We often hear people being labelled as image conscious. But what exactly is the consciousness we are
referring to? What is the correlation of this to the level of consciousness of the person?
Our level of consciousness is a representation of the extend of what all we are conscious about. Aren’t we
conscious that we are alive, breathing, that we have hands, legs, other organs or a body as we call that
in totality? Are we not conscious that we are able to sense using the sensory organs, experience touch,
smell, see, hear, taste?
Some people go beyond this consciousness to be conscious of the fact that they have a mind where all
thoughts happen, a faculty within us through which they experience emotions and feelings, as well as
through which they experience the sensations, experience suffering or joy, experience love or hate.
Some even go further, beyond this level of consciousness to become conscious of a SELF within them, that
which experiences everything through the body and the mind, the real ‘I’ or the ‘me’ within us. A person
at this level of consciousness does not identify himself as the body or the mind. There are even further
levels which we shall not discuss now as our intend is to address the concept of being image conscious.
The SELF or aatman is attributeless. It is pure consciousness that is all pervading, eternal, immutable.
It is the life, the energy within that lights through and manifests everything. So when we are the SELF
and we say ‘mine’, there is a contradiction. Because the consciousness doesn’t own anything. It is the
body and the mind that have attributes and it is these gross and subtle body that says ‘mine’. A person
who says anything is mine is at a level of consciousness where he identifies himself as his body and is
not conscious of the existence of a life within the body.
Let us now come to our subject of discussion, image. What is an image? It is the perception perceived by
the perceiver of what he sees and feels, through his body and mind. So the image formed is only attributed
to the physical. When a person is image conscious, it means he is affected by the perception of him being
created in the mind of the perceiver. This is a person existing at the level of body consciousness and is
not conscious of anything beyond. Like everybody he is on his journey towards self realisation, but at his
own pace. His consciousness shall evolve from body to mind to SELF as he progresses in his journey, maybe
in this life or in several lives ahead.
Image consciousness cannot be limited to physical appearance, some people are affected by the image
perceived of themselves in terms of their recognition, fame, power, influence, respect. These are all
different manifestations of one’s idea of themselves. All of these stem from something we call ego. Their
need to be perceived a certain way is an ego need. When their desired perception is established, they feel
satisfied. This is their ego getting satisfied. A compliment, a word of praise, an expression of respect,
admiration etc makes such people feel flattered and feels validated, they feel a kick or feeling of
fulfillment.
The ego needs to be understood, realised, overcome and destroyed if one has to realise their SELF and it
is not a journey of one lifetime but many lives. When it is time, man starts his journey of going inwards,
to go past the ego and get closer to knowing the SELF.
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