Integral Consciousness

Integral consciousness is another name for the unification of the mind with the inner state, and the ego with the soul. In our jour­ney towards the realization of oneness we must merge our human personality with our eternal essence. Integral consciousness signi­fies this state of internal harmony. Through the integration of all aspects of our multifaceted existence, we give birth to a single state of consciousness. The attainment of this integral consciousness is the flowering of our spiritual evolution through which we realize true oneness with the soul and the supreme reality.

the split between the mind and the inner state

It is the experience of almost all meditators that the awakening of the state beyond the mind does not bring true peace. On the contrary, in most cases inner awakening has little or no effect on the fundamen­tally neurotic nature of the mind. In spite of reaching even a profound inner state, we continue to suffer a schizophrenic split between our human personality and the bliss of being — we remain fragmented and incomplete inside. Our personality is unable to follow the dra­matic shift of awakening that has occurred on the inner plane; our level of consciousness as human beings is simply too low to recognize its immense value. We have our own unintelligent vision of happi­ness that has nothing to do with inner silence and the repose to be found in the beyond. Due to our basic ignorance, the mind persists in obsessively circulating thought-forms of desire and fear based on the reality of the earth-plane and the collective unconscious.

Seekers often wonder why, despite the presence of the inner state, they continue to be lost in the mind most of the time. It is essential here to comprehend that arriving at the state beyond the mind does not automatically transform our basic unconsciousness. To be truly con­scious is much more profound than the awakening of any state, pure awareness included. One can be in the state of presence and remain completely unconscious. One can even dwell in the absolute state and remain hopelessly controlled by the mind. Shifting to a state beyond the mind does not guarantee that one existentially owns it as a new condition of being. Though it may have been realized on the energetic level, unless the inner state has become filled with the presence of I am, the consciousness of the soul cannot embody the inner realization.

To move beyond this debilitating divide between mind and being, a seeker must gain a deeper insight into the truth of his inter­nal reality and merge with his essential identity. The integration of consciousness is the missing link between the awakening of the inner state and the awakening of the soul.

to go beyond the mind

What gives value to any state is our ability to see its transcendent depth. Only the power of our intelligence can distance us from the state of forgetfulness and bring real meaning to our abidance in the inner state.

In the state of ignorance, the intelligence of the mind is discon­nected from that of the soul. Our responsibility is to develop a deeper wisdom and spiritual intuition to activate the intelligence of the soul. The awakening of this level of intelligence is far more complex than the awakening of the inner state, and requires a long period of evolu­tion to clearly reflect the intrinsic wisdom of our higher being.

The intelligence of most seekers lags way behind their awaken­ing to the states beyond the mind. The presence of the inner state does not give them enough motivation to renounce excessive thinking; they still habitually seek happiness through the mind. Furthermore, they cannot succeed in going beyond the mind by reaching other, even more profound states, because their problem lies elsewhere — they are asleep in their essence. The mind continues to constitute their fundamental identity. Their intellect may understand that they should be conscious and transcend the mechanical mind, but this conviction is purely mental and does not have the power to bring about a real change in their perception. It is the function of an evolved intelligence to align and integrate the mind with the realm of being. Integral intelligence still operates within the mind, but belongs to the soul and serves our higher purpose.

A seeker has to recognize that living in the mind is spiritual death. Unless we truly see the tremendous loss we suffer by forget­ting our inner light and living unconsciously, how can we transcend the mind? The conversion of our perception is only possible when we finally recognize that there is no other way to exist than through continuous surrender to the inner realm.

merging the mind

Only the soul is able to recognize that in the absence of thought something infinitely more valuable emerges: our sacred presence. To surrender the mind is to open an inner space within which the mystery of being can manifest and absorb our separate self.

From the place of stillness to which merging the mind delivers us, thinking can still arise in a gentle and transparent way without caus­ing an existential split between the human and the soul. Truly con­scious thinking is an extension of the soul’s intelligence, not an expres­sion of the mechanical mind, and possesses the qualities of tranquility and bliss, for it is fully embraced by the light of awareness and being. Thinking that emerges from the depths of non-thinking is the natural creativity of silence. It is the soul abiding in the unbroken awareness of the self that bridges arising thoughts with the silence of being.

The merging of the mind is a gradual process of growing into the state of surrender. The mind still has things to think about, as the human has not yet completed his evolution and existence on earth — but a mind that is conscious during thinking does not disrupt the simultane­ous awareness of the inner state. While pursuing the relative, it dwells in constant remembrance of its unchanging essence. It does not act outside of the self, but is contained within the all-pervading presence of I am.

becoming conscious

The process of becoming conscious is perhaps the most significant element of our evolution. We do not refer here to increasing the power of awareness, but to the illumination of the soul’s intelligence. We can activate many components of our internal reality through practice, but we cannot awaken true understanding by means of meditation or mindfulness. Intelligence cannot be manipulated or activated from outside of self, for it represents the very conscious­ness of the soul. The evolution of our deepest intelligence is the result of an existential awakening to both our essence and our higher consciousness. The intelligence of the mind is something that we possess and can work with, but the intelligence of the soul is what and who we are.

Intelligence is the state of the soul’s consciousness, the frequency of her light, and the pure reflection of her identity. To be conscious is to embody the existence of the soul on the plane of pure knowing — to honor and treasure our true nature by constantly abiding in the light of I am. This unremitting devotion to the self is an expression of our real awakening as the soul.

complete presence and the state of oneness

Integral consciousness is the consciousness of the soul fully integrated with the inner state, uninterrupted by the movement of thought. As the soul’s awakening deepens through integral consciousness, not only does she dwell in continuous remembrance of the inner state, but also of her own holistic, undivided existence. Ultimately, integral consciousness is the soul’s complete presence merged with unbroken awareness of the beyond — the state of being whole.

Through the awakening of integral consciousness, the split between mind and no-mind is transcended. Through the awakening of complete presence, the witness to oneness is absorbed into the consciousness of unity. When the mind surrenders to the inner state and our sense of identity shifts from thinking to being, we expand into the ultimate transparency of universal I am. From the heart of pure subjectivity, we dissolve through the realization of the soul into the supreme subjectivity of the undivided one reality.