States of Consciousness
Most people are aware of three states of consciousness: the states of being awake, of dreaming while asleep, and of deep sleep without dreams.
When we are awake we know who we are; I am "I," this individual person, "myself." When we are dreaming we may be someone similar to our waking self, or someone or something totally different. During deep sleep, neither we nor the universe exists.
What ties these different states of consciousness together? Who knows that they were dreaming and are now awake? Who knows that the person who went into deep sleep is the person who woke up? We say that we slept really well. Who knows how we slept? And who is the one who is aware that we are awake? We are all able, sometimes at least, to take a step back and look at ourselves, watch the one we usually call "our self" doing whatever wonderful or foolish thing it's doing. Are we the one watching or the one doing the foolishness?
There must be a fourth state of consciousness outside of
the three we're usually aware of. It's the one who is aware
of the three states. It sees the awake one, the sleeper and
the dreamer. Maybe it’s who we really are. Maybe it’s
the one who wakes, sleeps and dreams.