To Be or Not To Be Conscious

The choice is to be conscious or not, which brings us to the possibility for transformation. No one disputes the fact that life consists of change. But can a person, simply by altering his or her consciousness, actually bring about a deep transformation and not just another superficial change?

Transformation and change are two different things, as can be seen in any fairy tale. The key to true transformation is that nature doesn’t move forward in step-by-step movements. It takes quantum leaps all the time, and when it does, old ingredients aren’t simply recombined. Something new appears in creation for the first time, an emergent property.

For example, if you examine hydrogen and oxygen, they are light, gaseous, invisible, and dry. It took a transformation for those two elements to combine and create water, and when that happened, an entirely new set of possibilities emerged with it, the most important form our point of view being life itself.

Every chemical bond produces an emergent property. Your body, which is bonding millions of molecules every second, depends on transformation. Breathing and digestion harness transformation. Food and air aren’t just shuffled around but, rather, undergo the exact chemical bonding needed to keep you alive.

If transformation is the norm, then spiritual transformation falls into place as an extension of where life has been going all along. While still remaining who you are, you can bring about a quantum leap in your awareness, and the sign that the leap is real will be some emergent property you never experienced in the past.

Adapted from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2004).

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Helen W.

1:33AM PDT on Apr 24, 2013

Thank you for Sharing :)

April 24
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Julie H.

7:19PM PDT on Jun 5, 2012

thnx

June 5
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Yulan L.

3:44PM PDT on May 29, 2012

Thanks for the article. There is so much out there we are still to learn.

May 29
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Patricia H.

1:49AM PDT on Apr 3, 2012

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to part two

April 3
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Judy A.

2:59PM PDT on Mar 29, 2012

Thank you!

March 29
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jayasri a.

3:27PM PST on Feb 24, 2012

This article is way too brief.

February 24
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Past Member .

5:33PM PST on Feb 21, 2012

No Jane, you made the decision to become sentient. Born into this world physically
You were always conscious. You have always existed.
Floating around in the ether since..... well.... that's kind of a tuff one because of course
time is an illusion that we just make up, but anyway,
as you know, your particular consciousness, which is part of the cosmic consciousness,
has chosen to live many lives in both the past and will do so again in the future and will keep on doing this until you lose all your anger and become pure and enlightened at which point you can stop being sentient but you can never stop being conscious because you can't create or destroy consciousness. Or is it matter.... or does it matter? Whatever.

See? I can talk just as crazy as the best of them :-)

February 21
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Jane B.

5:24PM PST on Feb 21, 2012

OMG, now I have a CHOICE of whether I want to be CONSCIOUS? I didn't ask to be born but
I was ANYWAY! I became conscious against my will! GOD didn't do it, my mother did. She didn't have a CHOICE either, she was raped at 14. This article is more ridiculous gibberish that has nothing to do with REALITY!

Olga L.

3:05PM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Wonderful approach as always!