The word consciousness has emerged as part of the new vernacular of transformation individually, in leadership, corporate cultures, economies, and even social systems. Tools like mindfulness, meditation and neurofeedback are all consciousness raising practices. Even astrology has seen the biggest rebirth since the sixties thanks to millennials and Gen Z’s. In other words, consciousness is in our collective human consciousness. It’s affecting us all, whether we are aware of it or not. Is it possible that consciousness itself is rising?
Yet with all the technological and scientific advancements, human consciousness still remains an enigma. Not even science has been able to crack that walnut. It is one of the greatest mysteries of the human condition. While neuroscience has helped us learn exponentially more about the human brain, technology has used this information, data mining and replicating it’s technology to create machine learning and artificial intelligence. Yet most humans are unaware that their unconscious brain habits, programs and patterning are running the show, not them.
Some may find this subject absurd because we’ve been programmed to believe all humans are conscious with superior intelligence. We’ve been taught to trust our intellect’s rational and logical thinking to the exclusion of all else, including our intuition. Yet this could not be farther than the truth. It is by definition cognitive bias, a gross psychological distortion in thinking. Let me explain why.
According to neuroscience, only five percent of all cognitive brain activity is conscious. The average human loses their conscious attention 6-10 times per minute, 11,520 times per day and 4,204,800 time per year. Recent studies reveal that seventy five percent of our unconscious thoughts are negative and disempowering.
All human behaviors, thinking, decisions, actions and emotions depend on the brain activity of subconscious programs that habitually and automatically control them. In other words, we have very little conscious awareness of the beliefs, thoughts and emotions that drive our behaviors and create our reality. Yet here we are, going about our days, thinking we are in control, while unknowingly being controlled by our own unconscious programming.
In modern psychology, Freud and Carl Jung believed the human psyche is a combination of both the conscious and unconscious and that the most important part of the brain is the one we cannot see, that the subconscious is the primary driver of all human behaviors. This means that all the emotions, thoughts and beliefs we suppress, sweep under the rug, stuff into a suitcase and toss in the backseat, are vital pieces of information we need for wholeness, healing and consciousness.
Quantum physics, in my estimation, is far ahead of the consciousness curve, because it’s the study of energy. Everything is energy including consciousness, therefore it may be closer to understanding not only consciousness, but the nature of reality itself. It is a fact that human beings are more energy than mass. Quantum theory states that observer-participants create the material world, and yet a whopping 95 percent of the reality we create is from the unconscious mind. The thoughts we think and our intentions absolutely can and do influence outcomes. This means all of us, whether we like it or not, participate in the process of creating our life experiences, both individually, and collectively in what unfolds on the world stage.
There are many levels of self-awareness and consciousness. Education, societal and cultural programming play a large part in it. Those with little awareness of their thinking, feelings, habits and behaviors have no desire to know who they really are, and are frightened to open Pandora’s box. Some are so attached to the external world, that they have no interest in anything other than fulfilling their ego’s desire for power, control, and material wealth. Then there are the HSP’s (highly sensitive persons,) which represent less than five percent of all species. HSP’s use different parts of their brains with more active mirror neurons allowing them greater awareness of self, others and their environment. They also react differently to dopamine, and experience and process emotions more vividly than others. In essence they are operating at a higher level of conscious awareness. I know this because I am an HSP.
Science does agree on one thing, you cannot have a conversation about consciousness without talking about soul, spirit or spirituality. On the high-end of the consciousness spectrum is enlightenment which is considered full consciousness. Some, like Buddha and Christ, have apparently achieved it. Enlightenment can be defined as self-knowledge and the understanding of the soul separate from the ego self. It is the state of non-fragmented consciousness. It is when consciousness becomes free from the brain’s programming, its attachment to knowledge, rational thinking, and the illusions of material reality.
Thanks to neuroscience and new technology, brain patterns and activity can be measured through imaging and functional MRI’s. What’s emerging is nothing less than revolutionary. In support of increasing conscious awareness, new apps are emerging to assist with making conscious the unconscious through things like measuring heart rate, helping identify thoughts habits and emotions, and optimizing brain activity through training. There are smart brain apps, calm apps, meditation apps, and many others, yet this is only just the beginning of using technology to assist with consciousness. The bottom line is that we cannot do this alone. It takes another to assist us to make visible the invisible and create the new self-awareness to shift our reality consciously and intentionally. It requires daily practice to create new brain habits and consistency to rewire our brains.
We humans are all connected energetically. When we raise our individual consciousness it absolutely raises the consciousness of the collective consciousness. This is why conscious leadership is so potent, why conscious corporate cultures, economies, and social systems are so meaningful. No person is an island, we are all pebbles in a vast ocean. We are all connected. We are not the powerless victims we’ve been taught to believe, we are powerful creators of our realities.
Genele Edey
