orchestra of minds

On the nature of the self and the arising of consciousness

            I wonder if the Buddha’s five aggregates are all equal to each other in terms of interdependency or if the consciousness aggregate (vinnana) is the base for the other four aggregates (material, feeling, perception, formations). Could all things be dependent on consciousness? If there is material but no consciousness, who is to say if the material even exists or not? Although consciousness is ever-changing as well, I think it changes on a spectrum that ranges from lack of awareness to a form of ultimate awareness of the universe. The self is a process-self, but consciousness could be of substance, as if it is a basis for not only the fabric of the self but for the fabric of existence itself. Yet, consciousness is still a process. The self seems to be none but an interdependent continuity always in a state of becoming. “From not existing it arises into existence, then ceases back into non existence” (Philosophy of the Buddha, Gowans, 83).

When everything is connected and interdependent, there a oneness that brings about consciousness, or awareness. Things come together in a certain way and there is life. This is true on microscopic levels, macroscopic levels, and levels of the familiar oneness of the self. We can learn a great deal by peering into the skies and observing the life-span of stars; they are constantly evolving, eventually dying, and there are new stars being brought about from the death of those. Although a process of different identities in each still moment, there is still essentially a oneness to the whole thing. Our selves very much reflect the way the universe governs itself. Continuity in time breeds identity, whether this identity is illusion or not is a tricky question. The self is an ever-changing reality, but consciousness seems to have an incredible underlying importance.