Musings on Truth and Consciousness, Part 1
Technology and the Evolution of Consciousness
The key to generating understanding rather than resistance is empathy.
One might be initially inclined to think that if a truth is discovered, it will be willingly and eagerly embraced by all. But this would be a mistake.
Truth often engenders resistance because it is inconvenient; it does not integrate well into the lives we have created and built, years and years of building, all on foundations so detached from it.
If a skyscraper were built on shoddy foundations, the person who discovered a more reliable material to built it upon would not be rewarded by default. To be rewarded, he would come up with the full method and procedure for taking apart the building, piece by piece, without destroying it completely; after all, there’s nothing wrong with the building, only the foundation.
The beliefs in our lives are similar. We all have the same basic goals — health, happiness, stability, community — and, with the exception of a few, we are all pretty much well-intended. But the integrity of the foundation — our belief system, which can be closer or further from the Truth — is what allows us to make progress towards those goals most effectively.
Therefore, my mission here is not to disparage or condemn those who hold the wrong beliefs (by wrong, I mean distant from Truth and therefore making their own lives more difficult; there is no name for the right belief system, i.e. this is different from religion or ideology). Instead, I hope to lay out a roadmap for correcting them, should one choose to do so.
In contrast, many people who have achieved a level of understanding of Truth have done so unwittingly, and therefore look down upon those who have not done the same. This type of dynamic generates resistance. In fact, every conflict in the world, from small arguments to devastating wars, all stem from the same thing: two parties at different levels of consciousness (truth is not logical, it happens at a subconscious level) who are unaware of this as the reason for misunderstanding, and are therefore unable to empathize with the opposing party at a different level of consciousness.
I do admit, however, that am sometimes tempted to ingratiate myself via my own understanding of the Truth, which occurs as a natural manifestation of the evil force of ego. Ego is exactly what blocks us off from empathy and understanding, and must be actively suppressed in anyone who desires to convey an understanding of Truth, such that he does not generate resistance rather than awareness. Social media incentivizes this behavior, reinforcing our ego identity by validating it due to accessibility of people who share our views no matter where we are in the world (and no matter what views we hold). This is the trap: having views is not in itself reprehensible; rather, imposing them on others is what causes conflict. We should only validate our views with others to the extent that it is intellectually satisfying, but at the point that our validation comes at the harm of others (i.e. maliciously), this is where it becomes a matter of ego and should be recognized and stopped immediately. Eventually, after consciously seeking out this point over a period of time, throughout our day to day social media actions, we will develop an instinct for it, and soon starve the ego beast so that it no longer desires validation as fiercely.
The role of social media in consciousness evolution
Social media is at the same time both a blessing and a curse. By allowing us to transcend spatial limitations and connect with people around the world, it allows us to find community, an essential aspect of a healthy life; but on the flip side of the coin, the sanctity of person to person interactions become diluted, allowing us to skip over social norms and speak our feelings without filter. In other words, the casuality and sheer volume of social media interactions allow us to become immediately aware of what communities we “belong” in, and which we do not, while at the same time creating toxicity and conflict. All in all, this phenomenon could be considered a boon for the evolution of human consciousness as a whole: intolerance is disheartening at the individual level, but is usually an unavoidable stepping stone to long-term peace and harmony on at the collective level.
Technology has developed at an exponential pace in recent years, with the dawn of computing and the internet. And the fact that technology has always evolved in parallel to the evolution of human consciousness, we can see that both are occurring at an unprecedented rate in human history. Technology is used both for war (yin) and connection (yang), and that is reflected in the polarization of consciousness and unconsciousness in society.
Humanity, now, is experiencing a transition. The two sides (consciousness and unconsciousness, yin and yang), are being violently shorn apart faster than ever in history, and the divisions we are seeing all across our society, and across the world, are an example of that. This extreme polarization of humanity will most likely result in another conflict of mass proportion before it settles down, but when it does, it will likely be a lasting settling down. It follows that no matter what we choose to do in our lifetimes is largely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, because the end result will be the same. That’s why we can only do the best we can to create peace in our own lives and communities. In fact, my purpose in sharing my understanding of Truth is purely motivated by my desire to move on to other things that have nothing to do with this subject, and the feeling that I will be unable to do so until I first express everything I know, because it is human nature to want to express oneself, especially if we know things that others do not.
