- Thomas Bien
The Flower is Consciousness
We normally think of our consciousness as reflecting the world. Yet, looking at things that way, our consciousness can create the illusion of separation from the world.
When you look at a flower, the flower seems to exist outside of your consciousness. But look deeper. Your consciousness and the flower in reality arise together. Consciousness is always consciousness of something. So without the flower (or some other object of consciousness), we cannot really say that consciousness is.
In this Zen kind of awareness, we realize that the flower is not separate from our consciousness, but that they are in actuality inseparable. The flower contains not only non-flower elements of earth, minerals, sunlight, rain, and time, but also consciousness itself.
Try looking at any object of interest—a flower, a tree, a person—with this awareness.
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