What is Consciousness

Introduction of Relief of Suffering – Altering Consciousness through Understanding Consciousness

Consciousness has been a heavily used and often misrepresented word in our culture recently. Many tend to use consciousness as a measurement of ‘enlightenment,’ rather than of perspective. We do this, of course, by no fault of our own, but by a misunderstanding of the definition. Being conscious simply represents having an ability to be aware of ourselves, of our environment and of our interactions with all life.

The concept of high consciousness is often only recognized in a select few, but the truth is – unless there have been significant physical alterations to our brain – one human is not more capable of being fully conscious than another. Most of us like to think of ourselves as fully conscious and to an extent, we are. We are conscious of our own perspectives and of the conditions we experience as reality, but the ability to be of high consciousness is not limited to a privileged few. We all have conscious and unconscious moments – wisdom and ignorance – but this is more a statement of brain function than it is of capability.

Those who struggle to eliminate over-reactive, often considered immature states of consciousness do not lack the ability to be conscious any more than a person suffering the conditions of a head cold lacks the ability to be healthy.

Most of us understand that mental, emotional and physical illnesses are a result of poor brain function. Whether it is mild conditions, such as stress, insecurity or the common cold or something more severe, like PTSD, depression, or even cancer, doctors will diagnose and medicate us for it. Therapists will see us for years to help us manage it. We’ll take yoga classes, learn to meditate and try a myriad of alternative medicines in an attempt to improve it.

The world is full of opportunities that promise to teach us how to analyze and eventually try to control our personal experience of reality – usually by controlling the thought, feeling or emotion behind it. This in and of itself, is a major error in thinking. You can’t think better to feel better. If you improve your brain function, you will feel better and as a result, you will naturally think better thoughts. To try and control the thought or even the feeling without controlling the function, severely limits our ability to entirely transcend unhealthy patterns.

This is why so many experience only nominal results or try and fail at program after program. It’s not you. It’s the program.

Can you consciously control your mood, your thoughts, your perceptions of reality? Yes. Can you experience growth through your effort? Yes, but it will be arduous, and it will be incremental. The brain does not think first. Thinking is a simple matter of neuron clusters that register only after a series of other decisions have been made by the brain. Some clusters result in defeating, self-recriminating, negative thought, while others result in inspired, self-loving, positive thought. The choice of which thought we entertain is not a choice that is made at the conscious level, not in the way we’re taught.

We will be hard-pressed to solve our problems by trying to control the experiences we already see. What we need to address is what we don’t see. If our conscious minds had the answers, we would have solved these issues long ago.

Of the eighty-six billion neurons in the brain, only three billion are conscious. Yes, that leaves eighty-three billion neurons acting at either subconscious or completely unconscious levels. Ultimately, the three billion conscious neurons are nowhere near the neurons that are really in charge. This is why the goal of most therapeutic treatment is to uncover the unconscious triggers that drive our brain function. Unraveling unconscious triggers works and it works well, but it also consumes arduous hours of effort with only nominal results.

To try and process every subconscious trigger we have, to try and evolve one thought, one experience, or one perception of reality at a time can take decades of work – lifetimes for some. The questions we should all be asking ourselves are; Is my current approach giving me the results I really want? Is my life significantly better than it was a month ago? If it is, stay with what you’re doing. If it isn’t, be willing to try something new, something which will give you faster, more permanent results.

To create significant, expedited change, we need to understand the brain functions that occur before thought, the brain functions that ultimately decide how we think and then directly translate to what we think. We need to understand the chemicals and the physical functions of the brain and even more than that, we need to understand what happens before the function, so we can gain the ability to direct it. This can be one of the most difficult applications of this method, but it is also the most instrumental in creating success.

We don’t need to work on the symptoms of feeling or thought or even our personal identity. We can go right to the source and we can do it by the simple manipulation of our brain and better yet, we can completely transform who we are by doing it, not in decades or even years, but in weeks to months.

The Inspired Evolution Project (IEP) works primarily with five levels of brain function and the consciousness those functions create. When it comes to being more conscious in our lives and less driven by the unconscious mechanisms of the brain, we must work to increase our brain function. The goal of this project is to move beyond the mostly-unconscious level of mere primate and into the high function capabilities inherent to all humans. In this way, we naturally increase our ability to be conscious.

In this first course, I will be introducing the three states of consciousness currently relative to most humans. These are the states we will use to move our brain functions from primal to purely human. I will discuss the cause of reactive ‘unconscious’ behaviors and the brain functions that trigger them. I will discuss the suffering that is a result of the trigger and I will provide simple, accessible tools for improving the function, so all of us can live happier, healthier lives. 

Regardless of how conscious you are, I recommend working through this course from its beginning. A fundamental understanding of brain function is a powerful tool for getting the absolute most out of life. For you, for your success, I suggest you take each step offered in this program and take it thoroughly. In the end, you will gain the ability to master the art of controlling your chemicals much faster if you have a clear understanding of your brain and how to use it. If you don’t, you might never achieve your goals, not by your failing, but by the default mechanisms themselves.

The states of consciousness we will be addressing in this course are

• The primal fight-or-flight or dying state.
  • This is the state I recognize as a state of discomfort or suffering.
• The primal rest-and-digest or surviving state.
  • This is the state I recognize as comfortable or relieved of suffering.
• The human homeostatic or thriving state.
  • This is the state I recognize as successful and motivated. 

I’ll include a deeper explanation of each state as we move through the course. In the meantime, let’s get to know the brain function that triggers each of the three states of consciousness.

You can continue you now with the Are you ready? Questions for Contemplation. The link is listed below or in the menu on the left. Once you’ve completed the questions, we’ll take a look at what causes triggers.

Thank you for participating in my program. I look forward to connecting with you on the journey.