The Reality of a Collective Consciousness
When looking at the concept of the collective consciousness of humanity, many have proposed a sort of fusion of all of these consciousnesses and the potential impact it would have on people. But what exactly is consciousness in this form? We often think of a sort of “hive mind” or spiritual unity when we explore the concept of collective consciousness, but what variations are there of the noosphere concept?
The primary assumption is that the noosphere would be a fusion of all forms of consciousness into one singular mind. All human minds within a given area would be connected by complete proliferation of telepathy. This expansion of all consciousnesses may not, however, result in everyone being entirely conscious of one another’s thoughts in real time. What other forms could collective consciousness take? As we explore the concept, we may determine that many forms of collective consciousness exist even today.
When we look at several stories that are considered classics throughout humanity’s history we may notice several similarities not only in symbols, but in themes as well. It can be as simple as “good vs. evil” or as complex as “boy realizes he has powers unlike others around him and studies to become adept at them with the help of his friends and mentors and avenge the death of his father.” You may be surprised how many different titles to movies (and books) come to mind when the second plot synopsis is mentioned.
The second variety of collective consciousness may manifest would be through empathy. Often psychics say they cannot tell the exact thoughts or words going through someone’s mind, but can feel and “empathize” with their emotions. The feeling of another person’s feelings is known as empathy. As a result, empaths are far less likely to cause harm to others as they understand the profound effect it can have on a person.
The third collective consciousness would be a full blown “collective consciousness. It would be this that would allow human beings to operate as a sort of “cloud computer,” sharing their minds and motivations so that humanity itself became one human consciousness. What would such a person think? Would it feel general disgust for itself? Or would it bee elated by the potential it had? Would it still consider those that had existed before it separate entities, or would it rather consider them to be several different entities?
Many new age movements suggest that in the coming years humanity will find itself increasingly fused from individual to individual. There are two suggested ways this could happen. One suggests that human beings will eventually become more psychic as time goes on until everyone is able to read the thoughts of others to a limited degree. This can happen through technological or other means. The other way suggested is the rapid “rapture” of humans all across the globe suddenly tapping into the thoughts of the whole and moving as one entity toward its own goals. An interesting way of looking around at others is to consider what it would be like if your minds were just one, thinking toward your common goals. Some find the idea of fusion with all of humanity a worthwhile and hopeful goal while others are terrified at the very mention of it.