________________
THE NOTION OF GROWTH
37
our consciousness and the respective karmic molecules. After its activation karma ceases to influence our life.
This process happens all the time without us being much aware of it. Our attachment to the features of our physical environment for example runs on such a fundamental level that we generally regard it as a selfunderstood property of our life.16 Only when we begin to dissolve this deep-rooted bond (from the sixth stage of development onwards) do we notice that our present environment is not a primary feature of the universe but a result of our emotional (karmic) attachment to a certain limited range of interactions between matter, time, space, movement and rest.
In the lower stages of development we tend to notice the separation of karmic matter from our consciousness only when they trigger strong desire or strong rejection within us. Though this is only a small part of all ongoing karmic processes, it nevertheless is the one part we can influence most easily. The more we progress in our devel
16 This means our emotional attachment to the perception of this
world e.g. as three-dimensional, as subject to gravity (as our feet resting on the ground), as matter being relatively stable, as thoughts not manifesting without us putting effort into them, as nature being green in its phase of growth, etc.
Though these perceptions appear so normal that we hardly ever think about them, they nevertheless are quite different to what we experience in our dreams. In our dreams we take it as nothing special when we fly though the air, when our thoughts manifest or change material objects instantly, when we perceive us as the center of multidimensional perceptions, when nature appears as a side-show that runs in the background only, etc.
Though there is a present trend to regard dreams as rather irrelevant mirages, we nevertheless experience them as vividly as our current world once our consciousness immerses in them. This demonstrates that our consciousness activates quite different modes for perceiving the world it focuses on.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org