Main attributes:
Stability, Self-Preservation, Health, Routine, Habits, Passivity, Inertia, Immobility, Dispersion, Resistance to Change
Matter is the first-born in the ascending series of evolutionary birth and growth. Our material physical body is composed of material elements and it carries with it the consciousness of matter from which it has been woven. However since we are mental beings, our view of the body is from the perspective of the mind and the mental consciousness has no direct access to the consciousness in the body. The body does on its own its innumerable mechanical, thermodynamic and electromagnetic operations without any need to consult the surface mind where we think and imagine and construct meanings. Owing to its source in matter the body consciousness is characterised by its instinct for self-preservation, persistence and stability. It is also unconscious - from surface mind’s perspective - inert, passive, repetitive, habitual and mechanical in its active nature. All this it has inherited from the world of matter, the soil from which it has come. Physical consciousness learns only through repetition; but once it learns it will not forget easily.
Examples:
Learning swimming, driving or typing - first the mind understands a concept and directs the body movements, then through repeating the physical movements the physical consciousness in the body learns. Once the body learns, the presence of the mind is not required and with experience the body does the actions easily without requiring any conscious participation of the mind. It become a habit, and therefore effortless.
However an already existing habit resists change and when a new habit is to be introduced the existing habits become an obstacle and only way to deal with it is to repeat again and again the new movement or pattern till it is established. This habitual resistance to change is our biggest obstacle to change. The older a habit, the more difficult it is to change, so with aging the physical consciousness also gets increasingly stiff and resistant to change.
When the physical consciousness is not well developed people resist change unconsciously, they prefer the routines they are familiar and comfortable with. Even if there is no open resistance, to establish a new pattern of work-flow or behaviour it is necessary to repeat a task again and again till it gets ingrained in the physical consciousness and becomes a habit. Work-flows when established over long periods of time become deeply ingrained habits and over the years become work culture. Establishing a new habit takes time but once a good habit is established it becomes a great asset. The older a habit the more difficult it is to introduce new habits or work-flows; the older an organisation or person the older are the habits and thus more difficult to introduce sweeping changes. Conservative behaviour in general springs from the physical consciousness and its conservative inertia, unwillingness to change and the need for stability.
Physical consciousness can be trained to become more conscious, supple and receptive to change. Sports and physical exercises thus acquire a great importance for the purposes of developing physical consciousness. A strong, flexible, healthy and robust body that is capable of holding higher intensities of energy influx into it without cracking is an essential condition for evolutionary transformation of the individual to access higher ranges of consciousness and its dynamic action through the body.
In the body the physical consciousness has its seat at the bottom of the spine and it extends all the way down from there becoming increasingly unconscious and mechanical.
- Physical consciousness is concerned with physical self-preservation.
- It is deeply entrenched in the physical world and material nature.
- It defends its habitual forms against any change, like matter resisting pressure.
- It is aware only of the outer physical aspects.
- It is mechanical and repetitive, habitual and unconscious.
- It is attached to the routine and established rule of what already exists, unwilling to change.
- Its instinct is to persist.
- Its characteristic weaknesses are inertia, fatigue, passivity, slowness, stupidity, obscurity, indolence, ignorance, narrowness and limitation, an inability to change or progress, sense of helplessness and impossibility of removal of obstacles, attachment to habits, lack of plasticity, doubt, dullness, dryness, and a constant forgetfulness.