The importance of individual consciousness.

Consider the Collective

“Too much of our action is really reaction. Such 'doing' does not flow from free and independent hearts...but depends on external provocation. It does not come from our sense of who we are and what we want to do, but from our anxious reading of how others define us and of what the world demands.”

Parker Palmer (The Active Life)

The ethics of the “collective” have been very much on my mind lately. The collective is a Jungian concept of the consciousness of the majority of any given culture at a particular time. For instance, in Germany during Hitler's reign, the collective believed and rallied behind elimination of the Jews and others who did not “belong” in German culture. During the early days of the last century, in America's deep south, the majority culture embraced the idea of white supremacy and believed that mixing the races would make “mongrels” of us all. Today's organization, ISIS, deeply believes that they have been denied their share of the bounty of this earth, and so they are taking it by force. These extreme positions gave/give the majority culture permission to override the fact of our shared humanity, and allow it to exterminate with impunity. When we stand back and view it in hindsight, we realize how barbaric all of it was and is, and yet at the time, the collective supported and was deeply involved in it.

The way to change the collective is to change individual consciousness. When I was a child, we thought all food was equal; we ate whatever tasted good, and didn't consider in the least the fat, salt and sugar content. We even poured bacon grease over greens, because it was tasty. And a big-old slab of chocolate cake with icing made from shortening was a grand treat. Our consciousness has changed when it comes to diet. The majority of people now know that our physical and mental health is affected by what we consume. As we know more, and practice it, we see the difference in our health and energy. Our collective consciousness has moved in the direction of better choices in our foods. We have also changed our belief that smoking cigarettes, which was the habit of the majority of people, is “cool” and harmless.

Today's collective consciousness has just as many misconceptions as any generation before it. Instead of examining our individual ethics, we buy into the ethics of our particular “tribe.” We react on impulse to provocation, and believe ourselves justified in our actions, regardless of how brutal and indiscriminate they are. We call the killing of innocents “collateral damage,” and we arm ourselves so that we will be “ready” to respond to the enemy. Humanity is slow to learn, and fast flex its muscles—our conviction, regardless of which tribe we belong to, is that we are right, and the enemy, whoever they are, is wrong. This collective agreement will keep us at war forever.

Changing our warring world requires our individual consciousness to move toward peace. Do we truly want peace? And, if so, who will lead us there?

                                                             In the Spirit,

                                                                   Jane