A12. "I"

It starts with "I". Well you see my body, but this is a superficial view. In addition to my body there is another component which enables me to feel joy and sorrow. This part of me is the "Mind". Moving a little deeper, I find another part of me, which enables me to control my Mind - that is "Intellect". Looking further when I'm awake, I see the "Universe" around me, but what happens when I am asleep? I am unaware of what is happening around me. But in my dream I may feel and see some things! Is the "Dreamer" different from the "Waker". It appears that "I" am in a different world when "I" am awake from the one "I" inhabit during my sleep. The Vedas examine whether there is only one world, which "I" see in my waking state or more than one world. It is this "I" to which the name "Awareness" or "Consciousness" is given. The Vedas call it "Atma" or "Soul". In the vast literature on Indian Philosophy and in the Upanishads, where the nature of Atma is explored, it is described as "Self". A closer look indicates that all existence is the interplay of "Consciousness", "Action" and "Matter" or else interplay of "Mind", "Matter" and "Motion" or worded slightly differently as the interaction of "Knowledge", "Objects" and "Process".
An Object occupies "Space", whereas Awareness does not. This brings us to the hot question - like the one that Hen came first or the Egg, whether Awareness or Consciousness came first or Existence? There are three aspects - that of Seeing or Observing, that of being Seen or Observed and that of the One who is Observing the Object which is Seen. It is difficult to decide the sequence of Awareness and Existence, because Awareness of an object is proof of its Existence, but the fact that we are not Aware of a Thing does not mean that it does not Exist. That is where FAITH comes in! And FAITH is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen, isn't it so?