The Fog

The Fog

From our friend, Dharmesh S.

A few days ago, it was very unusual to observe dense fog in the morning in the city. The visibility was very poor, and one could not see anything outside from the window. The external foggy weather alerted me to my inner state, which was foggy too. I woke up from bed, and all the automatic movements like an automaton were on. The moving centre was in control. The question is, did I really wake up? Did I make any effort to awaken and remember myself? The fog in esoteric schools is imagination clouding the Higher Self.

The nature of the fog is that we cannot see what is in front of us, and in a certain way, it is the reflection of our entire life. We live under the illusion of being awake. The thoughts, emotions, perceptions and sensations feel real but they are unreal. To open the eyes in the morning from sleep, the System calls that ‘to move from the first state of consciousness to the second state of consciousness.’ The first and the second state differ very little from one another. Mr. Ouspensky called the second state ‘waking sleep.’ With an intentional effort of Self-remembering, one adds third state of consciousness, which the system calls Self-consciousness. Mr. Ouspensky further said, “This study must begin with the investigation of obstacles to consciousness in ourselves, because consciousness can only begin to grow when at least some of these obstacles are removed.”

What I verified on the day of the fog is that one needs to rise above the fog to see clearly. Rising above means adding consciousness in an activity, emotion, thinking, senses. Move with consciousness, look with consciousness, hear with consciousness. The moving centre is not in control anymore. And one verifies that with the speed one moves. A certain hurry is eliminated while having break-fast, while walking, while showering, while getting dressed, while driving. One of the Fourth Way students said, “There is no grey area in the school anymore – either you are in imagination, or you are present.”

The image posted is of three cherubs standing on top of the clouds by Bernardino Luini, a student of the master artist Leonardo da Vinci. The painting provides a little clue of the state we receive when we rise above the fog, the clouds of imagination. The cherub on the right is gesturing with his right hand to resist imagination.

Just as the fog eventually clears out and we can look at the wonderful blue sky, similarly when the imagination is driven out, presence emerges. Consciousness engulfs the sleep.

Tibetan Book of Days: “Whatever we have done with our lives, makes us what we are when we die. And everything, absolutely everything, counts.”

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Image: Three Cherubs by Bernardino Luini