Consciousness!

What is consciousness?

In the film The Avatar, the 'drivers' were connected to their avatar by having their consciousness connected to the avatar's body.(See avatar post for more info on the film)

What troubled me about this was, What did the body of the 'driver' do whilst his consciousness was 'living' through the avatar? The 'driver' was in a contraption all wired up, and of course there was nowhere to go, but is the body really just a shell???

I have been reading an e-book called The Awakening, by Vicki Anderson . The following sentence caught my attention;

There is only one thing in the Universe and that is Consciousness.

The following question was then pondered;

'If we close our eyes, does the world still exist, even though we are not conscious of it?'

The author then adds, that according to Dr Goswami and other physicists, the answer is NO!"

'Reality is merely an illusion albeit a persistent one.' Albert Einstein

So what does this mean? Nothing exists other than in our consciousness? Is this why when we are thinking of the past, we feel we are actually there. When we daydream is this really our consciousness wandering, experiencing stuff without our body?

So nothing exists, nothing is real. This is really mind blowing!!!

When my Mum was terminally ill, she would go in and out of consciousness. On one occaision when she was conscious, she told me she had just been to Austrailia. I thought she must have been dreaming, or hallucinating since she was on so much medication.

But if there is nothing but consciousness, who is to say that her consciousness didn't really go to Austrailia?!!

She told me how she was above the trees and mountains and how she had so much fun. I humoured her and asked her to take me with her next time. She smiled with a twinkle in her eye, as if she knew a secret.

So if all there is consciousness, then it makes sense to become conscious of our thoughts, feelings and actions. In doing so we can take advantage of this amazing reality (or illusion)- and create what we want to experience.