Home Practices Self-Remembrance

Self-Remembrance

The most important thing in the beginning and the starting point of the revolution of consciousness is to enable consciousness to surge forth from the sleep in which it finds itself, which is the sleep caused by constant thoughts, emotions, identification and fascinations. This is a crucial component as the consciousness that is asleep cannot perform the inner work. Moreover, consciousness is the only divine part that we have within us, while the other larger parts only come and merge with consciousness as the spiritual work is performed. This essence or consciousness is an essential part of who we are; it is the awareness by which we are aware of life and of our experiences within it.

As most of our consciousness (97%) is trapped in the psychological defects (also known as egos) like greed, anger, pride, lust, fear etc., we work with a small amount that is free (3%). But even this small percentage of it that we have is often time asleep, which we can observe by constantly falling in and out of daydreaming, and by various compulsive thoughts and emotions that form a big part of our everyday life, even though we may not want them so often. These psychological elements come from the subconscious mind and are keeping us in the state of psychological sleep.

In order to start the inner work, we have to maintain ourselves (the free 3% consciousness) awake, because only from the state of awakeness can we observe the defects inside ourselves, understand them, and purify our interior, thus freeing more and more trapped consciousness that was conditioned by various egos.

The entirety of the spiritual work needs to be done from the state of being conscious; from consciousness.

This starting point exercise to wake up our consciousness from the psychological sleep is called self-remembrance. It is very simple – we can train ourselves to be in the constant state of self-remembrance, and therefore in the state of psychological awakeness, by having our five senses activated and grounded in the present moment; in the here and now. To do this exercise, it is necessary to feel one’s own true self (the consciousness) inside the body; to feel oneself in the place where we are, whether that be in our home, office, or anywhere else. By so doing our physical senses will be activated and we will be aware of both the present moment and ourselves in it, without needing to think about it, but just being. It is to surrender oneself to the here and now.

By training ourselves to be as much as possible in the state of self-remembrance, our consciousness will become more and more prominent. It is the kindling of the inner light that is strengthened by this and another spiritual exercises. It is essential to practice the self-remembrance well, in order to start incorporating other exercises of spiritual unfoldment, such as self-observation.