The Evolution of Collective Consciousness

by Paul Lenda - 

Right now at this very moment it can appear that humans are going down a path which is leading to a self-destructive end if a radical shift in living on this planet is made.

Where will this all lead, if the trend continues down such a path? It is not difficult to provide an answer to such a question, and upon coming to the inevitably depressing conclusion, one can see that this all needs to change– and fast, or else we will be the reason for our own demise.

The evolution of the collective consciousness of humanity is the first and foremost requirement for a world in which there is abundance, peace, and liberty. 

When we look around and become aware of the current level of planetary consciousness (with its still-high level of fear has to be transcended), we realize that diplomatic negotiations, legal and administrative measures, and armed military/police actions show little success and they often produce more problems than they actually solve.

It is difficult to argue against this unless someone has a vested interest (such as a monetary one) in keeping the status quo. These ‘problem-producers’ as simply short-term tinkerings that do not eliminate, or even come close to eliminating, long-term basic and fundamental problems.

Truly effective solutions to the problems we face as a race on this planet call for a different kind of thinking and a different kind of commitment.

More and more people are becoming awakened to the reality that such thinking and commitment simply cannot be achieved without the evolution of people’s individual and collective consciousness.

In order to implement working and meaningful solutions to the problems that we face today and in the coming years, the consciousness of everyday individuals must rise from the ego-dominated and nation-centered domain to a global and planet-centered one. 

This would be the universal Golden Rule (cause harm to no one, because we are all connected) at work and established as being a foundation of everything that a person, group, and society does. In this regard it still has quite a way to go.

In many societies today the domineering consciousness is beset by such forces as egotism, misplaced nationalism, and cultural chauvinism/exaggerated superiority (think American exceptionalism).

The result of all this is the persistence of social and political narrow-mindedness, economic warfare, cultural intolerance, and disregard for the environment. It is impossible to look around and not see these hindrances to consciousness evolution taking place every day of the year, every hour, and every second somewhere in the world.

So how can we evolve the planetary consciousness in a way that avoids a dystopian and totalitarian future? 

The answer becomes clear when people sense that a core belief system and/or social perception structure (be it a religion, life stance, world view, philosophy, or ideology) is a threat to themselves and their loved ones, they search for alternative ideas, values, and beliefs.

We can see this trend in existence today, and we could even say that it gained significant momentum during the consciousness revolution of the 1960s.

Despite the persistence of outdated myths and illusions in the established layers of society, there is a massive search by people all over the world for alternatives and other positions of awareness. 

The old order of things is breaking down and with its coming demise there is an enormous amount of motivated youth and open-minded people of all ages who wish to live in a better world than their predecessors have left for them to live in.

The Rise of an Emerging Worldview

There is much positivity occurring that we can be elated about and the rise of an emerging worldview is evident.

Although the problems we face may seem daunting and sometimes almost impossible to fix, there is a great deal of progress being made and the planetary consciousness is slowly moving forward. 

You would probably not notice this when your sources for becoming aware as to what is going on in the world focus on tragedy instead of news but thanks to the Internet and the simple act of going out into the world and meeting everyday people positions our awareness on the realization that the world is filled with mostly good people doing good deeds.

A great help to letting humanity become aware of the overwhelming positivity of humanity is The Pathfinder Project, which is an internationally networked project of the Institute of Noetic Sciences of California. 

This project has summed up these positive trends under the following headings:

POSITIVE TRENDS:

Creating a home for humanity within nature:  

Re-visioning of humanity’s place within nature and the cosmos, together with a multitude of creative efforts to design human activity in consonance with ecosystemic principles and environmental limits. 

Local and global self-organization:  

Simultaneous proliferation of creative initiatives at the local and global level, including the revitalization of civic society, the cultivation of new forms of community, and the emergence of effective global institutions. 

From outer to inner authority:  

Realization of the primacy of consciousness as a causal reality and a corresponding shift from reliance on outer sources of authority to a trust in inner sources of knowing. 

From separation to wholeness:  

Recognition of the fundamental wholeness and interconnectedness of all aspects of reality and experience. 

Awakening spirituality:  

Widening search for ways to revitalize spiritual practice and nurture a sense of spiritual community, together with growing exploration of the role of spirit in such areas as health, business, and public life. 

From centralized to “acentric” power:  

A shift from relationships, systems, and institutions based on centralized power to perspectives and approaches that emphasize peoples capacity for creative self-organization and learning. 

From mechanistic to living systems:  

A related shift from models of the world, organizations, and human experience based on mechanistic systems, to perspectives and approaches based on the principles that inform living systems. 

From greed and scarcity to sufficiency and caring:  

A further shift from values, perspectives, and approaches based on greed and scarcity to those based on a sense of sufficiency and caring. 

From competition to reconciliation and partnership:  

A shift from relationships, organizational models, and societal strategies based on competition to those based on principles of healing, reconciliation, and professional as well as male/female partnership.

What these trends show us is that there is an elevated consciousness that is surfacing at the forefront of society.

There are some questions however, that lie before us.

• How influential are the new trends and how fast will they spread? 
• Will they be powerful enough to move to center stage and impact on the way the great majority of the people live, and the way managers and politicans make decisions? 

It is still too early to tell and the coming months and years will make the answers clearer.

This is why helping to articulate and spread the awareness of the emerging consciousness shift is a major and valiant cause, worthy of the best minds that humanity has to offer. 

As the old world order continues its attempts at increasing its stranglehold on humanity, we must demonstrate that we are human beings with inalienable rights. Enhanced empathy and understanding of the interconnected nature, not only of everyone but of everything, will ensure that there is a positive shift in the planetary consciousness.

The stakes are almost as high as they can be.

Without the evolution of our individual and collective consciousness it is nearly certain that we will not avert deepening economic, social and cultural problems and environmental destruction. 

By the shifting of our consciousness from the ego-dominated and nation-centered toward the global and planet-centered domains, we will have a good chance of matching the growth of our technological sophistication with the corresponding intellectual understanding and emotional maturity.

We will have a chance gather up and focus the will and the motivation to use our technologies and our social creativity to bring us and our loved ones into the emerging new paradigm with the least amount of problems, conflicts and losses. Try to do your part in this collective task of evolving the planetary consciousness. Not only our future but the future of the planet and all those yet unborn depends on it.

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