What, Then, is Individual Consciousness?: What is Consciousness?

If consciousness is bigger than us, and we come from it, then what does it mean to refer to one’s own consciousness? What exactly is our individual consciousness and how does it relate to consciousness as a whole?

Scientifically, it may be described this way:

Everything is connected through a universal field of virtual particles, and we are all part of a single living system. What this new worldview suggests is that physical form as biological consciousness is a local expression of a universal phenomenon commonly referred to as “consciousness.” – Edward F. Malkowski (ch. 2)

When trying to envision our individual consciousness, one or more of these metaphors may be helpful:

A wave expressing itself in the ocean, or
An antenna tuning into radio frequencies, or
A faucet that is tapped into the source

The different metaphors serve different purposes in helping us to envision how consciousness may actually work. Let’s consider, specifically, how the wave metaphor can be helpful.

When it comes to our individual consciousness and the great field of consciousness, we tend to think that we’re discussing two separate things. And from that assumption, we ask ourselves how these “things” are “connected.”
But that type of thinking is precisely the limiting viewpoint that David Bohm explained was hindering physicists from coming up with an explanation for conflicting theories in quantum physics.

So let’s say we manage to expand our thinking from being a thing (person or mind) that has to have a physical link (such as a telephone line) to something else (a bigger mind). We might think, okay then, is it more like a wireless connection? But we’d still be off the mark (as explained through nonlocality and entanglement in quantum physics).
The easiest way to get our indoctrinated brain to expand its thinking about this is to consider a wave in the ocean. The wave isn’t a separate thing connected to the ocean; it’s a part of it while also being an individual expression of it. In this way, we are each a part of consciousness while also personally expressing it in our unique, individual way.

Another angle is to consider how the body is a carrier of electromagnetic current:

Most folks think of antennas as long metal rods extruding from radios or as “rabbit ears” on top of a television set. In its broadest definition, an antenna is anything that can carry an electromagnetic (EM) current… Many parts of the physical body are sensitive to EM radiation… The body itself can be regarded as multifaceted antenna system that acts as a transceiver (transmitter/receiver) of informed energies, or vibes. We will explore the dimensions and posturing of the physical body and show how it works like a broadcast antenna. We’ll also see how the internal components of the body make shapes that aid in transceiving multiple forms of information. The physical body is sheathed in layers of energy bodies as well, such as the etheric and astral bodies, which themselves act as transceivers for frequencies that are beyond physical measurement at this time. We’ll show how these energies interact with the physical body. And lastly, we’ll discuss the advent of a quantum biological antenna system and the new avenues of discovers those ideas open for us to explore. – MaAnna Stephenson