I see myself as a spiritual warrior in this world we live in. The first and most vital tool of the spiritual warrior is awareness. It is easy to think we are aware, but pure awareness has no thinking involved. It has no consideration because it has no interpretation. Awareness is to clearly perceive the truth of what is happening without interpretation or opinion. In a moment of awareness, the dialogue in mind stops. We are “seeing” from a point of view separate from the reasoning part of our mind. This could be described as an epiphany.
Awareness is essential because it is the state of consciousness that allows us to discern between the facts and the Truth, and between the story and the lies in our minds. The realm of our mind is filled with false perceptions and false beliefs. While the mind can be very clever with stories and lies, it is the consciousness of awareness that is the discerning intelligence. We may use very intelligent reasoning to make a decision that is not good for ourselves. Only to look at it in hindsight and realize that we discounted indicators that told us otherwise. The mind is clever, but it is also full of assumptions and limited paradigms of perception. Conscious awareness allows us to see clearly instead of being blinded by these false belief paradigms.
Self-awareness is the clarity to know who and what you are, and not getting caught up in self-important images of yourself. These self-important images in our minds distort our sense of who we are. False images can lead us to low self-esteem and self-confidence, or they can take us into being self-centered. If you have an idea of who you are, then consider that you are not that idea in your mind. You are the one creating the idea, and observing it. The self-awareness that you are not any of those images in your mind is essential to becoming free of self-importance.
Maria A. Jacques