Advice from the principal’s office…
Global Consciousness, a Different Slant
A new consciousness is upon us. We may call it a religious awakening, the New Age, collective enlightenment, global consciousness, a paradigm shift, or the end of the world. Regardless of the name we give it, a new consciousness has arrived and is being felt everywhere, in countless different forms.
To many people this change is deeply threatening, because it challenges beliefs which are at the core of their under standing of how life is. To others, however, the change is a long-awaited step in the evolution of humankind – An event which has been foreseen by visionaries for thousands of years.
Wherever I go today, I hear comments ranging from personal transformation and expanded perception, to speculations on spiritual matters and the wonderful possibilities in this New Age. I can understand this because my own consciousness often soars beyond space and time, illuminating regions which transcend my everyday concerns – much to the chagrin of my wife when she has something for me to do.
Now I don’t know about you, but everyone I know is talking about psychic phenomena, healing, modern physics, meditation, and enlightenment. Anyone with a little common sense can make the basic assumption that we live in a congenial, sensible universe, where our birthright is one of freedom, love, and joy … if we will but awaken to these potentials.
You, the reader, may already have embarked on the awakening journey … or perhaps you are only now beginning to perceive it as an extraordinary possibility which you can embrace. Whichever is the case this new consciousness is sure to inspire and tantalize you. But perhaps we should think about something else as well.
As this New Age comes into being, I hear many references to “global or group consciousness,” and they often advocate, to some degree, an abandonment of individual identity in favor of a group identity. But considering that individuality is central to our whole concept of being alive, we may reasonably ask whether merging into a group consciousness does not involve an inappropriate sacrifice of the very sense-of-self we have nurtured into wholeness.
This is a crucial question, and I might clarify it by contemplating a group of leaves, budding on a tree. Each growing leaf is clearly complete unto itself. Though it is essentially like the other leaves, it has a unique identity. It is an individual. And as it grows to maturity, I imagine that virtually all of its leaf-processes are focused on that growth. Its relationship with the tree and the other leaves is not ready to be explored until the leaf has attained its primary goal: to be a fully self-realized leaf.
But what happens when the leaf finally does emerge into maturity; when the promise of its leafness has been totally brought forth? What does it do then? It can, with its leaf-consciousness, celebrate the fullness of its leafhood ... and then because of that fullness, it can also begin to recognize what was true all along anyway: it is part of a whole tree!
With this recognition, a beautifully amplified purpose to living may be discerned, for complete self-realization opens the way to a conscious identification with a higher order of life – not with a sacrifice of individuality, but with an awareness that such an identification is a magnificent and transcendent prize that attends the attainment of full individuality.
Might we human beings be evolving toward such a goal? As we strive for spiritual maturity, perhaps we are approaching awareness that we already are members of groups which are part of a higher order of life, and that we may consciously participate in activity at that level when we attain full individuality. Or there may be many higher orders, each with a different purpose, which convene in person or in consciousness to be of service to the human race in advanced and important ways.
Prior to the time of spiritual maturity, we cannot productively allow a higher-order group to engage our energies, since we still need them for growth – and any self-proclaimed visionary who attempts to force us into a group consciousness before we’re ready is, quite simply, guilty of mayhem. (Consider someone who rips buds open prematurely, believing himself to be a benefactor of leaves.) Similarly, after the onset of maturity, anyone who insists on the continuation of methods which led to maturity is wasting his or her energies on inappropriate conformity to obsolete processes. (Who would crush the leaf back into its bud?) When the time is right, as our self-realization approaches, we have much to anticipate!
Dr. Paul F. Daniele, Ph.D., Th.D., D.D., P.C.
Founder and President Emeritus
The College of Metaphysical Studies
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