"Being, or pure consciousness, emanates from the Universal Source of all life – God – as light emanates from the sun. Unlike the sun, however, the Source does not exist in space and time. It is unmanifest and therefore inconceivable, so there is nothing you can say about it. However, your consciousness emanates from the Source, so you can never be separate from it, just as a ray of sunlight cannot be separate from the sun but always remains connected with it."
Eckhart Tolle
HERE ARE THE WORDS
Consciousness is the faculty of sentient awareness.
That is the definition of the word consciousness.
So...
Not a thing.
Not a substance.
Just a word.
We humans came up with this word, to describe the fact that we are aware of our existence and our surroundings.
In certain spiritual teachings this true definition, is ignored...
...because it is believed that consciousness is the substratum to all that is - and - Who We Are.
This conclusion is arrived at by deduction, like this...
Everything we perceive is ultimately impermanent - except awareness.
And consciousness makes this possible.
Therefore, consciousness must be the true reality.
The problem with this idea, is that without the human evolved brain and our sense organs, we wouldn't have consciousness in the first place, to even be able to think about such things.
To know anything, we need the capabilities, the capacities, of thought, sensation, imagination, intuition, memory...
In summary - our Mind.
But there is also another ingredient essential for life to be as we know it...
CONTENT
Without content, there will be nothing for consciousness to arise in or mind to know.
We humans are aspects of that content.
We are essentially vessels in which consciousness arises.
And we know all we know through our mind.
In the first few years of life we act instinctively like all other sentient creatures, and we focus only on whatever sensory content our attention is drawn to.
Gradually through experience and learning, we gain knowledge and understanding, and our consciousness expands to accommodate all the new information - new content.
Which then resides as energy in our mind and our body, either in our awareness or below the surface in the unconscious, flowing freely between both states.
The more compelling the content, the greater its energetic presence in our mind.
This could be likened to clouds forming in the sky, some more dense than others.
When we begin to think about our life and who we are, the most influential inner influences are the - energetic clouds - that have so far formed.
And these are those related to our experiences to that point in our lives, mostly based on our early primordial focus on what has made us feel safe, happy, or fearful.
This is the foundation for the ego-identified condition, dominated by self interest, self protection and the belief that we are our vulnerable and needy body.
It is very common that this limited focus remains predominant for a whole lifetime.
But even so, there is always a subtle sense of something missing, always a little beyond our reach.
This could be likened to knowing there must be a light of some kind beyond those clouds.
And the truth is, we can never know enduring peace and contentment, until we have discovered more about that light.
And this is the motivating energy behind all spiritual seeking.
When we experience the first real glimpse, it is realised that there is a deeper dimension to our existence, which is a revelation, that's commonly called... Spiritual Awakening.
It is the point at which the clouds begin to burn off.
As the process of awakening progresses, the clouds of self interest, thin out.
And feelings of hope and happiness start to come.
Life takes on new meaning and things begin to work out in ways we did not think possible.
Our response to life and the world becomes more open.
Despite all of this happening, however, the denser clouds in the mind are slow to dissipate...periodically dimming or obscuring the light.
As time passes and the sky does gradually become clearer.
We gain a deeper connection, and our consciousness embraces this wider perspective.
Gradually, it is sensed that consciousness, and the energies of our mind may not even be limited to the confines of the time bound-body - that there is an interconnectedness with all that is known and unknown.
It may even be perceived, that our consciousness is one with an all pervading awareness, that emanates from somewhere beyond any possible understanding.
Like a white light, refracted into an infinite variety of colours in our manifest existence.
John