do you refer to? Mind or mind.


  • EpicurusEpicurus
    It's a load of crap. Everything that has no basis I can agree with is a load of crap imo.
  • Malachy12Malachy12
    Don't worry about it too much. It's all speculation and just makes for fun thinking on a starry night. I like talking about this with my friends around a campfire, kind of like that Timon and Pumba moment in lion king when they were talking about stars. I guess when we die we'll get some answers... and you know what... we're all gonna die, lol. So in the meantime just enjoy life, and try to focus on the things that make life a good place to be. (But, I can relate to your pondering, because I'm impatient and I want all the answers now, however the reality is... I don't need the answers just yet. What would I even do with it if I had the answer.)
    If you like to think about that kind of stuff, you should read up on quantum physics. I read that and I'm like "Woah, a particle can be in two places at one time, and be a wave?", then I fry a neuron and I step back for a minute, because the possible explanations for this are confounding and too vast. I go back to watching my Korean Dramas, and leave quantum pondering for some other time.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Thanks everyone!
  • xabirxabir Veteran
    Cosmic Consciousness? Your Opinions?
    There is no cosmic consciousness. According to Buddha the only consciousness is the six types of consciousness that dependently originates with the six sense organs and the six sense organs. In short there are only the six consciousnesses that manifests due to D.O.
  • andyZandyZ
    According to Buddhism consciousness is the 5th aggregate (skandha) that constitute the "I" at any given point in time. So I'd say that there's no such thing as "cosmic consciousness" outside of this body.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    If Cosmic Consciousness is the state of insight into the workings of the universe that one attains through Kundalini, then it exists, it's real. How is Cosmic Consciousness defined, anyway, Leon? What is it exactly that we're being asked to comment on?
  • xabirxabir Veteran
    Cosmic Consciousness? Your Opinions?
    There is no cosmic consciousness. According to Buddha the only consciousness is the six types of consciousness that dependently originates with the six sense organs and the six sense organs. In short there are only the six consciousnesses that manifests due to D.O.
    Correction: six sense organs and six sense objects
  • xabirxabir Veteran
    If Cosmic Consciousness is the state of insight into the workings of the universe that one attains through Kundalini, then it exists, it's real. How is Cosmic Consciousness defined, anyway, Leon? What is it exactly that we're being asked to comment on?
    what is attained by those non buddhist path is simply having a direct realization of the luminosity of non conceptual thought

    It is being falsely reified into a universal cosmic consciousness which all beings share. Such a view is false.

    Consciousness is unique and personal.

    See http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2007/03/thusnesss-six-stages-of-experience.html
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    what is attained by those non buddhist path
    Actually, xabir, this is a Buddhist path; some Vajrayana tantric practices are about raising the Kundalini (Inner Fire) for attaining Enlightenment in this lifetime.
    It is being falsely reified into a universal cosmic consciousness which all beings share. Such a view is false.
    We need a definition from Leon as to what "Cosmic Consciousness" is before we can make this type of judgment.

  • xabirxabir Veteran
    what is attained by those non buddhist path
    Actually, xabir, this is a Buddhist path; some Vajrayana tantric practices are about raising the Kundalini (Inner Fire) for attaining Enlightenment in this lifetime.
    no I am not talking about kundalini. I am saying our view is fundamentally different from that of other religions

    Buddhists don't raise kundalini with the aim of a cosmic universal consciousness. In buddhism there is nothing cosmic and universal about concousness
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited March 2011
    What are you defining as Cosmic Consciousness, xabir? "A universal consmic consciousness which all beings share"? I'm not sure what that is, can you clarify? I still think it might be the intuitive awareness of all creation that one can experience from Kundalini, and the potential for kundalini awakening is something that all humans share, I don't know about other beings.
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited March 2011
    I think it's most easily shown in that there are mind and form. Consciousness is an aspect of mind, not of form. The Buddha taught that consciousness arises due to conditions, five of them depending upon "sense doors" such as the eye and tongue, the sixth being thought (mind-consciousness, meaning mind is a condition for the arising of thought as well as consciousness of thought).

    I also agree we have no definition yet for what this "cosmic consciousness" is supposed to mean. It sounds like it's an overlaying consciousness, like "Brahma", something that's eternally there and we're a part of (which makes it a grasp at eternalism). If this is what it means, then I have to disagree, and point to "mind and form" again. All things have their conditions, and everything is in constant flux, empty of self.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited March 2011
    I also agree we have no definition yet for what this "cosmic consciousness" is supposed to mean. All things have their conditions, and everything is in constant flux, empty of self.
    Tuning in with the All and realizing oneness (via Kundalini) is emptiness of self, it's non-duality. If that's what we're talking about. :-/
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited March 2011
    No clue what we're talking about yet. Irksome when people ask a question and don't specify what they're talking about. :)

    @LeonBasin, What do you mean by Cosmic Consciousness? Please describe it in your own words, otherwise this entire thread is an exercise in futility...
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    No clue what we're talking about yet. Irksome when people ask a question and don't specify what they're talking about. :)
    YEAH, Leon! Good topic, but...we need some direction here. Leon? (I know he's around...)

  • xabirxabir Veteran
    What are you defining as Cosmic Consciousness, xabir? "A universal consmic consciousness which all beings share"? I'm not sure what that is, can you clarify? I still think it might be the intuitive awareness of all creation that one can experience from Kundalini, and the potential for kundalini awakening is something that all humans share, I don't know about other beings.
    universal cosmic consciousness usually means a collective source or substratum like brahman wherein all beings and phenomena originate from and I am presuming this as the definition
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    edited March 2011
    The Cosmic Consciousness spoken of in the 1960's came from the Hindu tradition?
    universal cosmic consciousness usually means a collective source or substratum like brahman wherein all beings and phenomena originate from and I am presuming this as the definition
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited March 2011
    I just laughed, thinking about this thread... :D

    Whatever "cosmic consciousness" turns out to mean, I think this is just another example of thinking "well what if...", not looking at what's right here, right now. Why do we never seem to be satisfied with what's present? That's a large part of our dukkha right there, not accepting what we see, seeking out some other reality for the mind to cling to.
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    The self always find a place to hide. Cosmic consciousness is another attempt to seek shelter in an impermanent universe.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2011
    Leon, if you need definite further input, let us know. But otherwise, this thread is just going to start spinning on itself....

    I think we'll just let it fade into Cosmic Emptiness....
  • aMattaMatt Veteran
    Is wonder if the term "cosmic" came about in order to break away from dense materialism in the christian culture... a segway perhaps.

    The notion of an intelligent formulating principle (such as a cosmic universal energy, god etc) is discussed in detail from a buddhist and quantum physics perspective in a book called The Quantum and the Lotus, if anyone is interested. Its a potent read!
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