Transformation

When all objects that are observed, are understood as being nothing else than emanances of your own consciousness, Buddhahood will be achieved in that very moment. (Tibetan book of Living and Dying.)

Transformation is about recognizing and realising who you already are. You are becoming aware of a more encompassing self. First you identified yourself with your body and later with the mind and after that maybe with the total bodymind. This process continues untill self-consciousness is absorbed by pure consciousness and you are once again at unity with everything there is; part of cosmic consciousness, which you already were.

At each level of development within the process of evolution,the sense of "I", is the sum of one's attachments." I-ness" is defined by the totality of those objects, persons and thoughts with which one is entangled. In order to grow to the next level of consciousness, the" I" has to release itsself from this limited identity. Each step in growth entails a fundamental reorganization. The new sense of I and the new way of seeing the world will not be something that can be imagined in terms of the old. Authentic change always means stepping into the unknown.Change cannot be cast in terms of security. A sense of uncertainty is an integral part of the process. Shedding the old often leads to pain. In the first place the frantic struggle to improve oneself must stop. One must admit defeat and give up. For the struggle is framed in the terms of the present sense of the "I" and it is these terms and this notion of oneself which must be relinquished. For true change to occur, the limits of the present sense of the "I" must be consciously admitted.

The boundary between subject and object

In the process of involution and evolution of consciousness there occurs firstly an identification with matter which later must be transcended. There is only unity in the universe, so experiencing separateness is a game. Consciousness identifies itself with a body and with the mind in order to create the illusion of a seperate self. This is the beginning of the boundary between subject and object. And from the boundary between subject and object the two important dynamic agents arise: Eros en Thanatos. Eros is the basic pull in the direction of growth towards a higher consciousness and ultimately towards universal awareness. But true reunion demands the death of the separate self and this is exactly that which the separate self resists. That's why true unity cannot be found by the separate self and it is therefore driven tolook for symbolic substitutes for unity: searching, grasping, wishing en desiring, never satisfied simply because they are substitutes. The subject can only become whole again by releasing the boundary between subject and object which means dying as an exclusive subject. ( see : Ken Wilber, No Boundaries)

The other side of selfconsciousness is pure consciousness. The other side of experiencing a personal self is the experience of the presence of the omnipresent All.To the personality this feels like dying. So death is the end of self-consciousness or the experience of being a separate identity. The end of experiencing being a separate identity means again becoming one with all there is.