04-06-2010, 12:00 AM
As I've said to people before, awareness is like water, in that it has many different manifestations of itself. I've probably posted this before, but I want to make sure that people are aware of it, so I'm doing it again. For many years, what I have seen is that there are fundamentally 4 different types of awareness, with 4 subtypes each, within a natural cycle, and, I'm using this analogy, of the water cycle to explain it here. We will just arbitrarily start with snow as step one, and go from there. This is pretty generalized, but I think it is enough for people to get the idea of what "shapes" our awareness can take. There are different ways to be awake, dreaming, in the second or even the third attention.
Ice - Waking
1. Waking - Moving - Snow, air borne ice.
2. Waking - Still - Surface snow and ice.
3. Waking - Moving - Glaciers, ice flows.
4. Waking - Still - Melting ice.
River - Dreaming
5. Dreaming - Moving - Seeping water.
6. Dreaming - Still - Ground water.
7. Dreaming - Moving - River water.
8 Dreaming - Still - Lake water.
Ocean - 2nd Attention
9. 2nd Attention - Moving - Tidal ocean water.
10. 2nd Attention - Still - Deep ocean water.
11. 2nd Attention - Moving - Vast ocean water currents.
12. 2nd Attention - Still - Ocean surface water.
Clouds - 3rd Attention
13. 3rd Attention - Moving - Evaporation.
14. 3rd Attention - Still - Lingering fog.
15. 3rd Attention - Moving - High, fast moving, thin clouds.
16. 3rd Attention - Still - Low, heavy, condensing clouds.
Ice - Waking
1. Waking - Moving - Snow, air borne ice.
2. Waking - Still - Surface snow and ice.
3. Waking - Moving - Glaciers, ice flows.
4. Waking - Still - Melting ice.
River - Dreaming
5. Dreaming - Moving - Seeping water.
6. Dreaming - Still - Ground water.
7. Dreaming - Moving - River water.
8 Dreaming - Still - Lake water.
Ocean - 2nd Attention
9. 2nd Attention - Moving - Tidal ocean water.
10. 2nd Attention - Still - Deep ocean water.
11. 2nd Attention - Moving - Vast ocean water currents.
12. 2nd Attention - Still - Ocean surface water.
Clouds - 3rd Attention
13. 3rd Attention - Moving - Evaporation.
14. 3rd Attention - Still - Lingering fog.
15. 3rd Attention - Moving - High, fast moving, thin clouds.
16. 3rd Attention - Still - Low, heavy, condensing clouds.