The mind and consciousness are similar to a shell game. A recent inspiration prompted me to compare the shell game to living life. Are we the shell or the hidden ball? Ultimately, we are both and neither. So, let’s use this game as a reference as we consider living from a state of conscious awareness. Because, the mind plays a deception game with us each day.
Conscious awareness, and equally a lack of it, influences each and every experience. I can share countless personal examples of how energy from the inner universe manifests into the outer universe. Let’s save that conversation for an upcoming article. So, the mind constantly overshadows object consciousness in unaware individuals. This is comparable to the hidden ball in the shell game. Thus, you are always conscious. But, the mind conceals the potential for active awareness. Yes, the ball freely rolls under the shell. Hence, there is conscious energy. Nevertheless, the shell limits the space within this state of consciousness. So, the shell (mind) literally engulfs consciousness within a barrier of darkness.
A Ball, a Shell and The Experience of Life
Therefore, ask yourself. Are you the ball or the shell? How do you experience life? The majority of people consider themselves to be the ball under the shell. The mind bases life on its own self-generated interpretations. Thus, the mind personifies the shell in the game. And, the mind is literally the con artist that misleads us in this game called life. As in the shell game, the mind establishes a course of action during random circumstances. The minds behavior is comparable to the sleight of hand a con-artist uses in the game. This clever deception fools must people that live in a state of unawareness.
But, here, in the same fashion as a shell game, a person can experience a moment of deeper awareness. The awakened observer realizes that, there hidden in mind details is the ball (object consciousness). There, within that moment of enlightenment, universal consciousness finds the ball and realizes that it has discovered its true self.
