Consciousness is a time-bound state. Before you were born, you did not have any consciousness or sense of being present. The same is true of deep sleep or after death. The world and everything that is experienced in it only exists for us when consciousness becomes manifest. Consciousness itself is a temporary appearance with no substance or enduring reality. Therefore, all experiences, knowledge, and activities that appear in consciousness (this includes everything perceivable and conceivable) have no final reality whatsoever. Some say that everything that appears is all "the oneness". But what the appearances are one with is consciousness, which is not the final reality. The core issue is — what is the source from which consciousness emerges? Because consciousness comes and goes as an appearance to me, the source of consciousness must be what I am. Many assume that consciousness, being or presence is your real nature, but what you are is beyond all of these.