Conscious evolution

What could conscious evolution possibly mean? Well, we know that consciousness is an awareness of people, events, objects and ourselves. We also know that evolution is a natural process that results in species, for example, surviving for a period of time (long or short), and that characteristic traits form for the different species. Usually, species adapt to their surroundings. So, conscious evolution means a changing consciousness that adapts to the surroundings, or lives, of humans, resulting in a different or greater awareness of self and others.

I prefer to refer to this process as conscious development because consciousness is not only adapting to outside surroundings, it also is developing due to the inside surroundings of psyche (a person's psychology).

As an example of the inside surroundings consider that when you were young, your parents influenced your beliefs and attitudes. That is, they influenced a part of your psychology. If those influences are still affecting you as an adult, then it is possible for you to change those influences. If you do, then consciousness is affected by the changes. It's similar to seeing the same movie over and over again and suddenly realizing there are other movies to watch.

Of course, there is the proverbial and valid question: Why bother to change or develop consciousness? This was addressed in other columns but let me provide an additional understanding.

When we watch a different movie, or several different movies, we realize (become aware) that we have a variety of new choices about the world, our lives and ourselves. The more choices available to us, the more we can continue to develop. This means, we are extending our consciousness to meet life and ourselves in a variety of new ways. Watching a variety of movies also means we can share the movies with others. In this way, we help others to develop their consciousness. So, it appears that a fuller life for us and others is the answer to the why question.

Staying with our metaphor, we know movies are classified in numerous ways: history, horror, romance and so forth. Just as watching the same movie does not promote development, if we continue to watch the same category of movie, we fall into a similar rut. This means we never become conscious of the many categories and the richness of life and ourselves that follows. Consciousness no longer develops and we also are limited in the types of movies we can share with other people.

As you can see, conscious development extends each of us as a person and society as a collective.