Humans are different, and yet the same, as other sentient beings. Some assume these differences make us more special and therefore entitled. Are we truly the rulers of the planet? Power, when yielded with ignorance, can create havoc.
Us humans have evolved a large brain - for thinking. We also have the capability for growth in consciousness. This requires a higher understanding of the attributes and functions of the brain; the level of our insight ultimately determines the choices we make.
Philosophy has struggled to differentiate between mental functioning and consciousness. “I think, therefore I am” seems to question existence and the brain's part in creating a reality. It’s hard to know if we’re the only beings to question what reality is, versus just living it.
Humans are curious beyond measure, and we demonstrate this in our propensity to take things apart in order to understand them. Although that is a very useful endeavor, it’s a mental process. We kill the animating spirit of living things by dismantling them.
Focusing on differences has created a serious disconnect from an understanding of the whole. In Western medicine, you get experts on body parts, chemistry and hormones, along with drugs that isolate an “active” compound (to the exclusion of the substance it’s derived from.)
Our propensity for dissecting things - living or inanimate - into their smallest parts has created a compartmentalized, separate view of the world, including the self. The mind jealously guards this detachment through the ego (also a product of the mind) in order to maintain its dominance!
Our sense of alienation, not "being a part of" or belonging, is unhealthy - for our bodies, our psyches, our communities and societies. Consciousness is what connects the dots, and puts the pieces together into a bigger picture.
From a holistic viewpoint, we need to talk in terms of energy fields and fields of consciousness. Individuals combine to create a group energy field, groups combine into larger groups, cultures, and nations - until ultimately there exists a united consciousness of all humankind.
Animals and plants also have individual and group fields that interact with each other and with us. Some very coherent fields can be seen among birds flying together, bees swarming and trees communicating through their roots to share resources (check out “The Hidden Lives of Trees”). Natural elements like fire, water and the earth - and less animate beings like rocks - all generate an energy field and have consciousness.
As part of the whole, we can actually communicate and connect with all these living beings. Our minds, so good at abstract reasoning, can conceptualize these realities; but most people don’t often experience them.
Consciousness is not limited by time or space. The infamous 100th Monkey study demonstrates this. A critical number of monkeys learned a new behavior (washing potatoes in a stream before eating) which was automatically communicated to monkeys on other islands through the group energy field! In humans this has been called a “tipping point”, an “idea whose time has come”, or a new paradigm becoming the group consensus.
We won't even talk about multi-dimensional fields - where gods and goddesses, dragons, fairies, Bigfoot, and unicorns live!
We are intimately connected with all living things, and to deny that is death. We are currently moving in that direction unless we begin to think about, feel and experience our world as one.
Peace, love and healing -
Want to expand your consciousness and commune with the "other"? Learn how in my upcoming live class “Jumpstart Your Energy Healing Practice"
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