While writing last week’s post about learning to play with consciousness, I was reminded of what Einstein said about problem-solving…
Heaven knows, we certainly have problems to solve right now. Big ones.
This made me wonder if that’s why we’re facing so many crises all at once—a long-lived pandemic, a brutal war, intense social unrest, massive fires and flooding…
Could it be that this is what was needed to shake us out of our complacency … so we would acknowledge that our way of solving big problems isn’t working?
Will the current chaos finally motivate us to look for a better way?
And does that better way lie in increasing our individual level of consciousness?
So what exactly is consciousness?
I think most of us have at least a vague idea of what consciousness means. If you get curious and google it, you’ll find plenty of rabbit holes to go down.
There are multiple viewpoints and many arguments about who’s right and who’s wrong about consciousness and where it resides. Neurobiologists make the case that consciousness is a physical phenomenon, residing in the brain. Social psychologists view consciousness as a byproduct of the social system a person inhabits.
Eastern and contemplative traditions maintain that ordinary consciousness is just a limited version of a higher awareness that requires specific practices if you want to gain access. For a good overview of all the various viewpoints of consciousness, see An Integral Theory of Consciousness by American philosopher Ken Wilber.
Descriptions I relate to…
It probably won’t surprise you that I’m drawn to more expanded views of consciousness. Here are some descriptions I find useful…
- Consciousness is the ability of a system to make choices, sourced in awareness, that change physical reality. (From this perspective, each human is considered a system operating within a larger whole.)
- Consciousness is a deep knowing that all the parts make the whole; that each part has a distinct role in creating a cohesive whole; and that we each must work toward making our contribution while allowing others to do the same.
Where does all of this leave us?
Same-old, same-old will no longer work.
We see that.
We feel that.
And if we’re really honest, we know it in our bones.
Life will never be the same. Thank goodness.
This week’s activation…
If you feel you’ve been pulled off track by the chaos of world events, here’s a chance to reset your energy.
Resetting your energy is a step in the direction of increasing your consciousness. You can do it any time you feel you’re being pulled off track.
Sit quietly and let energy work for you. Energy activations are designed to enliven (activate) an aspect of your energy field. The words communicate directly with the field, guiding it to a new formation as needed. For more free activations, go to Sarah McCrum’s YouTube channel. For courses and activations for purchase, visit Sarah’s website.
