Everything that we comprehend is qualified by our consciousness — a sublime process that belongs to our knowing, understanding, or feelings. This includes everything and anything we relate, or not relate to, or think of — the direct, the tangible, the approximate, and the abstract. Agreed that most philosophers would agree that such a simile may not, in any way, delineate the true nature of the divine, yet the fact is it is the base, the foundation and the fulcrum that construes our instinctive process.

This is, in simple terms, the essence of our ‘mind consciousness’ — the first information, or understanding of something that is part of the whole and also the sum of the parts. We may define it as self-experience in the perimeter of our consciousness too. It is also, in more ways than one, the true nature of everything that we subjectively and intuitively and also objectively, or perceptibly, feel, visualise and experience — on the surface and from the inside out. It is a given that our consciousness cannot know other than itself, although it holds the trump card as our arbitrator for everything. It puts into effect its own nourishing element on everything known, or unknown. This is also what ‘powers’ our consciousness, while making it intelligible in terms of itself, more so with the eternal light of knowledge that pervades the cosmos — from within and outside of us — in a manner born.

This does not, however, mean that we can, at the drop of a thought, get into the skin of our feelings, or emotions, or stop being ourselves. The inference is obvious — it is a fact of life that we all know everything that exists, just as we know of our own being, or actuality, within the scaffold of our conscious awareness. The whole idea, not just our mental compass, pertains to our understanding of the divine and the universe — through the radar, or prism, of our living experience. Our life is like the seasons. It is simple; also, composite; it is, at times, bumpy too. Yet, in the midst of contentment or bedlam, it is as stimulating as a limited overs cricket match that goes down to the wire. It gives credence to the fact that everything in life is happening at the same time — job loss, looking for a better, more spacious home, or flat, education, or marriage of children, expanded, value-added finances, or the looming threat of illness, or disease.

What also adds a ‘potholed’ element of paradox is not everyone in the family often think at the same level. It is, therefore, imperative that each of us within the unit should understand what one may be going through — to bring balance, or stability, notwithstanding individual problems, or difficulties, from which no one is exempt. This will help to understand others and ‘chip-in’ to the best of one’s ability — else, one may get emotionally insulated. The latter can, over a period of time, go out of hand. The result is predictable — lack of harmony anxiety, and stress, at the thought of a family, close relatives’ or friends’ get-together, which was earlier a happy event, something everyone looked forward to with frenzied excitement.

This brings us to yet another dimension — that life is akin to the change of seasons, including periodic variations, or spells, of heat, rain, or pleasant temperature, intersecting each another. The best thing one could do to bring stability is by way of a personal connect — with oneself and others around. This corresponds to a set of scales, or harmonious balance. It holds the key to good bonding and healthy relationships too.

(The writer is a wellness physician, independent researcher and author)