There is a difference between awareness and consciousness, and a big one. For many people they are tantamount to the same thing. The field of experience is Consciousness, irrespective of what that experience might be: a thought, a feeling, a body sensation, a planet, an angel or a cup of tea. All these things are conscious happenings.

Awareness on the other hand is the empty living field of Who one is. Consciousness arises in Awareness. It is timeless and all encompassing. It can be likened to the Now, which one could say is the body of Awareness. It has no beginning, and there for it has no end; it has no specific location; it has no boundaries; it is the true infinity.

So, can it be experienced you may ask? No, of course not. It can’t be pointed at; you can not say that you have found the Now: likewise you can not say that you have found awareness. You can be aware of being consciousness, but no conscious of being Aware. Put another way: you cannot see your own eyes, but try seeing without them.

Awareness can be known even though it defies measurement, definition and the experienceable.
How can it be known? There are a few basic observations one can make, though observation is the wrong word. Insight might be a better word, or realisation even (the act of making something real).

So, why not realise it Now? Realise the following without using the analytical mind that merely wants to categorize and experience.

A few fundamentals:

Not only do you know, you Know that you know. The Knowing that knows is Awareness.
If I cut off your arm, have you become less?
You have not become less. It is The Awareness that you are that tells you this.
Do you arise in you body, or does your body arise in you?

If you can accept that there is a greater knowing that knows consciousness and that you there is something that has not become less if one of your arms is removed, then you can also see that you body arises in Awareness and that Awareness will continue after the body has fallen away.

So, your body arises in who you are. What a releif. You are AWARE. You are boundless, infinite and without the limitied idea that you exist betwix your ears. You are free, irrespective of your experiences.

http://www.counsellor.nu

The counsellor guides readers into a deeper understanding of the mind and it’s crazy antics.
It is also a manual for those interested in purifying the Mind.
The later parts of the book deal with Identity and the complete release from Ignorance, the act of ignoring who we truly are.

http://www.counsellor.nu