Chris Knowles began a much-needed conversation in his post, The Exegesis: Individuation vs. the Mass Mind. My response just got way too long, so I'm bringing it over here.
Chris,
I'm with you on being anti-statist. It's a major theme within my novel - and a serious threat in our every day. I stopped getting as hung up on the individual vs collective thing - and focus on Voluntarism over Authoritarianism. I support anyone doing whatever they want, as long as they don't impose their will on me.
I believe we need to cherish the individual (both ego and personal id).
Now, as to that thing often referred to as the collective unconscious - it's such a tough call. I know we can tap into something very very real, but, I am unsure of its nature. Is it a collective unconscious or an alien conscious or what?
I've had verifiable/quantifiable Ecco/Valis moments (like getting winning lottery numbers real). But that one was immediately followed by meeting a random 33rd degree, who told me he "could get me in" and "I know you should join." Frats just aren't my style. I declined and the specific data stream stopped.
I've instead focused on honing the knowledge & skill to tap into it on a personal level. That's individualism in one respect, but, like anything, it comes with a lot of info from a lot of others (yourself included). Does that sharing of info create or feed the collective unconscious?
Lately I've had incredible shared/convergent syncs and it seems quite beautiful. But the concept of a hive-mind is not something I find appealing either.
I think the issue is well stated in the Futurama movie The Beast With a Billion Backs. Fun fact: The movie came out on June 24th (Midsummer/St John's Day).
This question is one I have thought a lot about lately. The answer I found was the one I seem to always come back to. It's about balance.
Like musicians - we can harmonize our voices AND play our respective instruments as individual artists to create a new thing that is more than the sum of its parts.
Whatever that otherness/oneness is - we don't have to be assimilated by it - but we should live in harmony with it.
Prof. Knowles does seem to have a gift about bringing up the right subject at the right time! I'm fairly Jungian in outlook, with the idea that Id Consciousness exists independently of human egoic consciousness, though it is "embedded". The Iron Giant has taught me that it is the ego that labels things "good" or "evil". "Bad Robot!" is the best line in the whole film, and I note that J. J. Abrams' production company is named after that.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is something going on with our collective egos, and it is mostly based on fear and conspiracy. I been there. It's like this epiphany when you suddenly realize there is this vast Illuminati conspiracy out to enslave us all, and the evidence is overwhelming!
Trouble is, the artful conniving of this conspiracy transcends the ability of any human organization. That's when you start believing in Reptilians and aliens.
But what I think is really going on is that our brains are becoming tuned to the language of the dreaming mind. We are starting to grok the signal, and we are starting to awaken into the dreamlike reality where we think of things and they actually manifest. In a sense, Earth is becoming The Forbidden Planet.
I do not believe in Reptilians, though I do have a theory on what they represent as a fear-based archetype. ...Some other time.
ReplyDeleteAs to aliens, we can only speculate. I don't know one way or the other, but I've had a few experiences that make me go "hmm."
As to the dreaming mind, I'm with you. I hope I made that clear.