Identification

Identifying anything,

And

Identification / Identifying oneself with anything.

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Consciousness is attention only, and conversely; attention is consciousness only. Neither of the two exists in the  absence of the other.

Consciousness is ever so the ground upon which attention keeps shifting frim one to another object.

During the three states of mind, namely - the waking, the dream and the deep dreamless sleep Consciousness is ever so evident that only because of it all and every perception takes place, yet it is never the object of attention. On the other hand, the attention is so obvious a fact moment to moment, no evidence is  needed to prove its existence. Attention is ever so conspicuous, consciousness is so inconspicuous.

Consciousness and the attention, are so intimately associated with one another  that either of the two can be recognized and identified as such as the form of the other.

A person in the world, one as the "self" is the individual consciousness where one finds oneself as such, with so many others here, like him. Though all share the same material world and space in the waking state of mind, everyone has  a mental world also of one's own very distinct and very individual.

Does and could any individual "self" share his mental world with another?

This gives rise to the doubt

"Is there really a world common to all?"

The material world is no doubt is the same and common to all, but the world in the mind differs from man to man.

The same is also true about the world, as experienced during the dream-state of the mind.

Again, in the deep dreamless sleep state of mind all experience a deep sense of peace and tranquility where mind is free from any kind of misery or grief. One neither enjoys nor suffers still is perfectly happy in that state.

And at the same time it's also true that there is no one else there in that state where one could share this experience with another.

The experience during the waking and the dream state is unstable and differs from person to person, while the deep dreamless state is so evident, authentic and common to all that could never be doubted nor denied.

Why?

Only because during the state of deep dreamless sleep, one is so perfectly identified with the sleep state that all division disappears, while during the other two states of mind, namely the dream and the waking, there is always a partial identification with one or the other object of perception.

Let us consider - "Fear", to understand this.

In the dream state and also, just like as in the waking state, the moment "Fear" is experienced, there is identification of the object of which one is scared and there is also the acceptance of oneself, who is scared. As soon as the "Fear" is gone, the experience / experiencing and the one who was identified with the "Fear" also disappears. The mind then experiences another kind of feeling of respite or relief from "Fear".

During and through all this happening the experienced and the experiencing keep perfectly changing while the mind that is an expression of consciousness /  attention is in no way changed, is in no way affected at all.

Identification of the external things and Identification with the external things is therefore important to be considered. Identification of the things external to "self" is of help in getting free from them, while not identifying (oneself) with any of the external things results in freedom from all that that is the only essence and substance of all sorrow, misery. 

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