[GaryParticipant Upvotes: 5 votes@gschilkey]

Am enjoying the book and your podcasts. Thank you for that and for suggesting to get acquainted with Rupert Spira. (Now more videos too watch and absorb.)

How do you define attention? What is its relationship to awareness/consciousness?

All the best to you.

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[GaryParticipant Upvotes: 5 votes@gschilkey]

Just listening to Rupert Spira saying that awareness arises as attention or the finite mind as a way of looking at itself. Awareness can’t look at itself. It can only know itself by being itself.

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[Aurora CarlsonKeymaster Upvotes: 110 votes@aurorac]

Hi Gary, thanks for … bringing attention… to this topic! 🙂 It will be very interesting to hear what the authors say about it, and thank you for mentioning Rupert Spira’s take on it.

To me, attention is Being becoming. Attention is the process through which Being becomes aware of and thus gives rise to an aspect of itself. Through attention and intention, some thing arises out of no thing. If consciousness is the light of awareness, then attention is a laser beam and intention is the specific color.

Any other thoughts on this?

[Deepak ChopraModerator Upvotes: 60 votes@deepakchopra]

Dear Gary ( @gschilkey ), thank you for your question! I have answered in Readers Ask: Attention, Intention, Manifestation

Love,
Deepak

[Menas KafatosModerator Upvotes: 41 votes@menask]

Dear Gary:

With due respect to Spira, I don’t believe that Awareness is defined as something secondary. Awareness is not something that arises from the (finite) mind. It is the source of the finite mind. Awareness is the primary ability to know one’s self and to know others.

Some of the Buddhists call Awareness the One Mind. But we should not attribute anthropormophic connotations to the One Mind, Awareness or Universal Consciousness. The non-dual school of Shaivism which accepts both the reality of the many but as aspects of the non-dual Supreme Consciousness (what I term Awareness) and the absolute reality of Supreme Consciousness, talk about the finite mind as being the cause of bondage; however, in its basic nature even the finite mind is like the Supreme Consciousness, the One Mind.

No need to complicate matters too much. Defining one thing which is primary in terms of secondary things, leads to confusion.

Love and blessings,

Menas

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[Aurora CarlsonKeymaster Upvotes: 110 votes@aurorac]

Dear Menas, I think you are actually in agreement with Rupert Spira. I think @gschilkey ‘s words “awareness arises as attention or the finite mind as a way of looking at itself” actually mean that awareness becomes attention/the finite mind- in order to look at itself.

I don’t know what words Spira uses, but I’m pretty sure he means that awareness is the source. However, I was glad this gave you the opportunity to tell us more about non-dual Shaivism which is pretty new to me 🙂 I guess awareness will focus as (my) attention in that direction in order to know itself even that way!

[GaryParticipant Upvotes: 5 votes@gschilkey]

Deer Deepak, Menas, and Aurora,

Thank you for bringing your attention to my question, and taking the time to reply.
This exchange was very satisfying. Add me to the critical mass you are building.
Keep up the good work and good luck to you all.

Gary S.

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[Aurora CarlsonKeymaster Upvotes: 110 votes@aurorac]

Thanks Gary, we’re all in it together!

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