Infinite Reach of Consciousness

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s own being and it points the way from bondage to freedom. By making us drink right from the fountain of life, it liberates us from all the yokes under which we finite beings are usually suffering in the world. We can say that Zen liberates all the energies properly and naturally stored in each of us, which are in ordinary circumstances cramped and distorted so that they find no adequate channel for activity.

D.T. Suzuki in his introduction to Essays in Zen Buddhism is explaining something through his belief structure that is inherent in all beliefs structures. If we substitute the word consciousness for Zen, we find that Suzuki is describing our multiplicity using Zen or consciousness as the catalyst. Zen is action without action and consciousness is action within that action. Both are one and both are more than one.

Every action creates another action in each moment, so we are constantly creating a path of choices in order to become aware of our own inner actions. That awareness changes the path and structure of our belief system. What does all of that mean? It means that everything is true to the believer and that those beliefs will continue to mutate as the consciousness of each believer continues to express and experience the essence of being physical. Within that process, beliefs continue to be flexible and expedient to the believer.

Basic beliefs like religion, science, sex, relationships, perception, the senses, duplicity, physical creation, emotion, and truth, create our reality. Beliefs are like a birdcage that holds birds or influences. Those influences can be called sub-beliefs. The birds or influences within the birdcage are expressed as beliefs about marriage, ethics, drug use, politics, laws, taxes etc. When we focus on specific influences, we discover there are other birds hiding behind those birds. Those beliefs also play a part in creating what we experience.

Our human experience is based on a complicated individual belief structure, and Zen is always flying in and out of our perceived cage of beliefs. It is another aspect of the self that accepts all the birds for what they are. It is also a truth that intermingles with the birds. When we sense it, the feathers on our birds change colors, and we touch our essence as well as taste the infinite reach of consciousness.