The nature of Self consciousness or buddhi
The level or plane of buddhi has been described by esotericists as between the vibration of manas or mind and atma or spiritual will. It is said to be related to intuition and is the central component of the triad or conscious soul - that immortal being who is really the “I” or conscious being within and behind the separate human personality. However, the concept of buddhi is a bit harder to grasp than mind or will, so I will endeavor to say something more definite than may help us gain awareness of it and claim this reality.
Buddhi can’t be grasped by thought because it is beyond thought and the ideas and thought forms that inhabit the mind. Buddhi is not individual but rather is a universal field and energy that is Self conscious. It is empty as there are no forms in it. It is full in that it is the pervaded Presence of Self Consciousness. It is beyond time. It is unitary. Although we each may experience it individually, it is One. The epitome of buddhi is Christ Who totally embodies it as the Son or Consciousness of God/Logos. Anyone whose identity and life is centered in buddhi is likewise expressing his Christ nature, which is the essence, the inheritance and destiny of all humanity.
Although we may endeavor to utilize the mind to visualize a connection to buddhi, and soul consciousness, this may be a hindrance if we don’t realize that the connection is already there but unrecognized and we cling too much to the mental forms we have created to get there. Stepping into buddhi is a bit like stepping into a ‘no man’s land’ as it is devoid of the familiar ideas that we are so enamored with and invested in. Everything here just is. This isness however is imbued with sparks of intuitive knowing which we may focus on and become aware of. And it is imbued by an invocative call that we would respond to.
It is our duty to respond to this divine call and to formulate our intuitive knowing and express and share this. Atma or spiritual purpose directs this. Esotericists talk about building the antahkarana to gradually shift one’s focus and identity from personality to soul. And they talk about using the mind to do this. However it really works better if this bridge is built ‘from the top down’, from buddhi. Let the soul build the bridge, rather than the person. The mind then co-creates and externalizes what we as One Self are coming to know. This is ultimately to assume our role in manifesting the fifth kingdom and the Plan of the Father/Logos as formulated by Christ.
Awareness of buddhi leads to being able to stay at-one and identified with the conscious whole, while experiencing the separate person as a pole through which the Oneness of the Self may be known, shared, realized and manifested. Buddhic Consciousness remains detached from particular thought forms but uses thought to extend and express the intuitive knowing and will within it. The mind becomes the servant and agent of the heart, which is what buddhi is - the Self of Love that unites divine purpose with divine substance. This is the beginning of a larger experience of life and a new world that reflects this, that we will create together.
When we consciously at-one with the soul, from the heart center in the head we open our awareness to the buddhic heart consciousness and center our focus in this space/energy. This consciousness is outside the thoughts of our concrete ego mind. The more we focus on this energy, the more we realize that we are connecting with a conscious energy that is within all life and that is permeated with light, love, consciousness and will. We realize that this is really the Self, which we thought was individual, but which is actually a collective consciousness.
The mind comes into play when we express and share what we intuitively come to know through buddhi. Buddhi or Consciousness Oneness constitutes the essential nature of the soul. In buddhi, we are not thinking, we are actually in touch with what is. Creative expression through mind is a way of coming to know by sharing what we intuit through buddhi. In the age of separation that we are moving out of, we have placed primary reality on the mind, but that has to shift now as the heart is the way to the age of unity that is emerging. The heart embodies the conscious center of life just as buddhi embodies the conscious center of the triadic soul.
The Self or the oversoul is now accessible by everyone. We may begin to collectively shift from a civilization based on the ego to one based on the soul. We may actually open up our minds and hearts to the larger Life and reality that is emerging now from within and begin to live as soul. We no longer have to be content with just contemplating the true nature of life or devoting ourselves to an idealized image of it, we may now embrace it and live it. Master Jesus in A Course of Love has given us specific methods to realize this.