Consciousness Of/In/As Objects

This next post is launched somewhat bashfully. The new site monitor lets me see traffic coming into this very little blog, this rarefied corner in a vast universe of vaguely self-centered content. And although I cannot see who you are, the site monitor shows where you're from.. and I do not always have the slightest clue who the three loyal non-family/non-dharma-friend readers might be!

Anyway, hello out there. You know I am not a complete new-age idiot. Please enjoy what follows.

Corresponding with Josh Bartok has been an unmitigated pleasure. I'm interested to see how he responds to this one:

"What I'm thinking about" is the teaching that this mind creates the world. That this mind does not reside entirely between my ears or even within the confines of this body. I am increasingly under the impression that consciousness dwells within material objects other than this body. I have heard that all things supposedly have (no--ARE) the Buddhanature. Is this related, perhaps?

This percpetion of the ordinary aliveness and sentience of "things" will probably dissipate; perception for me gets quite mystical (and also quite UNmystical), depending on the time of month!

I guess I'm interested in what is reliable; the Dharma is that which is true at all times and under all conditions. So my own transient impressions of anything can be just that--interesting and subjective. And I can endeavor to relate that to a rational body of teachings. For example, my personal, subjective, experience of dukkha is informed by the presentation of the Four Noble Truths. Along the same lines, I'm trying to reconcile this other feeling--that everything participates in consciousness and has/is awareness-- with what I have heard about the nature of "things". Although I'm only beginning to explore and articulate this, it seems to relate to something that's been percolating for a long time.

That's rather an embarrassing and complex pastiche of thoughts I've just put forth. I'm not sure how well I've expressed myself, and I'm tempted to "send" it quickly before I get cold feet. :-)

In that same spirit I throw it out there, unedited, and forget what I've said.