Conscious growth
One of my annual resolutions involves establishing consistent practices to foster growth in my consciousness and general meta-awareness.
My fascination with expanding one's consciousness is a long-standing interest. Consciousness remains a multifaceted and intricate concept that defies any simplistic explanations. Instead, it is influenced by numerous factors such as the body, environment, and social processes, all of which contribute to its constantly evolving nature.
I recently came across this excerpt in a blog article that broadened the scope of perspectives from which I could try to comprehend consciousness.
“If consciousness is embodied, then the trained and chemically induced responses of the body play a part in things. If consciousness is enacted and/or embedded, then the interactions with our environment are critical as is what we do. If consciousness is extended into our environment, through social processes and shared narrative then that too is a constraint.”
On Embodied consciousness:
If consciousness is closely tied to the body, then being mindful of our physical sensations and experiences can enhance our conscious awareness. Meditation, journaling, and physical activities like yoga can help us cultivate a deeper connection between our thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations.
I attribute my first Bikram yoga class (~ 2014) for igniting awareness about the potency of deep breathing. In Bikram, the very first and last poses are solely focused on deep diaphragmatic breathing.
Julia, the originator of Morning pages (a journaling technique), notes: “It is my conviction that morning pages function as what I call “believing mirrors.” They reflect back to us belief in our potential. They are optimistic and positive. They believe in our strength, not our weakness."
This heightened awareness can help us navigate the complexities of time with greater ease and confidence, much as soldiers learn to navigate through foggy terrain with the aid of maps and compasses.
Jack Kerouac, an influential American novelist and poet, used the term "the true story of the world in interior monolog" to describe his unique approach to writing. In On the Road, Kerouac employed a technique called "spontaneous prose," which involved typing out long streams of consciousness without stopping or revising, capturing the essence of his characters' thoughts and experiences as they happened. A true embodied experience. To this day, I still draw parallels between Jack's spontaneous prose method with the one espoused by Binyavanga Wainaina in One day I will write about this place.
Kerouac's belief that the true story of the world lies in individual thoughts, emotions, and perceptions as they experience life allowed him to create a sense of authenticity and immediacy in his writing that connected deeply with readers.
Seneca famously compels us to pour ourselves fully and intentionally into the present, as it “gentle(s) the passing of time’s precipitous flight.” All mindfulness practices hope to lead us to this path.
Additionally, somatic experiences involving paying attention to the bodily sensations associated with trauma or stress helps us become more aware of our physical and emotional states, as well as that of others.
For instance, imagine two friends, Mercy and Sarah, sitting across from each other over coffee. As Sarah shares a personal struggle with anxiety, Mercy notices the subtle changes in Sarah's body language and facial expressions that signal her discomfort. By being fully present in the moment and attuned to Mercy’s emotional state, Mercy is able to respond with empathy and understanding, offering words of encouragement and support.
On Enacted and Embedded consciousness:
If consciousness is enacted or embedded, then it is not just a product of the brain or nervous system, but is also shaped by our interactions with the environment. In this view, the interactions between the individual and their surroundings are critical in determining the nature of consciousness, and what we do in the world has an impact on how we experience it.
Keith Johnstone, in his classic work on improvisation in theater, offers actors a simple principle: to improvise a scene, the only thing you really need to know is what status to play, high or low, in relation to other actors on stage. This principle requires surprisingly few modifications when it comes to real life. At the heart of his book is the idea that only a few variables need to be managed to control a stream of decision-making.
The realm of enacted and embedded consciousness helps us underscore the role both sense-making and meaning-making play in our lives. Sense-making is about making sense of the external world, while meaning-making is about relating it to our inner world.
Asking the question: “What does this situation mean to me?” A simple way of looking at it is as follows: if sense-making asks, “What is going on?”, meaning-making asks, “What are the implications of what’s going on for me (or my family or my organization)?”
There are a few ways we can observe this process in action.
When we spend time in nature, we develop a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness of all living things. By observing the intricate relationships between plants, animals, and microorganisms, we can gain a greater understanding of our place within the natural world. Many people have wondered about their life’s purpose while at the top of a hill, or mountain, a phenomenon commonly referred to as the mountain top or big picture experience.
When we engage in community activities, we feel a sense of belonging and connection to others. When we volunteer or work within group projects, we become more aware of the interconnectedness of individuals within a larger social system. Heutagogical learning has strong roots in enacted/embedded consciousness.
When we engage in a cooperative play, i.e., working together with others towards a common goal, we develop an awareness of how our actions and behaviors impact those around us, as well as the interconnectedness of individual actions within a larger group dynamic.
On Extended consciousness:
The notion that consciousness is extended into the environment through social processes and shared narratives echoes the ideas of hyperconnectedness, sharing, and swarm intelligence in the age of the internet. In this view, consciousness is not merely a private experience but is also shaped by the collective and cultural contexts in which it arises.
Through our interactions with others, we co-create shared narratives and meanings that influence our experiences. These narratives can be seen as joint cultural artifacts, co-authored by individuals and groups as they interact and exchange ideas within a larger social and ecological system.
“We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it,” said Boal, In the Theatre of the Oppressed.
In part, the public experimentation of collective intelligence networks such as Game B, and other similar networks is a corollary of extended consciousness. By participating in collective intelligence activities such as brainstorming, open innovation, collective action, or problem-solving, we can gain a greater appreciation for how individual consciousness can contribute to larger, interconnected systems.
In summary
Contrary to the traditional view of a stable, unchanging self persisting through time, modern scientific research suggests that all conscious experiences are dynamically generated by neuronal activity in the present moment, with memories from the past influencing but not determining current experience. Therefore, each moment of experience is unique and dependent on the specific state of the brain at that instant.
The concept of personal growth and evolution over time is beautifully portrayed in the intriguing vignette from the movie "Waking Life". It posits that every seven years, we undergo a significant cellular transformation, becoming totally different people, while remaining quintessentially ourselves.
A matroyshka doll is a helpful analogy for understanding the nebulous nature of our sense of self. Just as it contains smaller dolls within it, so too do we contain various parts or aspects of ourselves at different scales.
As we scale down, we begin to recognize that our boundaries are not seamless wholes, but rather complex systems with many interconnected components.
At the same time, as we scale up, we come to understand that our individual identities are also nested within larger social and ecological contexts. This process continues in both directions - from the smallest parts to the largest groups - reminding us of the interconnectedness of all living things and the dynamic nature of selfhood over time.