coastalskipper92 said:🙂 Lovely.
Could you please clarify what you meant by the points I highlighted? Semantically, I am completely lost, which forces me into a futile attempt at rationalizing these impressions 🙂. It is quite a long sentence; I don't grasp the concept of "disidentification," nor do I understand what you intended by "in" consciousness—is this referring to the collective?
Help me understand.
And could you explain how one fights, or rather, how one unburdens oneself from these impressions? Did you arrive at this realization on your own? Currently, I am locked in an argument regarding this very thesis—one I reached deep within my own soul—while the opposing impression argues that life consists of beauty and WILL.
They have been stripping me of my will ever since I became aware of how they force me against my own volition, pushing me out of my spiritual circle, my sense of purpose, and my alignment with the will of One.
Everything feels rigged against me when I engage in battle with them. I have armed myself with will and patience, yet it simply isn't enough.
Assuming we respect a certain spiritual standpoint that generally holds true across all major traditions—regardless of the different discourses where people draw lines based on ancient teachings or various philosophies—I won't muddy the waters too much. Here, the specific names or debates aren't as important as the core essence that connects them all.
Basically, the view is that all souls (Atma) are part of one single, existing Over-soul (Paramatma).
In the same vein, every individual Atma has always been, is, and will always be not just a part of the Over-soul (let's call it God), but every single Atma is, in fact, Paramatma itself. What makes each Atma experience itself as a separate soul is purely a type of impression surrounding the consciousness of each Atma (much like a soap bubble, which is essentially Nothingness; even though these impressions are necessary for the Atma's consciousness to progress, they are inherently Nothingness, causing the Soul to temporarily experience a false duality against its eternal, infinite existence).
It’s a complex idea, so I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible.
The reality is that the entire Creation is actually the sum of these individual souls at various stages of evolution. This seems intuitive enough: all are Atmas that are fundamentally no different from one another. In fact, they aren't just parts of this Paramatma or God in a general sense—they *are* God. They simply experience themselves semi-consciously or with latent consciousness as gas, stone, mineral, plant, insect, bird, animal, and finally, as a human being. Humans have a fully developed consciousness, making us the only form among these stages capable of acting as an Atma—since while our consciousness is full, it is also filled with countless finite impressions (animals have impressions too, but they exist at a semi-conscious level and can't achieve fully formed consciousness; even a stone experiences impressions through its medium in a latent way, progressing accordingly).
Now, because evolution within Creation is structured so that increasingly complex impressions of the Soul's consciousness are acquired, an Atma needs different developmental stages or evolutionary forms to actually live through those impressions. That explains the diversity of forms we know—from stone, metal, and plants to insects, fish, birds, animals, and ultimately, humans.
To keep myself from drowning in this thought, look at it this way: a human being is essentially the ultimate endpoint of evolution—both for physical bodies and for media. Our bodies are complete, finite vessels, and our consciousness is equally fixed. We experience the impressions of the world (Creation) as final, absolute truths. But here’s the catch: since Creation is actually just Nothingness or an illusion (Maya), our consciousness perceives that "Nothing" as "Everything." It’s the only thing we know. Because of that, we view ourselves as finite beings trapped in a specific world, tethered to its objects as if they were undeniably real. In reality, the entire Creation is completely unreal when compared to true Reality and the infinite existence of Paramatma.
The goal of spiritual growth is pretty straightforward: first, a person's consciousness has to turn inward. Once that happens, you enter what I call the Path of Involution. This is where you start "unwinding"—basically stripping away those heavy, coarse impressions you’ve spent your whole life experiencing in the material world. Think of it like peeling back layers of an onion. As you shed those old, clunky perceptions, your consciousness advances further along this path of Involution. The more spiritually developed you become, the subtler those impressions get. You’re essentially freeing your consciousness from all those illusions. Eventually, you reach the highest level of Involution, where you can only be guided by the Perfect Teacher—the Sadguru—who is always present in the world, even if most people don't have the eyes to recognize him.
Real God-realization only happens when a Sadguru lifts the veil of ignorance. When that happens, a person's consciousness becomes fully involuted. They aren't just thinking about it; they are consciously experiencing the state of "I am God." Being God-realized means your Consciousness of souls is no longer tricked by illusions. You stop collecting those mental imprints of duality—that constant tug-of-war between good and bad, or useful and harmful. It’s the highest peak any human can reach. Now, let’s be honest: hitting that summit entirely on your own is incredibly rare. Most people need the guidance of a Sadguru throughout the entire Journey, and in the end, God-realization is granted to those who have truly earned that grace.
Think of cosmic evolution as an imaginary process unfolding within God itself. It all starts because the Atma is driven by this intense urge for self-discovery. That very impulse creates the first definitive impression—the fundamental question: "Who am I?" Even though this consciousness possesses infinite attributes of power and knowledge, it initially perceives itself as being completely limited. To fix that, it travels through eons of imaginary time, cycling through countless different forms designed to build increasingly perfect impressions. This allows the Consciousness of souls to evolve until it reaches its ultimate stage: the human form (or perhaps a similar being on a distant planet—there are plenty of such races out there in the cosmos). This stage represents the peak of evolutionary form. At this point, consciousness is fully realized. A being becomes capable of recognizing its own infinite existence through the process of Consciousness Involution—essentially, by untangling those various impressions held within the Consciousness of souls. These impressions are the only things standing in the way of realizing the truth: that we are actually the Boundless Ocean, the only thing that truly exists, while everything else is just a grand, unreal imagination of the Over-soul.
The most basic way to look at it is this: within the Trask consciousness, the Atma gives rise to a mind that persists through eons, drifting through endless forms across every stage of evolution. It stays with you until a Sadguru—appearing in human form—finally liberates it, provided you've actually done the spiritual work to earn that release. So, when people talk about being born or dying, they're usually missing the point. True birth is the emergence of the mind, and true death is its passing.
Every single form of spiritual discipline or technique shares one fundamental goal: to gradually untether our consciousness from external impressions. It’s about shifting those influences from the heavy, physical stuff to much more subtle, mental vibrations. Think of it like maintaining an aura. If you focus on keeping that field clean and refined, you’ll notice a massive surge in creativity—especially if you have a restless, searching spirit. As your aura matures and becomes more "noble," it starts to hold specific patterns of high-frequency energy. Through this process, a person's consciousness becomes permanently etched as an individualized essence. Some people call these beings Ascended Masters—spiritual energies that remain present on Earth to guide us.
Basically, the limited ego—that part of Consciousness of souls where we experience ourselves as mere humans (like me being Mark, or someone else living in Chicago, working a specific job, and having certain likes and dislikes)—is just an illusion. It’s a collection of fleeting impressions that isn't actually real or permanent, unless a person reaches true enlightenment and matures enough to preserve their individual consciousness for eternity.
Sorry if this feels long-winded or a bit messy; this Knowledge is massive. I'm just throwing some thoughts down on paper hoping to say something coherent, though I might have missed the mark on the actual question. 🙂
