Consciousness Is Consciousness of the Whole
When God gives of God’s self, one of two things happens: either flesh is inspirited or Spirit is enfleshed. This pattern is really very clear. I am somewhat amazed that more have not recognized this simple pattern: God’s will is always incarnation. And against all of our godly expectations, it appears that for God, matter really matters. God, who is Spirit, chose to materialize! We call it the Christ Mystery.
This Creator of ours is patiently determined to put matter and spirit together, almost as if the one were not complete without the other. This Lord of life seems to desire a perfect, but free, unification between body and soul. So much so, in fact, that God appears to be willing to wait for the creatures to will and choose this unity for themselves—or it does not fully happen. Our yes to incarnation really matters, just like Mary’s did. Could this be the very meaning of consciousness? Certainly full consciousness of any event demands that we see its outer and its inner, its shape and also its meaning, its body and also its soul.
Richard Rohr Adapted from Near Occasions of Grace, p. 5