A Brief History of Consciousness

As the foundation of life and the course by which every living thing evolves, consciousness necessarily predates life. In fact, consciousness predates all of existence. What this means is that the force that provides for life and is manifested in all of its forms of expression once had no form of expression at all. 

This is not so hard to envision. Like anything else, consciousness can only be expressed in a relationship context of some kind. Everything in existence requires a relationship with something else if it is to be said to exist or if it is to be aware of its existence. Thus, particles relate to other particles; cells relate to other cells; plants relate to the sun; infants relate their mothers, and so on. 

Relating essentially defines existence. We know we are here only because we have actual things and persons, or mental images of things and persons that we can play off of and orient ourselves to. Without them when we looked outward or inward we would experience complete empty space and utter nothing-ness.

Prior to creation and the introduction of time and space, no relationships were possible. Consciousness existed, so to speak, in an elemental, oceanic, completely undeveloped condition suffused by the unformed, undefined, unbounded, unlimited, substance-less, changeless, preternaturally serene realm that we call eternity. 

Because its inherent nature is to express itself, and because eternity is essentially a void and has no capacity to provide a context of any sort in which a relationship of any kind is possible, consciousness required a new field that provided for its contextual needs and fostered its expression. In short, consciousness was poised to become creation.

How consciousness actually initiated creation in context-free eternity is unknown. And it is not important to enlightenment that we solve the mystery. For now all that is important is that we remain mindful of where we came from and that we fully appreciate the eternal as the backdrop to our human nature. 

It is not a coincidence that the awareness of which we are capable and the consciousness that is fundamental to it derive from eternity. It is not a coincidence that evolution is hierarchical, with one thing building on the next ad infinitum. Eternity is constant; creation is change. By way of the evolutionary chain, our link with the constancy of eternity is unbroken. 

The realm of serene no-thing-ness has remained an essential part of our deepest nature from the beginning. Enlightened awareness is its highest expression. Expressing it is why we are here.