This analogy works like this...
Imagine an enormous glass pot full of water on the stove and the burner is on! After a while the water begins to boil. What happens when the water boils? Well, the water contains air and the air in the water is heated. It expands enormously when it touches the hot bottom of the pot. Immediately bubbles rise to the top of the water and these expanded bubbles are absorbed again into the air above the water level. Note: I am not sure whether it is Oxygen, Air or Steam Bubbles that rise to the top, but for the sake of this analogy it does not make any difference what we call these bubbles. Bubbles are bubbles so to speak...
The Grand Cycle...
This process goes on and on. The water at the top of the pot absorbs air again and pretty soon it touches the bottom of the pot, heats up and expands again. The whole procedure is a cycle and in actuality a similar cycle takes place with consciousness in a universal sense. It takes a lot longer for an human individual consciousness bubble to rise to the top however. It is therefore called The Grand Cycle...
It depends who's counting...
Human beings are like the bubbles in our water pot, except that they do not live in water but they live in what we know as creation. We could say that, the oxygen or air is consciousness and the water is creation. Human beings are the bubbles that rise to the top. They rise through several different levels or densities called: 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D, 5D, 6D, and 7D. Possibly they might have to rise through more than seven densities. I have no idea how many there are. It depends who's counting. Some teachings say there are fifteen...
Our way to the top...
Once at the top of the water we become pure air or consciousness again and infinitely tiny aspects of ourselves or atoms are absorbed by the water or creation once more to begin the journey anew. Naturally this is a very simple analogy of The Grand Cycle but it gives us an idea of how things work in the universe. Consciousness or awareness is absorbed into creation in the most minute form to start with. Once there, we experience Life and before long we are on our way to the top again. Do you see that tiny bubble just below the middle of the pot rising to the top? Well, that's Mankind. Our pets are moving up a bit lower down...
An infinitely changing phenomenon...
A little light goes on in people heads when they grok the idea of the boiling water pot. The beautiful thing is that the process repeats itself infinitely as long as we keep the air, the water and the heat in a closed system. The heat naturally is the effort it takes to become consciously aware! Meanwhile, Life or the universe is a closed system, for there is only one mind or energy infinitely recycling itself. This recycling is an infinitely changing phenomenon that experiences and renews itself ad infinitum. It's an infinite cycle of involution and evolution. How long does it take for one human bubble to cycle? Well, I lost track of time doing it, but it could well be 5 billion years of which 99.9999 percent takes place in timelessness. So take your time and bubble...
Another thing to consider...
Did you ever wonder whether there are beings in the universe who are higher than you are - or higher than your neighbor the sage - who spouts wisdom as if he was made of it? Well, there is a difference in the level of evolvement between people and/or beings. These differences however, do not make them more or less than we are! We all cycle from the bottom to the top and when we have reached the top, certain aspects of ourselves begin at the bottom again...
We are all equals...
This means naturally, that the beings who are less evolved than we are at this time, were the beings who were more evolved than we were when they reached the top and began anew. IOW: the universe is a place where the more evolved beings help or look after the less developed beings and we all get our turn to do that. We serve! All this means that we are all equals within the energy we call the Creator or Creative Energies. There is no higher, there is no lower, there is just us! We all are The I AM in different forms - living and discovering ourselves enjoying or enduring different stages of awareness...
?... What really is this Universe ...?
We are authentic creators...
When I ask myself, what really is this universe? I come up with the following answers. I feel that we are similar to holographic duplicates of All That Is. We are in the process of creating our own version of the universe continuously and simultaneously. We all create different versions on our own. This is the only logical and intuitive solution to "what is" - for if we would have to accept and live in what others create - we would not be an authentic soul or creator. Also, all of us together have a universal symbiotic relationship with each other. The one lives off the other so to speak. Funny thought isn't it. Especially if you're eating... or are eaten...
The Essence we are is Real...
I also feel that the universe, high and low, is not something that has been created in the past. All of us create our own version of "what we imagine it to be" in the present moment of nowness at all times. IOW: the past and the future are but mental projections of illusionary realities created by us from the fulcrum of the illusive reality we live in right now. So, what's Real? The Essence we are is Real! It creates or projects any and all realities that are experienced by any and all thoughts or beings that make up the Whole...
There are disagreements within all planes of being...
The universe is a holographic and morphogenetic creative energy that lives in a universal symbiotic relationship and contains nothing but its own beings or thoughts that in and by themselves make up the total. These beings or thoughts change "what is" by thinking or creating these changes. Not necessarily do all beings or thoughts create all changes in compliance to the wishes of others. This is why there are disagreements within all planes of being. The only thing at rest or peace is the underlying Essence that supports all beings and thoughts. In my view, this Essence is The Infinite Subconsciousness (The IS) or the void of the universe out of which all things arise. However, I do not think that it is a void - it's an energy...
We are The IS in the first place...
All beings and thoughts are expressions or aspects of The IS and are One. These aspects have their temporary appearances and form self-created interpretations of their existences according to their experiences. These interpretations depends on the level of their awareness. This phenomena produces a temporary and seemingly independent self-created unit or soul. However... in actuality all units or souls are the very IS in the first place! The seemingly independent soul has its own experiences in the different realms of creation, including experiences in the physical realm...
One of the secrets is...
Because of the experiences in physical reality, a seemingly independent and separate reality of the soul is imagined and accepted as real. It is not real in actuality! This illusion must be transcended in order to progress toward higher levels of awareness. One of the secrets is - that the body as such - is a mental aspect or projection of the soul. While the soul, as mentioned before, is - The IS! This means that the Creator and Creation are One! There is nothing that separates these two. They are One - not Two. Please turn the stove off Mary-Ann! The bubbling story is finished...