Consciousness and the Environment

by J. Boerman

To have a complete interaction with your surroundings you need to use all ways of perceiving, thus besides the rational everyday waking reality also transrational ones like meditation, trance, dreams, imagination and divination. Anthropologist Laughlin states that when you focus just on one of these (monophasic) your interaction with your surroundings is fragmented and in misbalance. The Western world, and also many other industrialized societies are monophasic because they purely focus on one, the rational everyday waking reality. Anthropologist Lumpkin states that this means bad adaption, and creates an unsustainable situation with surroundings.

This has become utterly clear the last centuries, the attention to science and technological development by industrialized societies has created a misbalance with the environment. But many people have so little diversity in their way of perceiving that it doesn’t seem get through to them what is happening to the world. Recourses are getting depleted, nature gets intoxicated and forests are disappearing with tremendous speed. A lot of people see that it’s happening, they sometimes donate some money to organizations, but that’s it. Society doesn’t seem to actually realize how serious the situation is.

Thus industrialized societies need to shift their attention to the other ways of perceiving as well and not be so monophasic. Maybe than society will acknowledge the unsustainable situation created today. And give an effort to improve this and live in harmony. Environmental issues have to be analysed in their totality and not fragmented so adaptability can be improved.

Source: JPAB about Anthropology, Spirituality, Environment, Human Rights and Personal life & Photos