The body is in consciousness not the other way around.
This might be a difficult concept to grasp for most readers but, perhaps it would be entertaining for some to view the world in a new light. That light being what is intrinsically already gifted to you at the beginning of literally everything that you and all of us are and that is our consciousness. Consciousness is what created the world in the first place.
Now this perhaps may seem like a contradiction to the average reader because they will assume that the world was created before the consciousness came into existence, but how can that statement be? There can be nothing without something being conscious first. The traditional point of view assumes that the material world has created all that is through some omega point that burst into infinity and after a very long time this creation formed the various stars, solar systems, planets, microbial life, plant life, animal life, and finally our dear selves, humanity, which is the only ostensible thing that appears to have any kind of sentience at all.
Though this is a misnomer for any logical basis in reality. Logic is simply putting first things first. How can there possibly be anything at all without first addressing the fundamental issue of our awareness? That issue is revealed in the following statement “Who am I”? The solution is easily addressed with a simple “I AM”. Anyone reading this has an “I” and knows that they are being in existence. So when I say “I am God” or “I am truth”, I am not excluding the reader from this insight. They can easily come about the same conclusion within their own consciousness. So first thing is first. “I AM”. Second thing is second. “I” have a body. “I” own my body. But, remember that “I” comes first and the material body comes second. So logically speaking “I” come before any material existence at all. The big bang was simply when “I” realized my individuality as a stream of consciousness in existence. “I” am the only being in existence. Everyone else is “you”. “I” am not you, but we are all sharing this same exact experience of “I”.
Now that we have established a simple foundation upon which the entire universe hinges upon. “I” can now see a new point of view that was never available to “me” before reading this article and that perspective opens up completely new dimensions of experience that may have been once thought to be superstition, pseudoscience, or any other labels that we can attribute to things we don't care to fully understand.
Death of the body is quite real and since time immemorial, religions have been creating a way to make us feel fear of this event or guilt about the way we use our body in the physical. In actuality, there is no death. The only things that can die is the fear or guilt associated with the body taking a new form. That form may not even be a new body, no one really knows where they will go when they die and that is what makes life that much more exciting. The way we can view death can be completely flipped onside it's head. Most view death as the total lost of ecstatic energy of life, that is lost to an endless abyss that will never be retrieved again. It is commonly perceived, therefore, as depressing, and generally puts people in a bad mood if the concept is ever thought about for more than a few seconds when someone mentions it in passing for a bit of dark humor or to refer to a loved one who has passed away.
In perception, death is not the lost of this freedom of ecstatic energy of life but, the expansion of it into a new form. The logic behind this is that consciousness can never cease to be. There will always be an “I” within “me” for eternity, though certainly the definition of “I” and “me” can change drastically, even be removed entirely for individuals who claim an enlightenment of their mind. This is not something one has to believe, it is simply a fact that is being pointed out in reality. To fully grasp the truth of it, one can attempt an exercise in imagination where the individual has already died. Imagine, if you will, that your body is being lowered into the coffer. Remember, this is not someone else, this is happening to your body right now, You sense your dead body, the feeling of your hands crossed on both sides and there is complete and utter darkness in all directions. Now perhaps this may spook you for a moment, but if the reader is actually participating in the exercise they will realize that there would still have to be an observer in the darkness. There would have to be “someone” who knew that they had no body and were not in the world. This is consciousness, this is the individuality that never dies. The great “I am” that we all share. A void cannot exist without consciousness, and consciousness cannot exist without that void. Another example of this would be to consider what happens in dreamless sleep. The consciousness falls into such a free state of being that they forget they had a human body, a life, or any sort of history at all. Dreamless sleep, is in fact, what death is. It turns out that we withdraw into death every night, though only for a brief while so we can stay anchored to our current life on Earth. When we wake up from this dreamless sleep we always feel renewed, and will remark on how enjoyable the experience was for us, even though we totally forgot we even had an experience at all.
So while the body may die, consciousness clearly can have no death outside it's limited perceptions and beliefs about what death is. Not only that but, we have built a world that demands so much out of our life that it almost seems like we aren't even living at all but, simply edging closer towards physical death. So imagine the joy “I” will feel when “I” die and no longer have to pay “my” bills anymore. “I” will no longer have to listen to my boss yelling at “me” or my wife nagging at “me” or any other horrible complication that makes life a constant disappointment because “I” fear to die that “I” must survive by living in the same manner “I” have been living all “my” life. Remember also that death is a return to the unborn. Before you were born you dwelled in the “death realm”, so to speak, and as the writer Mark Twain pointed out, not once were you inconvenienced by this observation.
Now one can create a positive definition for death as we all already intrinsically have a positive definition of life. Life is the reason we live. And life for the writer, simply means to live in joy in every moment. The Dalai Lama was once asked what is the meaning of life? His response was without any hesitation at all, “happiness”. It is to play in the world to have no struggles or worries at all and replace them with one's passions and desires for further enjoyment which is unique to the “I” reading these words.
When one creates a negative definition of the individual's death (which a great majority of us still to some degree do) then there will be fear instilled in us that drains the energy of life into some strange semblance of life where instead of living we are now dying. Afraid to live out our passions, we over-complicate our miraculous appearance on this planet by creating fear of our inevitable future which restricts our freedom of life now in the moment. This fear paradoxically creates the destruction of other sentience and our compassion is placed to the wayside as we introduced numerous ways of how to enslave each other to our limited perceptions instead of freeing each other with our understanding of the compassion that “universe” or “God” has of itself. That compassion being eternal life.
If you were able to read through this article without becoming too bored or too estranged by the words that the writer uses then you will find that it feels good to read. A certain ring of truth is heard in the words that resonate to the core of our very being which leaves us feeling a bit lighter in the body. That is the greatest litmus test for the individual to realize the wisdom that is inherently within them right now. When Jesus said the famous and infamous words of “I am the way, the truth, and the life” he was referring not merely to himself but, to all selves in existence. The great “I am” that transcends our limited version of what we are by way of the beliefs we hold about ourselves. As well as with the Buddha, who was once asked by someone questioning the nature of his reality. The individual asked if the Buddha was a god in which he answered “No”. So he asked if he was a human. The Buddha replied again, “No.” Then he asked whether he was an animal. The Buddha replied once more with “No.” Confused as to the responses, he finally asked, “Then what are you?”. The Buddha replied “I am awake”.
The concept is not really all that hard to grasp after all. If the mind is over-complicating it, simply re-read this article over again until you get the idea. There is no need to misinterpret and create a religion out of our fear of death, nor is there a reason to create a new religion out of immortalizing our body in some computer virtual simulation. There is nothing that needs to be held onto in the body. Wherever you are reading this right now, let go of the tension that is caused when you fear anything in life. One can let go of that guilt that says they are not allowed to enjoy themselves. You will find that you can lighten up (or enlighten up) about the only subject in existence. The feeling of “I AM”. That which began the journey and that which will unfold the ever deepening mystery of consciousness, forever.