Consciousness
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
“The world we have created is a product of our way of thinking.”
– Albert Einstein
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“Basic Call to Consciousness”: Today the species of Man is facing a question of the very survival of the species. The way of life known as Western Civilization is on a death path… Our essential message to the world is a basic call to consciousness…The technologies and social systems which have destroyed the animal and plant life are also destroying the native people.
– Iroquois People to the UN
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Consciousness is responsible for how we perceive, interpret and interact with our external world. It filters our reality based on the limitations of our senses, our beliefs and our memories from our prior experiences. Most of our actions are based on subconscious habits formed at a very early age from the authority figures in our lives, by early traumatic experiences, or by societal conditioning. These habits served our ancestors well in ancient times when change was very gradual or non-existent. In modern times where the only constant is change itself or adherence to long established beliefs, resistance to change and closed mindedness do not serve use well and are even leading to our eventual demise.
How can we change our consciousness (e.g. our thinking and our way of perceiving and acting upon the external modern world) that insures that we will have a sustainable and just world for all? Since all of our actions arise out of conscious intent, perhaps a good place to start is to look to our thinking and how we can better adapt it to the the constant barrage of change we now experience.
What is consciousness anyway? There seems to be no single or universally accepted view that adequately explains what consciousness is or how it works. Is consciousness merely the bi-product of physical brain processes or is it something that transcends brain functioning? Why is it that something we are all so intimately familiar with so difficult to explain?
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There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that a core aspect of our consciousness is much more expansive and transcends the natural boundary of our physical body and our normal sensory mechanisms. This "non-local" consciousness is based on evidence that is now available from contemporary science and medicine that suggests that consciousness is operates well beyond what the 20th century paradigm can account for using the existing world view of the nature of consciousness.
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Since the 17th century science has been based on the belief that all phenomena are the results of blind but predictable interactions with matter and that consciousness has no direct influence on it. This concept has led to an external, distinct reductionist view of reality and a materialistic focus – one of consumption, competition, conflict and domination. However, by the end of the 20th century, new scientific evidence has emerged from several new fields of study from quantum mechanics to chaos theory and even the study of so-called supernatural phenomena that render the reductionist and materialist view of reality not only untenable, but incorrect as well. Instead, a new paradigm is surfacing which:
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​Places great emphasis on consciousness and its role in the creation, interaction and interpretation of physical reality;
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Reality is not a separate external affair. Instead it is a holistic, interconnected matrix where all parts influence, interact and operate in harmony with one another;
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Information and consciousness are key aspects of reality, They are never lost and meaning is assigned to this information by consciousness and not independent of it.
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These concepts are true at a deep and fundamental level of existence.
Consciousness as we are describing it here exists simultaneously at multiple levels. In a real sense it is fractal in nature. Each level is a self-contained whole and is simultaneously superior and subordinate to the levels immediately above and below it. These holonic entities are complete unto themselves but at the same time they interact in harmony and coordination with other peer holons as well as those above and below them. As new holons evolve from their constituted subordinate holons, characteristics emerge (referred to as emergence) that cannot be deduced from the subordinate holons. Such is the nature of consciousness.
For more information on the need for raising consciousness and the levels of the holonic hierarchy of consciousness click here or on the image to the left.
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For more information on the oneness of consciousness, click here
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For resources on consciousness, click here
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For meditations on consciousness, click here
Long Term Sustainability
For the long term sustainability of human civilization not to mention all life on this oasis called planet Earth, humanity must transform its consciousness from one that is primarily individually focused to one that is holistic where are the parts are seen as interacting with each other as well as the whole. Nothing happens in isolation - a change in any part propagates through to and affects all other parts. To accomplish this goal of the recognition of intraconnectedness of all things, the Instiute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) has developed a transformational model to help guide the way to this larger perspective.
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Transformational Model
Click on the image to the right or click here for more information on this model.
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More information about this transformation model will be available in the future.
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For more information on the science of consciousness refer to the "Consciousness" submenu items at the very top of this page.
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