Pure and Perfect

[Hal Manogue]

The mind is like a crystal ball with no color of its own. It is pure and perfect as it is. But as soon as it confronts the outside world it takes on all colors and forms of differentiation. This differentiation is in the outside world and the mind left to itself shows no change of any character. Now suppose the ball is placed against something altogether contrary to itself and so becomes a dark colored ball. However pure it may have been before, it’s now a dark colored ball and this color is seen as belonging from the first to the nature of the ball. Even those who knew it when it was pure now pronounce it soiled by seeing it so and will endeavor to polish it, to enable to regain what it has lost.

That thought is a fundamental belief of the Northern School of Buddhism, which was started in China sometime in the 7th century. The English translation of those thoughts may not be the exact meaning of Zen, but it does show that consciousness does take on the color and the shape of beliefs.

If I substitute the word consciousness for mind and use the word ego as a metaphor for the outside world, I can begin to understand some of the non-physical aspects of my own being. Inner consciousness can be considered pure and perfect in its own action and it has no physical color. Ego consciousness however is the buffer between the inner and outer world and it absorbs whatever color I choose to believe. Color is truth within vibration and my beliefs create different vibrations, so my ego is continually changing in color. The color of my ego attracts similar colors and I experience those attractions in some way. My inner consciousness is not changed by these vibrations, but my body consciousness is.

Body consciousness is the consciousness that exists within every cell, molecule and organ in my body. My memory is actually stored in my body consciousness; the brain is just the interrupter for those thoughts. The ego and the body consciousness create the reality that I experience, so if I vibrate in dark colors or low vibrations my body consciousness changes and vibrates at that frequency. The inner consciousness continues in its pure state and will raise my vibrational level at any time, once my ego asks for help. Trying to polish my inner consciousness is pointless, but using it as the polish for my ego and body consciousness is essential.

Misunderstanding the nature and action of consciousness creates the distorted beliefs that fuel my choices and I experience probabilities from the action of ego. My ego is always connected to my inner consciousness, but has the free will to ignore it. This consciousness scenario is the foundation for the diverse collection of belief structures that exist physically. There are endless vibrational frequencies that create different colors of ego consciousness.

The blend of the inner, body and ego consciousness is the polish that alters the color of my vibrations. Complete unity of consciousness creates a crystal color, but the crystal color is not the purpose of physical existence. It eternally exists in its own awareness and I am a whole part of that awareness. Physical existence is the experience of different vibrations in order to widen my awareness, using contrast as the catalyst. Crystal clear is always my vibration, but the desire to know my self in other vibrations is the impetus of conscious action in physical form. Every color is a vibrational lesson that is a crucial aspect of becoming. Becoming is the nature of all consciousness.

I am a crystal clear ball but choose to experience other colors and I become those colors to express different qualities of my self. In that process I expand in awareness and never lose what I already have. Purity and perfection are always in a state of becoming. Qualities of my consciousness accept each color and transform it into energy which continues to expand. Nothing is ever lost in awareness.