Living Consciously

This is a teaching about how to make an improvement to our lives by understanding how we are made—the power and the glory of how we are designed by the Divine—and how to tap into that to improve every aspect of our life. You see, all suffering in our lives is caused by not knowing that power, that peace and that love that is in us naturally.

Of course, if you don’t feel love in your heart, you feel purposeless. If you don’t feel peace in your heart, it ruins everything in your life, it drives us to stress and sickness, mentally and physically.

On this planet, we can all understand the destruction that non-peace does to our life, so there’s no need to explain it here. So, let’s look at understanding how it all works—then we can become the master of our life and not a victim of circumstances.

Most people aren’t living consciously

The starting point is this: if we look around when we go to the shopping centre, just looking at the people around us, it’s so rare to see a person that is deeply tranquil and relaxed and peaceful within themselves. We don’t often see a person whose energy is light, easy going, and steady in themselves. And that’s incredible—it shouldn’t be like that.

Everybody should be calm, tranquil, peaceful, light and joyful. Everybody should be emanating a presence, an attractive lightness and brightness, like a beauty—not a physical beauty, but a beauty in their being radiating out of them. That should be normal.

It is incredible that we don’t see that around us in our lives, in the world. It’s incredible. Because, naturally, that peace and brightness is in every person. A person could be the most stressful or messed up person in the world, but in that same person there is an ocean of peace. There is an ocean of love in them, and there’s an ocean of joy in them. In that same person. But they don’t know that!

Knowing our true nature

Sometimes a person will describe their five-year-old child or grandchild as ‘a bundle of joy.’ We are like that—within each of us there is an ocean of peace, love and joy. But we don’t know it. It’s like a person who is really struggling financially, they can’t put food on the table for their family, but what they don’t know is their aunty left them an inheritance of one million dollars. No-one told them that! That money is theirs, but they can’t access it.

So, we must know that—we must know our true nature of love and peace and joy.

We don’t come to know that by reading or hearing about it—that doesn’t mean suddenly you know that. Because knowing is not based on memory. It’s like when I was in high school, we had to know the order of the planets in our solar system. So, let’s say when I do the exam, I list all the planets in the right order, all the way to Pluto which was a planet back then. I get 10 out of 10 and they say that means I know the planets. But no, I don’t. I just know the label of the planets; I don’t know the planets any more than that.

In the same way, hearing or reading about our true self is just like a memory—it doesn’t mean we know the magnificence of who we are.

So, I’m going to tell you how to know that.

Human consciousness

What’s the difference between a human being and a robot? What’s the difference? Well, a robot is automated. It has all the answers, and these days they make robots that can communicate in dialogue with a person. That robot is programmed and it’s automated.

So, when a human being is programmed and automated, then we’re living our life like a robot. We’re no different to a robot. In other words, we can’t feel love, we can’t feel joy, we can’t feel peace, we don’t know how to love others, we don’t know what lightness in our heart means, we’re not living in our surroundings with awareness. We’re just a bundle of information only.

If a person can’t feel love, can’t feel joy, can’t feel peace, they are a human being that is living as a robot. I’m not saying that’s good or bad or anything like that, there’s no judgements here, it’s just factual.

So, what is the difference? The main difference is this: a robot is not conscious. It’s not conscious of anything, it’s automated. Whereas human beings, we are conscious. When you’re less conscious, that means you’re more robotic. When you’re more conscious that means you’re more Divine—we have Divine awareness, Divine power and Divine qualities like love, peace, joy, happiness and wisdom.

Training to be conscious

In our lives, from primary school to high school to university, there’s nothing there teaching us to be conscious. We never hear a teacher say to a kid, “Don’t be too robotic! Be more conscious, be more conscious.” When I was in primary school, if I was a bit naughty the teacher would look at me and I’d start giggling, then they’d say, “Wipe the smile off your face!” But I’d never hear, “Be more conscious. Be less robotic.” 

For the whole of our society, the training is to survive, to survive. It’s about survival only, but not living—Divinely, beautifully, living. ‘Divinely’ means the opposite end to robotic. Sometimes we think, “Divine… What does that mean?” We can describe it in airy fairy words, but it’s really just the opposite end to robotic, the higher end.

So, let’s translate that to practical everyday living. What does that mean?

That means, in every moment in our life we should be practicing to be conscious, conscious, conscious. In everything we do, in everything we don’t do, in every moment, we should be conscious.

If you’re calm in that moment, in that second, you should be conscious that you’re calm. “I’m calm now.” A robot can’t do that. It can’t be conscious. And when you’re uptight and stressful, you should be conscious of that. You should feel, “Oh, oh, I’m quite tense and stressful right now.” You should be conscious of that. “I’m quite tense and stressful right now.”

That is very different to a person who is tense and stressful right now and they don’t know that they’re tense and stressful. It’s exactly the same experience of being tense and stressful, but it’s like a robot experiencing the tense and stressful, not a human being experiencing tense and stressful.

Noticing with consciousness

Everything you see around you—when you look at your children, you look at your pets, you look at your loved ones—these are blessings from the Divine. They are creations and relations to help us connect, to help us to remember to be more conscious.

When the three-year-old child is dancing around in the lounge, you look at the child, “Wow, she looks so happy, he looks so happy.” Well, that feeling when you’re seeing that, you’re conscious. You’re conscious of that. The robot can’t look at the child and feel, “Wow, she’s so happy, he’s so happy, wow, what a sight, what a sight to see.” A robot can’t do that.

So, every time you look at your loved ones, be conscious, be conscious. When you see that they are sad, be conscious, and notice that they’re sad. When you go to the shopping centre and you see the checkout person or the people walking around, be conscious to see if they’re sad or happy— “Oh, that person’s happy, that person’s sad.” I’m not saying to begin commentating. What I mean is watching—watching and seeing and feeling, conscious, being conscious.

But instead, people just walk past us and we don’t see sad or happy or anything, we just see someone walking past, we don’t see anything deeply. That means we’re not conscious. We’re like a robot looking at a person walking past, not like a conscious, Divine being.

So, we must train ourselves to be conscious. We have to flex the muscle of awareness or consciousness. We have to start using that. It’s got nothing to do with judgements of good or bad, it’s just being conscious and aware, noticing. Noticing. That’s all. Being aware every second, being conscious every second. Seeing your surroundings.

Nature is beautiful because it helps us—in nature it’s easier to be conscious. You see the rainbow, you go, “Oh wow, there’s a double rainbow!” And then, “No, it’s a triple rainbow!! Oh wow, wow, that’s so beautiful.” So, nature helps us to be more conscious. In other words, you’re conscious of the rainbow, you’re aware of the rainbow.

Look and notice the rivers, the ocean, the trees, the flowers, the moon, the sun, the butterfly, the animals. Look, and notice, “Ohhh, I can see, I can see, oh, that’s beautiful, I can see.” Be conscious. See other human beings. Be conscious.

But remember, no judgements. I’m not talking about good or bad here. It’s got absolutely nothing to do with good or bad, it’s just noticing, being aware.

Very few people practice consciousness like this. Very few. It shouldn’t be that way. Everybody should be living like this. It’s not like climbing Mt Everest or something, this is basic, easy stuff.

Expanding that consciousness

So, living like that is the starting point—just being conscious, just noticing, noticing, being aware, noticing what’s outside of you. Then, you move to the inside, to ‘your being’. So, you’re conscious, first of the outside, then the inside: how are you feeling? 

Be conscious of your being. How are you feeling every moment? How are you feeling right now as I’m speaking? Are you feeling calm and peaceful, or are you feeling agitated? Are you feeling, “What is he talking about?!” It doesn’t matter what you’re feeling, just be conscious of it—how are you feeling right now? ‘Right now,’ is not just one second, it’s continuous—one second, two seconds, three seconds… How are you feeling right now? How are you feeling next—how are you feeling right now?

Be aware how you’re feeling. Are you feeling peaceful, are you feeling happy, are you feeling tense, are you feeling nervous; do you feel nervousness in your gut, in your tummy; are you feeling tension around your head area; do you feel tight around the lower back; how do you feel? You just notice, just be aware. Feel. Feel how your heart is feeling. Do you feel heavy, do you feel down, do you feel light. Just notice that. Notice that, and be with it, notice it and feel that.

So, first conscious of the outside, the surroundings. Next, the inside. Just being conscious of that. A robot can’t do that. Start doing that, living like that every moment of your life that you remember.

Next, once you get better at that, then you try to feel the inside of other people, other animals, a butterfly—how they feel. You try to feel the feeling, the heart, of a butterfly, how it feels when it flies past you. And then next you feel the feeling of a rainbow, the clouds etc. Now you’re moving to really high level of awareness or consciousness! This is the highest consciousness.

The highest level of awareness is God-consciousness, and God is aware of everything—every person, every being, how they’re feeling, in every second, every moment. That’s called God-consciousness. The opposite end is robotic. So, now you’re starting to see the journey, from robotic to Divine.

Making the effort to be conscious

I’m not against this world, I love this world, but we’re trained to be robotic! There’s no training from a young age to be conscious. That’s never taught. I did primary school, high school, and I got 3 university degrees, but I never learned that. No teacher or professor taught that. So, from experience I can say that to be true.

So, we must make effort. No-one’s going to do it for us.

No-one’s going to remind you, no-one’s going to tap you on the shoulder and say, “You should be conscious,” when you look at your child, how happy they are in this moment, or how sad they are or however they’re feeling right now. No-one’s going to tap you on the shoulder and say, “You should be conscious,” when you look at or your pet, to feel how they feel. Or when you speak to a person, to feel their feelings, to feel their heart right now. No-one’s going to tell you to do that.

We’ve got to do it. We’ve got to remember to do it ourselves.

The result of living consciously

So, we begin that process. Try dedicating yourself to this with the same effort you put in when you study for exams in primary school, high school or university (writing a 5000-word assignment takes a lot of effort, that’s a lot of words!). Because when you start living like that, and putting in the same energy towards this, your life is going to be miraculous.

If a person, any person, starts to live like this, moving from the robotic end towards that Divine consciousness, then suddenly they become conscious that, “Wow, I’ve got this peace inside me that is so peaceful!” To say ‘an ocean of peace’ is an understatement. Even ‘a galaxy of peace’ is an understatement.

You have a whole universe of peace inside you. No joke. This is not airy-fairy talk—you will start to realise, “Wow, I’m so peaceful. I feel so light. Wow, I feel love for every being. Wow, I feel love for everything I see.” You’ll feel, “I’m not even trying, I just feel it.”

You’re moving to remembering what has always existed inside you. You didn’t build that beauty up, it was just sitting there and suddenly you become conscious of it, aware of it. And so that will become your experience of life. Power and glory will be yours. Misery and feeling a victim of circumstances will be history in your life, it’ll be like a long-lost friend that you loved once but now you have parted. You have sadly parted!

Now, does this have anything to do with changing your life, like getting a different job or finding the right partner and all of that? No. Do you have to become a monk or a nun, and go to a cave to meditate? No. It has nothing to do with that! This is just the journey of becoming more conscious, less robotic, more aware.

And suddenly, when you’re aware of other people’s situations and how they feel, people will love you and they will love talking to you. Because you’re there, you’re there, you can hear them, you can feel them, you can feel their pain, you can feel their gladness, you can feel their feelings. Who wouldn’t want a friend like that? And you will remember you are a beautiful, beautiful human being. Your life will not be a burden to others, your life will be a blessing to others.