I had a wonderful conversation today with Elias Admidon of The Open Path. We have been exploring and discussing the nature of abiding non-duality and I was relating to him a recent experience I had while I was in Hawaii. The net of the experience is a realization that I am nothing more than an interpreting mechanism for "consciousness". This realization was catalyzed by a meditation I've been doing around the Latin phrase Momento Mori - literally translated as remember you must die.
Actually, I've already died...I just haven't arrived at that time yet. What a cool thought to entertain as a way to determine what experiences to pay attention to. Indeed, time may only exist to ensure that everything doesn't happen all at once.
If all there is (and all that I really am) is consciousness then what is the purpose of my body, my thoughts, my feelings or my life? The best that I can come up with is they are all contributory to a fascinatingly creative mechanism through which consciousness gets to experience aspects of this reality. Having and interpreting (making meaning) of this experience is a function of this form called Blaine.
Consciousness is an experience junkie. It has "created" about six billion human interpreting mechanisms (not to mention all the other organic and inorganic interpreting mechanisms that populate this universe) in order to experience this reality that we perceive. All will return to consciousness; the river will empty into the ocean. Free will is about what I do while on my own river. How do I navigate it, what do I attend to that I find in and on the river? I can do this mindfully or not. That's ultimately a function of how awake I am to this possibility. I get to make it all up! And, I don't get to not return to the ocean.