The Matrix of Four Steps to Consciousness

    The first step to raising consciousness is developing aspects of the mental.  Consciousness requires awareness, the first thing to be aware of is what is happening in the world.  Learning what is happening leads to awareness and increased understanding. Equally important is expanding your field of view as to what is happening, as well as focusing it.  Taking a momentto understand that which cannot directly be seen is as important as understanding what’s right in front of your face.  Consider things great and small, far and wide.  Consider what you do every day and what you’ve never done or considered before. 

    Consider food.  First there is consideration of nutritionand then there is the consideration of where our food comes from.  When one learns about food, one learns thatmany crops have been genetically modified, not so they are more nutritious, but so that they can withstand pesticides that kill practically everything else.  When one learns about food one learns about the institutionalization of food, through genetic modification, as well as thesingle serving, fast food culture.  When one learns about food, one eventually learns that corporations have promoted institutionalization, like the laboratory creation of non-seed bearing crops accompanied by franchise supplied poison, specifically Monsanto’s Roundup, as seen on TV.  Questioning raises awareness and initiates mental development which in turn, itself, can increase mental development more.  When one learns about nutrition and the institutionalization of food, one won’t set foot in fast food franchise or takea bite of genetically modified organisms.

    A specific contemplation which broadens one’s mentality and spectrum of consideration isthe Analogy of the Divided Line.  Socrates divided information into four parts, in a formation I call the philosophy oft he duality of polarity.  Socrates noted there is the tangible, like a tree (DE) and there are reflections of thetangible (CD), like a tree’s reflection in a pond.  There is also the intangible like numbers(BC) and finally the smallest portion is the reflections of the intangible (AB),algebraic equations for instance. 

    The largest part of the set is the tangible and the smallest, most elusive part is thereflections of the intangible.  Considerationof the four types of information expands one’s awareness and initiates raising consciousness. 

    The second step to raising consciousness is developing one’s physical.  Learning about diet and practicing a mostly vegetarian, if not totally vegetarian diet makes one literally and figuratively lighter.  When one learns about avegetarian diet one might come across information pertaining to bioaccumulative toxins.  And again one finds about institutionalization and pollution so vast, it taints the food, the air, the water and everything living and breathing.  When one learns about diet one might learn about how Edward Bernays made people think bacon and eggs was tradition and how he had more influence on “taste’ than many since. 

    It is said that some yogis practice holding one arm above their head, as an exercise in commitment, for many years.  When westerners take on the training it is said they only have to do it about one year.  Being that a westerner has a shorter attention span the same lesson might be learned in a shorter period oftime.  One form of yoga, which was not designed for a short attention span, just so happens to be a quick series ofmovements perfect for westerners with a short attention span.  This form of yoga takes about fifteen minutes and will make you physically stronger. Some call it The Five Tibetans and some call it the Five Rites of Rejuvenation. It is five movements repeated twenty-onetimes each followed by meditation. Research and read about the movements before attempting.  If you have done yoga before, you can figurethem out easily.  Do the Five Tibetansevery day for a month or two, as a test of commitment and see what happens.

    The third step toraising consciousness is integration of the now improved mental and physical.  This integration enhances the intangible spiritual aspect of self.  Commitment to developing the mind and body transmutes into the development of the spirit.  Building on the spiritual muscle requires more meditation.  The Five Tibetans isintegrative and meditative, but there are other ways to meditate after preparation through the Five Tibetans. Meditation of the highest order is perhaps the meditation which is practiced most frequently.  To meditate be calmly aware of one’s breath.  The four parts of breath are inhalation, pause, exhalation, pause.  Inhalation and exhalation should be equaltime periods and the pauses should be equal to each other as well.  The best way to practice meditation is bybeing meditative throughout one’s day, whenever possible.

    According to Angelles Arrien, the author of the Four Fold Way, there are four basic postures in whichone can meditate.  There is standing meditation, lying meditation, walking meditation and sitting meditation.  Throughout one’s day one can decide toactively meditate as one goes throughout one’s chores, responsibilities and interactions.  This practice, when done correctly, heightensawareness and speeds reaction time whether working or playing.  

    The fourth step to raising consciousness, after developing the mental, physical and spiritualwithin, is to will oneself upon the natural world.  After one develops inside one demonstrates one’s will upon the outside world.  The fourth stage to raising consciousness is to will oneself, from within upon the outside world.  When one has developed oneselfwithin, one can practice influencing and imparting one’s will on the outside world. 

    According to Arthur Schopenhauer, a German philosopher born in 1788, who authored the book On theFourfold Root of the Principal of Sufficient Reason in 1813 there are fourclasses of human reasoning; becoming, knowing, being and willing.  The highest order of human reasoning iswilling, but one has to develop consciousness to do so. 

Activist, author and Tai Chi teacher Ethan Indigo Smith was born on a farm in Maine and lived in Manhattan for a number of years before migrating west to Mendocino, California. Guided by a keen sense of integrity, humanity and justice, Ethan’s work is both deeply connected and extremely insightful, blending philosophy, politics, activism, spirituality, meditation and a unique sense of humour.

The Geometry of Energy: How to Meditate

And course The Matrix of Four, The Philosophy of the Duality of Polarity on the subject of the development of individual consciousness.

You can connect with Ethan on Facebook, check out his author page on Amazon, or visit his new websites, Geometry Of Energy and Meditation 108, where Ethan offers lessons on individuation, meditation, the conceptualization of energy, and the metaphysical significance of 108.