Consciousness is the field
Consciousness is the field which supports the phenomenon called ‘mind.’ Consciousness itself is without form. Just before you think a thought, what you’re experiencing is awareness, which is radiating out of… is an aspect of consciousness. If you want to, you can watch and see. Right before every thought you have an opportunity. The opportunity presents itself continuously. It lasts about one/ten-thousandth of a second. Got to be quick, eh?
When we say that, it sounds very minimal… but in that space of one ten-thousandth of a second, you’re looking at eternity, which is outside of time. So you have a window open on that which is beyond time. Infinite…
With a little self-reflection – riding in a taxi, in line at the supermarket, when thoughts go by nonchalantly – one sees one instant right before the thought. That’s who you are. And you pull back into that no-thinking-ness prior to thought. It’s there all the time.
It’s said that the entryway into enlightenment is in the instant of now. That ‘now’ is always present. It only takes a curiosity, really…
Out of sheer curiosity – forget about everything, forget about enlightenment – out of sheer curiosity, watch and see that each thought arises in an empty space. Be with the empty space; and as the next thought arises, the empty space is there again. The empty space is there continuously. And then one sees ‘I’m the space and not the thought.’ It’s simple…
So to become enlightened is to see that one is the field and not the content of the field. You’re the field in which the thought presents itself. One/ten-thousandth of a second…
David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.,
The Way to God: Perception and Illusion
–Distortions of Reality
