He goes a step further by asserting that certain characteristics central to our experience of consciousness, like our deep sense of social connectedness, cannot be explained by reducing the system to one individual brain. Similarly, water canât be reduced to its components of hydrogen and oxygen because the two complex systemsâ interactions drive its complex behavior.
Interesting article to read as I reflect back to some group interactions Iâve been involved with including The Night Club Sangha, The Military and The US Peace Corps, in particularâ all have have connections that go deeper, way deeper, than just belonging to an organization.
Given this knowledge, along with the changes that transpire during cooperative social interactions, Froese argues that a shift in our understanding of consciousness is warranted. Namely, he supports an âextension of consciousnessâ.
aka âcollective unconsciousâ or perhaps a âgroup consciousâ collectively created, developed, maintained and organically growing?
Yes, the âcollectively createdâ part I think hits the mark as this article illuminates. While we cling to the feel of being individuals, looks like science is catching a glimpse of a collectively created, constantly changing, liquid-ish manifestation of consciousness.
This article brings me back to when I led Tâai Chi classes years ago. I would take 15 or 20 people repeatedly through the basic postures for an hour or so. We would be moving and breathing as one.
At the end of the class we would make a circle with joined hands and closed eyes and just let the energy course around the circle until unscripted movement began. Soon the entire circle would be swaying and pulsing with âcollectively createdâ unified energy.
There is also a darker side to this where various negative and forceful prejudices manifest into some very harmful and horrifying cultural ânorms,â which are evidently the hell realms here, right now, on the planet. Just open the newspapers for evidence this is so.