WHAT IS HINDUISM?
consciousness – with anything we experience or are aware
of – and identifying with the pure awareness of these
contents. A central way of Practicing The Awareness
Principle is to recognise that awareness of asymmetry – of
the limitations, superficiality, lower level or narrower focus
of another person’s awareness – is nothing that need be felt
or feared as isolating. Why? Because the very awareness of
asymmetry is not itself anything limited, lowered, or
rendered narrow or superficial by that asymmetry. The fear
or discomfort of feeling one’s own awareness confined
within the narrower horizons of another comes from (a)
fear or failure to be aware of asymmetry – to fully
recognise, accept and make allowances for the limits or
confines of another’s awareness (b) failure to identify with
the pure awareness of those limits or confines – an
awareness that is not itself limited or confined by them, and
(c) lack of the awareness and skills necessary to successfully
relate to the other from a place of higher awareness –
rather than feeling or being confined by the lower
awareness of the other. If asymmetries of awareness are not
responded to through aware relating, those with higher
awareness may end up just avoiding social contacts,
situations and relationships altogether out of fear of feeling
confined and isolated by them. Without the meditative
means to engage in aware relating in asymmetric situations,
self-isolation is chosen as the safer alternative to social
isolation.