It is my firm belief that consciousness is subject to viruses as much as our bodies are. Pierre Teilhard De Chardin coined the term “noosphere” to describe the sphere of human thought that enfolds planet earth much like the atmosphere does. We are all affected by this field of collective thought, and we need to be as vigilant in protecting our consciousness from the very real plague of fear, greed, and hate that currently runs rampant through the collective human psyche, as much as we need to protect our bodies from the Zika or Ebola viruses. Our media is the worst offender in spreading these viruses as is currently evidenced by the unlimited coverage of a certain hate-monger who has infected our political process, as well as propagating a multitude of fear-inducing stories to choose from in our diet of daily news. (The favor that the hate-monger has done for us, is bringing forward – out of shadows, and into clear view – the masses of people who have been infected by these viruses of consciousness. Now we can see how bad the invisible plague of hate and fear actually is. This is the basis of my theory of the Zombie Apocalypse, but that’s a subject for another blog.)
The solution as I see it is that we need to mindfully tend to the immunity of our consciousness, to keep it strong, healthy, and immunized against the viruses that threaten to take humanity back into a dark age (or wipe us out entirely).
With our physical bodies we know that building a strong immune system takes (at least) a healthy diet, exercise, and ample rest. When there is threat of a plague we know that we need to wash our hands thoroughly and regularly, cover our mouths when we cough, go into isolation when we are actively ill, and avoid areas of contamination unless it is our job to enter a virus-zone (in which case we wear protective suits). We need to do much the same with our consciousness: we need to be educated, we need a healthy diet of rational, factual information (which will take diligence to find, looking beyond the mainstream media), and we need to know how to discern the difference between rational thought and insanity. We need a consistent practice of spiritual study in order to gain a perspective of things greater than our small, egoic selves. We need to exercise our minds with stimulating conversation, study, and art – we’ve got to turn off the tv and step away from the screens – and we need ample rest; a tired brain contributes to a weak mind. When we are in the midst of a plague such as we have going on in the US right now, we especially need to meditate and take time in nature to clear our minds and spirits. We need to be careful about the words we choose (and the tweets we tweet), and how we might be contributing to the spread of fear and judgement as opposed to caution and discernment. We need to recognize when we – or our loved ones – are on the edge of mental and emotional collapse and we need to have the courage and resources to takes steps of intervention.
The state that we find ourselves in at this time on the planet is entirely relative to the state of human consciousness and ego. When we tend to our own individual consciousness, when we develop a broader perspective of ourselves and our relationship to the world, when we can observe our own ego’s reactivity to circumstances and have enough awareness to make conscious choices in our behavior, we will contribute to the health and well being of the collective consciousness, and to the eventual thrival of humanity.