JJ,
I limit my exposure to technology. No television or cell phone. I just posted a WriterBeat article sort of about that. I agree technology is over-rated and over-used, and spreading a lot of mind pollution around the world. TV could have been a positive, educational tool, but it has been taken over by the dumb-downers, and is used instead to propagate hate and fear.

About women, I agree so far the “feminists” are behaving like the patriarchs they are fighting. On the other hand, whenever I see or read about something truly forward going, such as environmental protection on a grass roots level, it seems women are leading the way. They are not the loud ones, the acknowledged “leaders,” but they are quietly making headway in terms of altering mass consciousness. It’s too early to tell. Men are having to change, too, and adapt to the new expectations and requirements for both sexes.

Yes, we need structure, but not externally imposed structure. I imagine I was a simple stone-layer at Machu Picchu, where everyone worked together for something tangible that was greater than themselves, a structure that provided food for all and using natural laws, like terracing to make use of water’s tendency to flow downhill. You know more about Machu Picchu than I do. It is but one example of how collaboration for everyone’s benefit can work.

Katharine thank your for reviving this thread and commenting. I think there are two sides to the massive technological advances we have seen in recent years. Just 6 or 7 years ago most of us probably thought that technology would bring a new type of global democracy that would sweep away repression and dictatorships, but now we see that technology can also be used to to keep those in place and even create new such situations – an example being South Africa – as I wrote about on WriterBeat.

However, as with everything it is all about balance – by now, in my opinion, people should generally have matured into using mass technologies responsibly, after the initial euphoria – and I’m not sure we can observe that (yet), which makes me inclined to think that the over-use of technologies is actually causing a general regression in societies, notwithstanding its positive advantages too.

I would like to touch on a subject that may be a bit sensitive: although it is of course a good thing for women to be freed from repressive paternalism or “the patriarchy”, something needs to replace it when it (paternalism and patriarchy) is removed – humans need structure – in a vacuum they have no direction, purpose or sense of meaning. To date, for example, we have not seen women empowering themselves purposefully in the form of positive feminine leadership to replace patriarchy – we have in fact seen female gender movements emulating masculine traits… and seeking power over men. Also we have seen technology being used negatively in that respect.

I think – and that’s my personal view – that humans can only maintain a sense of personal integrity by limiting their exposure to modern technologies and platforms – I would not have said that 6 years ago…

We tend to forget that the internet and social media are in their infancy, and that the world has never been so interconnected, where individuals can communicate with others on different continents. There has never been such a high literacy rate, and social media gives children relevant reasons to learn to read and express themselves.

This is universal consciousness in action, but it’s important for individuals to maintain a sense of personal integrity, not just go with the crowd.

Personality Theories – Dr. C. George Boeree
Carl Jung 1875 – 1961:
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html
—
Forever Jung – Parts 1 & 2
by John Stewart:
http://www.high50.com/archives/health-wellbeing/forever-jung
—
Andrei Yashurin’s series on Happiness:
Principles of Self-Mastery – Weekly Blog
http://unityway.net/blog/?tag=happiness
—
Why the Age of the Guru is Over
by Charles Eisenstein:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/across_threshold_0
—
Quotes on Happiness by famous thinkers:
http://gypsycafe.org/2011/12/25/quotes-on-happiness/
—
The Purposeful Universe
by Carl Johan Calleman Ph.D:

Thank you very much for your considered contribution here! It was a pleasure to read and I think you have definitely taken this discussion to another level. Fascinating and informative.

“Although finding effective ways to propagate this level of consciousness to humanity at large presents a very steep mountain to climb, I intend to keep broadcasting seeds in every way possible.”

I agree with you wholeheartedly, that is my intention too.

For further reading, readers can visit Dr George Shears’ blog, ‘Wise Ways to Happiness’ here:
http://www.wisewaystohappiness.com/

Highly recommended!

Jean-Jacques

I resonate strongly with many of the crucially important points you raise here regarding our collective addictions and the urgent need for universal consciousness.

I have long argued that, in the broadest sense of the concept of addiction, ALL humans are addicted in multiple ways. Further, I have hypothesized that all of these addictions are mediated by common brain processes involving neurotransmitter substances such as dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, etc, as well as by endorphins and enkephalins. This hypothesis has now been quite strongly confirmed for a wide range of addictions and compulsions.

I have also constructed a loose working model for understanding the common psychological basis of all of these addictions and how they develop in terms of what I call “terminating reactions.” I define a terminating reaction as any behavior that effectively reduces or terminates psychological discomfort for at least a short period of time. Each time that this occurs, the behavior acquires, through the process of “negative reinforcement,” an increment of “habit strength” and thereby an increased probability of recurrence. Through this simple and well-established principle of learning theory, virtually ANY behavior can develop into a strong terminating reaction or “addiction.”

The single most common category of terminating reactions are what have been called “movement addictions.” These highly repetitive garden variety behavioral patterns can be observed in nearly everyone. The typically occur completely without awareness and most of them are generally benign. Examples include, foot jiggling, beard stroking, eye blinking, grimacing, toe tapping, hair twisting, idiosyncratic speech mannerisms, etc. Not uncommonly, they seem to express suppressed or repressed feelings. One of the most interesting that I have observed in a number of TV comedians consists in rubbing or scratching the cheek under one of the eyes or beside the nose, as if unconsciously wiping away a tear. I’ve hypothesized that these particular repetitive gestures may be understood as the unconscious surfacing of sadness or emotional pain that is being covered with humor.

In summary, then, terminating reactions are incredibly prevalent and highly varied. They include not only every conceivable form of behavior that gives rise to increased pleasure, through substances such as drugs and food, through exciting experiences such as sex, gambling, shopping, etc, but also—quite counter-intuitively—to a wide range of behaviors that entail discomfort or pain—such as cutting or burning oneself, self-starvation, vomiting and the like.

There is now strong evidence that these particular addictions are mediated in the brain by endorphins or “endogenous morphine” that is released whenever they occur. This happens automatically, for example, whenever someone engages in self-injurious behavior such as cutting, burning, head-banging, etc. The bottom-line result from such behavior, then, is temporary relief from psychological pain or discomfort, which has become highly intense and nearly universal. So we humans have, indeed, ingeniously found endless ways to “spell relief.”

The general class of addictions that clearly contribute most directly and markedly to the destruction of our biosphere are those of excessive consumption and consumerism. Not only are these exceedingly common, but they are actively engendered by endless advertising and by our currently prevailing version of capitalism—a version, incidentally, that departs markedly from what Adam Smith originally proposed.

I hypothesize, further, that the epidemic of addictions that now afflicts us collectively grows out of the intense, chronic emotional distress that is inherent in our highly-alienated modern lifestyles. More specifically, I see this distress as an inevitable result of the pervasive sense of separateness that modern humans experience in relation to other beings, the biosphere, Mother Earth, and to the universe in general. I believe that, in large part, it comprises the collective human “pain body” that Eckhart Tolle often refers to as the basis of our common “human madness.”

This enormous pain results basically from living in delusion; that is, we humans–just as is true of every other life form on this planet—are, in reality, seamlessly interconnected and inherently one with the entire biosphere and, in fact, with the entire universe. To believe deeply, as we do however, that we are intrinsically separate–and to behave accordingly–is effectively, then, a form of psychosis. Just as is true of all other forms of psychosis, this basic break with reality entails enormous suffering.

Referring to this delusion of separateness, Ken Wilber, who has been called “the Einstein of consciousness, says: “People typically feel trapped by life, trapped by the universe, because they imagine that they are actually in the universe, and therefore the universe can squish them like a bug.” He goes on to point out that if/when we become fully awakened to the vast emptiness of our Real Self (which may be the same as what you call “Universal Conciousness,” Jacques) , we realize that, as this Self, we actually contain the entire universe instead of being in it.

Acting out of a delusional sense of separateness, we humans have related to our extended body (the biosphere), in a manner that is remarkably similar to how cancer develops in our local bodies; that is, a key identifying characteristic of all cancer cells is that they become disconnected from the rest of the body and, thus, progressively grow out of control until they destroy the very body that they need to sustain them.

Viewed through this lens, then, it becomes abundantly clear that humanity is caught in a vicious circle whereby, as a direct result of our delusion of separateness, we are progressively destroying our extended biospheric body to the point where we are now in imminent danger of becoming destroyed in the process. More specifically, this self-destructive process is occurring largely through our collective addictions, which arise in large part from the enormous chronic pain of our delusional separateness.

With this as background, Jacques, I’ve arrived at a conclusion very similar to yours—namely, that the only complete solution, or antidote, for the impending ecological catastrophe that we now urgently face is for at least a very large segment of humanity to awaken from this tragic delusion of separateness. My reasoning here is quite simple: If this were to happen, we would see very clearly that the biosphere is in fact none other than our extended body. With this clear recognition, we would then tend to relate to it protectively just as we normally do in relating to our local bodies. This assumes, of course, that we would also transcend the many addictive disorders that cause us to destroy our local bodies as well.

For the past year or so, I have dedicated myself, as have a great many other spiritually-oriented folks, to promoting this kind of awakening as fully as possible. My main venues in this regard have been Facebook and my blog, Wise Ways to Happiness. Since I intentionally try to balance my idealism with realism, however, I recognize fully that this is, at the very least, an enormous undertaking and may, in fact, be as out of touch with reality as the primary delusion that it aims to overcome.

Ken Wilber argues very persuasively that the universe evolves lawfully, holistically, and multi-dimensionally through a nested series of wholes of increasing complexity, each of which includes and transcends its predecessor. The spiritual aspect of this has long been recognized in various wisdom traditions as the “Great Chain of Being. At the gross physical level, for example, sub-atomic particles become organized as atoms; atoms become organized as molecules; molecules become organized as life forms; and life forms increasingly become organized at ever-increasing levels of complexity.

Along with many other human development theorists, Wilber posits that humans are also subject to this very same kind of lawful process in their evolution. In this regard, he shows how, in a very general sense, human consciousness gradually develops from ego-centric to socio-centric to world-centric; that is, at the lowest level of consciousness, we are primarily focused on “I, me and mine”; at the next higher level, our consciousness includes others in our immediate family; then in our tribe; then in our nation state; then globally; and, ultimately, it includes all other beings and the entire universe.

Wilber estimates that about 70% of humanity is currently at the ethnocentric level of development—that is, strongly identified with other humans in their particular ethnic group; he estimates that only about 2% of the population is at the highest current level of development, which he calls “integral” or world-centric. Not surprisingly, then, with regard to reversing our current ecological and global predicaments, he is definitely less than optimistic. He concludes at the end of a very enlightening series of recent audios entitled, Kosmic Consciousness, that our current situation is “very scary” and states that recurrent wars, with brief periods of peace, will likely continue to be the prevailing norm.

So, idealistically, I strongly agree with your assessment, Jacques. Clearly, “it makes no sense that humanity will choose to self-destruct” anymore than it makes sense that we, as individuals, choose to do so. Realistically, however, we strongly tend as a species–both individually and collectively–to run on automatic and thus behave very self-destructively in manifold ways.

Universal Consciousness (i.e., “world-centric consciousness”) is definitely the minimally prescriptive antidote that we urgently need in order to survive. Although finding effective ways to propagate this level of consciousness to humanity at large presents a very steep mountain to climb, I intend to keep broadcasting seeds in every way I possible.

Ken Wilber reports that the single most effective way to accelerate the development of human conscious to higher levels is through intense meditation or contemplative prayer. This is the particular means that I have personally applied and that I strongly recommend to others.

“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.”
– Carl Jung (1875 – 1961), The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man (1934)