Does consciousness make the man?

Consciousness Competence Conundrum

I saw this Instagram post that essentially eluded to the notion that a capable man can become conscious  but a conscious man may  not always be capable.

This really struck me because it is something I have witnessed, as well as noticed as a theme within some new age spiritual communities and black-pilled doomsday truthers.

This holier than though intellectualized consciousness of someone who has access to information from a cerebral aspect, but is not really doing anything to make themselves or the world better other than shouting behind screens….is that really a worthy endeavor one can call consciousness? 

This attitude of knowing the truth, but lacking authenticity and sincerity in wanting to discern further, find clarity and truly understand, instead of regurgitate, often leads people to more confusion and winding roads. It amazes me how much we take philosophers words of the past as fact just because of their audience reach, in the same way so many bow to modern day guru’s, celebrities and influencers without ever batting an eye.

This intellectual capacity to seek and understand knowledge yet hold no compassion, embodiment or emotional intelligence as a deeper inner-knowing, gnosis, of how this information affects us and those we interact in the world might be an element of consciousness, but most certainly with something missing.

One can also claim to be conscious but lack conscience, it’s ever present in the toxic positivity, I’m awake but you aren’t crowds.  It’s essentially the other wing of “woke,” neither side seeing the irony in the other, blind spots loom like a bird with two clipped wings barely staying in flight.

If you have an expanded level of consciousness about the world at large, it doesn’t guarantee that that same depth of awareness applies to self-awareness. Discernment is a practice, not an instant gift and this practice comes with living life, with showing up.

Someone can be “consciously” aware of something things, owning the label as a spiritually conscious awake being and still be a jerk, a manipulator or scammer.

Consciousness only imbued with intellectual pursuits is still missing pieces of the pie, the wholeness of being.

Consciousness with a lazy disposition and narcissistic traits is more like a weapon than anything and in the smorgasbord of life, all flavors are milling around out there in our reality, like it or not.

I know many people showing up in the world and really living, whether it’s the farmer down the street hustling and connecting to the land, the artist painting from their own vision, or the entrepreneur taking care of herself and making a home that she doesn’t need to escape from, a guardian of something greater than herself, consciousness as only an input is missing the most important part…. the output, the competent action steps.

Competence is about learning to fail, but still getting up and going day-after-day. It’s about taking the reigns of your own life and become sovereign in mind-body-spirit. Competence is not sitting around complaining about the state of the world and focusing on all the “evil” while contributing to it by not truly doing the inner work AND becoming a capable living man or woman who gives something back in one way or another unique to the individual.

There are people who may not know anything about consciousness living deeply meaningful, aware and impactful lives following their heart, gut, passions and doing what it takes to make the most of life.  I’m more impressed by many people like this than those who claim to be conscious yet constantly play the role of victim, numbing out to responsibilities and accountability.

Don’t miss out on the beauty, joy and potential available to us each day by getting stuck in fear, shame, victimhood and blame or worrying. 

The grandiosity of consciousness in some circles is anything but conscious. The pity party pitifulness of victimhood in the doom-gloom is anything but conscious.

Today is a gift and I am so grateful for it. I want to make it great by showing up for it, to know that The Great Work requires me giving something out, not just taking in…the rabbit holes serve a purpose but they will swallow you up if you are not centered, of strong-will and faith beyond what stands before us as visible.

An expanded consciousness without competence, without heart and soul, without passion and purpose…is wasted.

If you’re stuck right now, just know that you are more capable than you know. You can overcome more than you allow yourself to believe is possible. 

I’d love to witness the balance between consciousness and competence find us all and let us unite them in synthesis, for one without the other creates a conundrum…. a brilliant mind but a lost soul, competent hands but missing the know – the now – the go- the gnosis.

You can’t intellectualize the way. Intellectualizing information without contemplation and application into the real world is a recipe for disaster, delusion and distress. True consciousness demands exploration and excavation of our own inner awareness, not just the outer. This insight brings out the ability to see, not just in others, not just in the evil “they” doing bad things in the world, but a direct dialogue with the observable aspect of our own existence and humanness in all its pieces and parts.

The word consciousness is thrown around as if it is some special label that makes anyone using it a bestower of special wisdom these days, this is simply not true.

There is also victim consciousness, and this is not the kind that brings about competent actions, choices and behaviors that impact others through positive intent, compassion and love. How can a heart void of emotional intelligence and love be conscious? How can a life un-lived with the capable hands God has given us, be fulfilling, simple, loving?

Is it easier to become conscious than capable, how are these two intertwined in the play we are witnessing? If you have access to an awakened spirit but are still walking among the living dead, are you truly conscious? If you can’t sleep at night but claim to be conscious, is there something else looming on the conscience? What really matters most and what skills are you learning to become more capable, to become a creator utilizing what we have at any given moment available to us? Are you sitting behind the screen pointing fingers all day or are you seeking solutions and putting them into play?

What is the point of awakening consciousness, if not a test of competence as if the Divine is nudging along, now what are you going to do with it? Even behind the walls of solitude one cannot escape the call to create, to love, to act, to do something other than merely sit inside the awareness and let it linger too long. For a time yes, but idleness eventually shows itself by revealing who is the weakest and who has the strength to survive. Only the bravest dare to thrive, not in the terms of the world’s expectations but in the heart where the eye awakens behind the ventricle of electrical vapors…integrity lives here, it nudges, it speaks, it is the intuition’s resonator and continuously amplified through the senses, the nervous system, happenstance, when ignored.

Self-awareness has always felt like the cornerstone of consciousness to me, not something that can be learned, or even fully observed, but an intrinsic sense of life from a firm stance, through feedback enlivening the sensory nature of reality and a deep attention to the moment on a level where you are fully moving the vessel of you, aware of its animated state of being, driving the thoughts and beliefs with both the subconscious and superconscious sitting beside you….perception playing out in everlasting realizations that go far beyond the knowing or even the being and into the

Integration, the embodiment of really living.

The greatest consciousness, thus, to me, is one that melds the ethereal and the material into an ever-pervasive movement testing the limits of what we are capable of, of how much expansion we can contain inside paradox, of what we’re brave enough to show up for with the will and determination to put forth the effort that moves us beyond consciousness and merges it into the mundane, the creative, the usefulness of being human.

Nervous systems encapsulate us as a detector of our state of consciousness.  Victimhood pervades as reactionary states of being, rendering the world as something out of one’s control, it all happens “TO” them, where as higher states of consciousness are claimed to be where all is connected happening as one, yet the truth is not so black and white. To step more fully into this higher state of awareness, we must interact with the world around us, feel rejection, failure, solve problems, face fears, step through obstacles, gather up some grit, for it is here we grow and learn what we’re made of, it is here we figure out how to love and know the depths of our competence, or lack thereof….and why it matters and what we’re going to do about it.

To be truly conscious is to know what you are capable of, both GOOD AND BAD, and have the self-awareness to look at yourself and be honest with how that’s going…. having esoteric knowledge and spiritual intellectual wherewithal is not enough, this is not the way and often can become a great distraction. Everyone’s journey is not the same, as such, the information that connects the dots for them on their path may weave down paths you would never take.

So many conundrums to encounter, so much expansion to step into, but how can I love more today than yesterday, how can I appreciate the awe that surrounds me and what can I create, make beautiful or be guardian of from the centered fountain-like abyss overflowing from my heart?

I always liked this quote by Jordan Peterson as it gives balance to the aspect that knowing something and knowing when to use it are both key. It encompasses the good that can help us when we own our shadow traits and understand their place in us.

All that being said, apparently there is a conscious ladder that points at this from a more practical place:

1. Unconsciously unskilled –unaware of a skill that would be good to learn

2. Consciously unskilled – aware that we don’t have a skill

3. Consciously skilled– aware that we have a certain skill

4.   Unconsciously skilled – have a certain skill but it comes so naturally we’re unaware of it

What I like about this practical breakdown is that it brings consciousness into the tangible and reminds us the importance of continuing to bring attention, curiosity and openness to finding out what we don’t know or don’t know we know…that there is always something we don’t know, that we will never have it all figured out and that’s part of the fun? Ya get what I’m’ saying?  

Someone with a more expanded consciousness is usually aware of this naturally and continues the desire to learn knowing that learning something new means being bad at something. It opens up the possibility for failure and is humbling, yet so important to keep us laughing, learning, loving and recognizing we’re all human (well some more than others 😊).

This ability to always be a beginner and not just spend time on what we we’re good at or like doing opens doors and the strongest of heart know they can and will persevere through, even if they fail, because it’s ok to do things that you aren’t good at but enjoy in the same way it’s ok to do things you are successful at but might not always like doing. Everything has its place, as long as you’re doing something….and with intention, even meditating, even sitting in stillness.

And so the answer to me is that consciousness definitely does NOT make the man…. or the woman, as true colors will eventually shine through no matter how seemingly aware someone may be. Consciousness does not always match the definition utilized in language and there can be a negative to it, as well as lower consciousness that can even use wisdom as a bargaining chip instead of a sacred gift. Our level (or quality) of consciousness is not just about what we know, but how we live, who we are, how well we love, what we are capable of and what we are actually doing with that competence that can only be cultivated by showing up, growing up and opening up!

Be discerning, be loving, be wise, be kind, be conscious and build competence…. because you’re capable of so much!

Life is magical, don’t sit around trying to become more conscious, instead let it come to you through the essence of living it for it is with you in the awareness of your being…and doing.

With heart,

Angela