Consciousness

Life! I feel life is the greatest creation in this Universe. Or the greatest thing (sorry, can't think of any other word) that exists. All the other wonders deserve notice and praise. But the most worthy of that praise is life. After all, there should be somebody to appreciate the other wonders!

But what is life? Can we define a living being as one who is conscious of it's own existence? I guess that definition comes close to be a foolproof definition. Even plants would satisfy the definition. Only if a being is aware of it's existence will it try to protect it. The fact that plants try to survive makes it evident that they are conscious.

Now I guess that is a major attribute of consciousness. To survive. According to me, it is the greatest attribute which I will say defines consciousness. Being conscious makes us fear death. We fear the unknown. And if we have to face it alone, that makes it even more dreadful. The greatest unknown thing about death is continuance of consciousness. Death is loss of your identity and your identity is defined by your consciousness.

Being conscious is being aware of one's own existence. How conscious do you think you are? These days, we spend all our lives keeping our mind busy in one thing or the other. When we get up, we are already late for the office and spend the morning in getting ready. When in office, we have so much to do that we hardly realize how we spent all that time buried under papers, staring at our screens and if you are lucky grabbing a bite in between. When back home, we are already so much tired that we don't feel like doing anything. Most just watch TV and then go to sleep.

Are we losing our consciousness? Our greatest gift!? Our means of survival? If we define a living being as a conscious being, are we already dead?

When one meditates, he is being conscious. Does that mean that meditation connects us to the awareness of our existence? It connects us to the nature of 'beings'? And does that refer to the 'connectedness' of the whole Universe?Are we all connected because of the same basic consciousness that we share? Interesting! Isn't it?