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“Jesus said: Images are revealed to man, and the light which is in them is hidden in the image of the light of the Father.”
(Gospel of Thomas; 83)
Form is defined, confined, and therefore finite. It appears and disappears. Form is always in motion; no form is the same on two successive occasions. Form is appearance, momentary manifestation in time-space. On the one hand, form becomes manifest through the five senses as external. On the other hand, form appears as internal in the manifestation of bodily sensations, feelings, sensory imagination, and thoughts. All of these are form.
Consciousness is formless, unchanging, unbound by time and space. Consciousness is indeterminate. It is neither this nor that. It is. It is neither something, nor nothing. Consciousness is the 'field' in which an infinite myriad of forms can manifest. And each of these forms are manifestations of consciousness.
Consciousness and form encompass each other. In consciousness form resides. In form consciousness dwells. Consciousness can be imagined as infinite space and form as the objects that inhabit that space. Yet in every form there is also spaciousness. Form cannot exist without the space that it occupies. By analogy, it can easily be understood that form manifests itself in consciousness: "there is nothing outside of consciousness" (Jean Klein). In that same analogy, we can also conceive of every form as being imbued with consciousness.
Form is appearance. There is only mirroring. Reality is a mirror image whereby ‘image’ stands for form and ‘mirror’ refers to consciousness. Every form is reflection in consciousness. Every form is permeated by the formless. Consciousness is manifested through form.
Form is non-form, and therefore it is form.
(Diamond sutra)
We are the mirror as well as the face in it.
(Rumi)