4. Personal World

Life is the experience of being alive in this present moment.

Reality is focusing on being alive in this present moment. Reality is this experience; right here, right now.

The Three Worlds describes the range of reality we could possibility experience in any single moment.

In this present moment:

  • We can experience an outer world around us.
  • We can experience an inner world inside of us.
  • We can experience a personal world where these other two worlds overlap.

The outer world is our direct experience of the outer world.

The inner world is our direct experience of the inner world.

The personal world is our experience of being a separate “self” that lives at the intersection of these two worlds.

The world of outer experience

The outer world exists independent of our ability to experience it. The outer realm is what we are able to experience of the outer world. Our outer realm is a very small part of the actual outer world. But to us, this experience — the outer realm — is all encompassing. It is all we really directly know about the much larger outer world.

The world of inner experience

The same is true for the inner realm. Like the outer world, the inner world is just a small piece of the complete inner world. In our modern times, most people know very little of the inner world and what we might experience here.

The world of personal experience

The world of personal experience sits at the intersection of our inner and outer worlds. This personal world is different than our two other worlds.  The outer and the inner worlds actually exist.  If we were to die tomorrow, our personal world would be gone but the outer world would still exist.  The inner world would be gone but the inner world would also exist — which might be hard for us to believe.

But the world of personal experience would vanish — poof — the minute we drew our last breath.   What would be gone is our ability to experience any part of life.

Consciousness gives us the ability to recognize and experience the three worlds.  Consciousness enables us to recognize the difference between that which is inner and that which is outer.  Consciousness can do all this because there are different forms of consciousness. 

This is the structure of life.

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