Local Mind & Big Mind
(a pretty convuluted entry)
There is an interesting parallel...
Local Mind
When I awaken to my nature as space & awareness, this space & awareness becomes the context for all my experiences. I am that which is experiencing, and the small self - this body/personality - is that which is experienced and that through which the wider world of phenomena is experienced.
I cannot find any beginning or end, any birth or death, anything outside of this space & awareness. But it can still be experienced as local. As following around this small self, through which it operates.
Awakening as Big Mind
If I clarify this (infinite yet locally manifesting) space & awareness, it can unfold as Big Mind. I recognize this universe as consciousness, and I am that consciousness. I recognize that all phenomena and experiences arise within this consciousness.
There is this local space & awareness in which the experiences of the small self unfold.
Then, it reveals itself as Big Mind. This universe is consciousness, and all phenomena and experiences arise and unfold within it.
Although I am familiar with both experiences, I am still curious about the relationship between the two...
Consciousness: centers nowhere and everywhere
The universe is consciousness, and I am that consciousness.
And one aspect of that consciousness - that which I perceive as "me" - is somehow centered on and connected to this small self. It is not centered on other small selves. I experience the world of phenomena through this small self - this temporary pattern of matter and energy called "Per". Not through Per's wife, his neighbor, his cat. This universal consciousness is somehow - temporarily and exclusively- centered on this particular temporary self.
The universe is consciousness, and I am that consciousness. On the one hand, it is that in which all phenomena of this universe unfolds. One the other hand, it is that which is centered on this particular small self and in which the experiences of this small self unfolds.
This awareness, temporarily centered on a small self, and that awareness free from any particular centers, is obviously one and the same.
Consciousness is without a center, and at the same time centered everywhere and through every small self. (Any awareness organ throughout this and other universes).