Humanizing Consciousness
In our last newsletter, we explored a culture of dehumanization in order to set the stage for our approach of humans as a unified consciousness.
I am calling this letter "humanizing consciousness" because I hope to encourage consciousness not as something that is separate or distinguishable from a human being, but rather one in the same.
Exploring Consciousness
So what is consciousness?
Now, please remember, this newsletter is fully biased with my own thoughts and opinions, so everything I define, unless cited from a dictionary, is my own interpretation.
Let's start with the dictionary definition of Consciousness:
According to Oxford Languages, consciousness is defined as the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.
I have a differing view of consciousness, and since my personal definition of humanization is regarding humans as nature, I am challenging the interpretation of consciousness by Oxford Languages with my definition of humanization in mind.
So what do I say consciousness is?
I say consciousness is existence; meaning, if we exist we are a part of the consciousness of the Universe which is composed of all things seen and unseen. It is beyond our comprehension, but I say we are referring to consciousness when we refer to 'God', 'Spirit' or 'the Void'. Essentially, it is our 'divine spark' i.e. being.
The Modern Human's Struggle of Being Nature
Now recall, we aren't merely humans, but we are human beings.
So now let's look at the definition of being according to Oxford Languages:
existence
the nature or essence of a person
(Wow, turns out I agree with this one!)
Why is this relevant to our conversation on humanization in an AI world?
I bring this up because if we humans are to identify as nature, eventually, we might find ourselves questioning, "well, then how am I different from the animals or the grass?"
We might struggle to feel more than just nature, as if we are made for more than just eating, drinking and dying.
Do you ever feel that struggle of needing to be something more when beginning to identify as nature?
If you read my first newsletter, you know I sure did.
The reason I ask is because I'm proposing that in order to position ourselves advantageously in the age of AI, we have to get to the point of feeling okay with being just as significant as the blades of grass, the animals, the water, the sky, the trees. And then once we feel okay with our ordinary, mysterious, miraculous, purposeful reality as nature then we can fully understand our reality as consciousness.
Awareness of the Outward Self vs Self-Awareness
I promise I'm getting to the idea of humanizing consciousness, but in order for you to understand what I'm saying, I first have to clarify my disagreement with the Oxford Languages definition of consciousness which is the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.
To help explain why I disagree, I have a story for you:
I remember seeing a study about scientists marking animals and putting a mirror in front of them. The scientists considered the animals 'self-aware' when they began noticing the mark and trying to remove it. Although this is a logical way to view consciousness - being aware one's self and the world; this type of awareness is merely physical and outward; it doesn't depict the inner world of humans.
So, if by 'self' in 'self-aware' we refer to as our flesh and body or the outward self, then that's a great definition. But when I refer to 'self' I am referring to consciousness, the same consciousness which inhabits every living being, i.e. nature.
(Take a breath here if you need, we're only going to dive deeper.)
When Self-Awareness Leads to Being
On a more personal note, I have found from my experience living off-grid and living out the idea that I am nature, the more I become attuned to this identity, the less 'aware' I become in the Oxford Language sense.
What I mean is, I am less focused on appearance and all of the outward and tend much more to the inward because I find this world becomes more real, pertinent and practical than what is on the outside.
Here, I also have to mention that my experience echoes the writings and experiences of gurus in India who retire into the Jungle after a lifetime of working in society specifically regarding biographical writings in a book called The Way of the Aghori.
In this book, one advises the return of man being nature begins with being as a practice of stillness and acceptance.This means, if there is a fly on you, allow it to be. If you are hot, allow it to be. As this is practiced, over time you will find that your nervous system resets.
The point, essentially, is that things that might have once made your body recoil is of no consequence to your body later on because you're aware that you are consciousness, just like everything else. For example, we might recoil at a snake, but we fawn over a puppy. The body's response to the snake shows us there is a neurological and biological pathway that needs resetting from fear to neutrality.
Once we treat both of these beings the same, it's clear the emotions and thoughts we have don't control us, and while we may still feel and think things when encountering a snake or puppy, we won't react.
This is an example of being.
Extending Being to Be In Control
Now, if we can extend this same principle of being to ourselves, fellow humans (including politicians), to circumstances, to events - than that which is outward has no control over us.
Instead, we will be in control.
(Keep in mind the objective with being in control is not the same as to have control which means to exert control over things you can't actually control; but to be in control is accepting that we can only ever control ourselves.)
As a result, we'll be more focused on what we can bring to the table.
Now if the majority of humanity can get on board with this and seek to be in control, talk about massive impact. Unfortunately, Ken Wilber predicts only 2 of 5 humans can get there ... but I'm a skeptic for statistics anyways.
The Danger of the Outward Awareness of Self
So, now that you see how the more focused we are on the outward things - appearances, circumstances, events, etc. - the less control we are in; do you see the danger of us identifying ourselves as consciousness as defined by Oxford Languages?
If even the animals are becoming trained to focus on appearance and to 'notice' a mark on their foreheads, do you see what is being created?
Well, if you're having trouble answering, let's look at what being trained to focus on outwardness has done to us since the dawn of civilization:
Rise in competition - comparing what one has with another or how one looks versus another; when competition exists, we see an origin of greed and lust in order to obtain something or someone to achieve a particular feeling, for example, power.
Rise in violence - with a desire for power comes a willingness to obtain something or someone (or to extinguish something or someone) at all costs; look at big oil companies, illogical murders made by teenagers and inexplicable harm done to innocent animals at the hands of bored youth
(I am literally listing examples I have seen on the headlines of American news. If this isn't a call for internal action, I don't know what is.)
I can continue listing the consequences, but I don't want you to be totally hopeless, instead I want you to see that the animals who have been trained to see marks on their foreheads, are being trained to ignore their natural connection with their instincts (aka their inner world).
And so are we.
The Takeaway
As I observe nature, and as I continue being more in tune with my identity as nature, it becomes clear there is no 'awareness of self' as defined by Oxford Languages in nature. To project this onto a living being is denying the being's birthright to be nature. And this is my definition of dehumanization.
If we as nature are so image-focused that we build our outward world while failing to deepen our inner world, we are ignoring being.
That being said, if we were to focus deepening our inner world more than expanding our outward world, can you imagine the difference that would appear in our children, in ourselves, in everything?
(I could hear your hope exhale from this page, so thank you for making it this far.)
To deepen our inner world requires crediting 'awareness' and 'self-awareness' as the embodiment of One collective where all beings are simply that; all beings.
It requires letting go of the idea that we are separate from nature and surrendering to the idea that we are it.