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Elevate Your Consciousness

Junious Ricardo Stanton

“The ultimate explanation of all things is a state of consciousness.” Emmet Fox

Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve problems using the same consciousness that created them.” In other words, if you keep doing the things you do/did; you will always get the results you’ve gotten. Life is about facing challenges and danger, solving problems overcoming obstacles and bringing forth the best of what is within ourselves. No one escapes this process, it is part of life. All of us have to endure what Shakespeare called “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, the vicissitudes of life, trials and tribulations, ups and downs, failures, successes and triumphs. Each of us must deal with this reality, you can run but you can’t hide from life!

We are living in an era of accelerated change on all levels: personal, familial, social, moral, technological and economic. While change is the essence of life, change can be disruptive, damaging, difficult and often calamitous. Much of the calamity in our lives are situations we’ve brought on ourselves, through our own thinking and actions. Other issues/circumstances are due to outside forces. For example the age of European expansion and colonialism brought about disastrous changes everywhere they set foot on this planet from the fifteen century on. Everywhere they went social and ecological disruption and upheaval followed. Their ruling elites rationalized their plunder and genocide by saying they were bringing “civilization”, “spreading Christianity” and saving indigenous people from the ravages of benightedness, isolation and savagery.

This of course was a made up justification for what they were doing. That consciousness was based upon what I call reverse or anti-Ubuntu where the Caucasians (Arabs and Europeans) felt is was their birthright to take whatever they wanted from others, “what is mine is mine and what’s yours is mine”, and might make right were their mantras.

Contrarily, Ubuntu says “I am because we are, we are because I am,” it is a philosophy and worldview of inter and intra-connectedness, interdependence, cooperation, mutual aid and responsibility.

The contrasts between Ubuntu and anti-Ubuntu are based purely on a way of thinking, doing and behaving in the world. Our current world reflects this predatory consciousness. This is why the world is in a perpetual state of conflict, rapine, suffering and depravity. It is based upon a consciousness of greed, callousness and exploitation. It has been that way since the fifteenth century.

If we say we want change and we say we want to make the world a better place, we have to alter our consciousness, we have to think, behave and relate differently to ourselves, each other, the “other” and the environment. We cannot save the world using the same consciousness that is currently destroying it; believing we are separate from it, that we have no kinship with those who do not look like us, the animal kingdom (other than our own pets) and the natural order.

The Dictionary of Psychology defines the word consciousness as: 1.the state of awareness, 2.the totality of experience at any given moment as opposed to mind which is the sum of past consciousness, awareness of acts, activities and reactions, 3. the subjective aspect of neurological activities, 4. self-knowledge, self-awareness.

Many mystical and philosophical teachings say we humans are not consciousness, we are not totally aware, that we are susceptible to illusions and unreality. I don’t have time to fully comment on this but suffice it to say these teachings are correct, we are not fully aware, we are not using the totality of our mental faculties and potential and we lack self-knowledge, the true knowledge of who and what we are.

Ancient sages admonished “Man, Know Thyself.” Unfortunately, we don’t know ourselves and we haven’t even attempted to discover our true selves! We have allowed those who rule over us to dissuade us from the commencing the process of self-awareness and self-knowledge. Their socialization and pedagogical institutions and systems ignore the processes of self-actualization and individuation in favor of pigeonholing us and keeping us ignorant of who and what we really are. As a result, our consciousness is extremely limited and myopic to the point of cognitive impotence, we’re being reduced to Zombies.

In the West various movements have sprung up to counter what I call the Zombification of humanity. Various teachers, philosophers, mystics and metaphysicians have introduced and promoted the ancient wisdom teachings from Africa and Asia in an effort to improve humanity. In the early twentieth century one such teacher as an Englishman named Emmet Fox. He was a leading spokesman for what he called the Truth Movement. He visited America and while he was here lecturing, he went to the headquarters of Unity in Kansas. While there he gave a speech entitled Life is Consciousness. In it is said, “The way to meet a problem is to raise your consciousness, If you do this, the problem disappears. In the Bible a valley always stands for trouble, sin, limitation: and the mount (mountain) for uplifted thought and prayer for understanding. We must go up the mount,; raise your consciousness.”

Emmet Fox also spoke about self-image, cultivating your self-image as a divine being, “The Great I Am that I Am”. This is not new, the Nile Valley Mastery Schools taught their initiates to cultivate and invigorate their latent potential, physical, psychological and emotional with the ultimate goal being identification as a living divine being!

I encourage you to read any of Ra Un Nefer Amen’s Metu Neter book series especially Nuk Au Neter I Am A Divine Being The Kametic Holy Scriptures ISBN 978-0--9820156-1-2 . Dr. Muata Ashby also teaches these anceint African principles of personal transformation and enlightenment.

This is the great secret of the ages; if you want the energy and conditions of your life to change for the better, raise your consciousness, change your self-image, commence seeing yourself as a divine being, as an extension of THE CREATOR (Ubuntu: I am because of THE CREATOR and THE CREATOR is in me.)

                                            -30-