If humanity does form a whole - a 'networked humanity', then what are the implications?

Synergy: "A release of free energy can occur when a group of parts or symbiants, inspired by a common aim, join together to form a whole" (Barry McWaters - Institute for the Study of Conscious Evolution).

Synergy is an emergent property that is greater than the sum of its intelligent parts. If each symbiant (part) has access to, and use of, shared information: then what are the implications for an emergence of a whole that is greater than such already globally-shared information?

It may be that this is a stage towards what is considered a new decentered democracy. A participatory global governance that will no longer tolerate the actions of a few narrow-minded elite bent on greed and childish domination? Perhaps the oft-mentioned 'New World Order' will be one of a finer perceptive consciousness rather than the linear and shallow one currently manifested by incumbent parties.

Optimistic? Sure - yet the world is a manifestation of energies that are themselves only thought-forms. Thus, what first begins within the collective imagination can have a life both within the physical realm of shared informational structures, as well as having an influence upon physical forms through an emergent synergistic energy.

That is something well worth 'thinking' about.

Much talk is now centered around our next great 'evolutionary step' forward. Whilst some have put this firmly in the AI (Artificial Intelligence) domain, there is also the argument of IA (Intelligence Acceleration). One way to see this is a merging of information technology and the human, so that a 'superorganism' will be achieved. One that will have instant access to information and thus the 'two heads are better than one' will be exponentially increased to a 'global' head.

An interesting essay to this end is Evolution & The Internet: towards a networked humanity.

It is possible that a symbiosis may be the result of the 'Technological Singularity' - a merging of intelligent humans/machines rather than as a race of machines that take over. The singularity could more likely be a mesh - a symbiosis - between humans and their use of intelligent artifacts in order to foster their own intelligence acceleration instead of passing the intelligence over to silicon agents.

In short, the human still has much growth left. Only if we consider the potential from an external point of view will the alternative of machine-intelligence seem the most plausible. If we can recognise the inherent possibilities within increased information within the human species, and the acceleration in intelligence this could produce, then the future of human evolution is with the wise.

As Jonas Salk - the Nobel discoverer of the Polio vaccine - put it: our future will be about the survival of the wisest.

Since we are on the subject of information, it is obvious to those of us who take a look around at our surroundings that we are immersed in information. And this information-atmosphere is increasing exponentially as communication flows are becoming increasingly networked. People are sharing information now like never before: and this has had, and will continue to exert, a profound effect upon social dynamics. Not only are people interacting with more people than they would usually in terms of physical meeting, but ideas - memes - are being transfered which, in turn, raises the level of shared awareness.

This notion of the shared 'personal' has been greatly enhanced with the blogging phenomena, as more and more blogs are getting linked. In turn I should like to mention the sites of two of my colleagues: Jyri; and Christian.

Information is the key. Information is what emerges as the key to evolution. What is information? Is it knowing something about the dog races - which will win? Information is coded within each of us, yet its emergent capacities are only effective through connectivity. Just as the heart is essential to the overall fucntion of our body; take it out and both it, as a separate organ, and ourselves as a whole body, dies. It is this necessary interrelationship that allows information to be shared and conscious through its own connectivity. This is why we are all, each one of us, dependent upon connections that we are often not aware of. Thus, all matter is likewise connected. The property of self-consciousness emerges when the level of connectivity within any system is at a heightened peak of complexity. The human brain, with its hundreds of billions of firing neuronal connections is exactly this model of peak complexity. From this self-organised complexity comes our experience of adaptive cognition - self-consciouness. DNA has planned for this level of relational connectivity. As information in the world is likewise connected through greater networks of communication, eg. Internet, this will help to raise the information --> knowledge --> consciousness of society in general. This, it is hoped, will play a major role in guiding us towards our self-evolutionary future. This is the early stage of our expected transformation.

As has been previously mentioned:

We are at a crucial stage in our development and the time for thinking about responsibilities, yet not acting upon them is past. As President Harry Truman once famously declared: ‘The buck stops here.’ Well, that buck was on the desk of one man – today’s buck reaches to every one of us, irrespective of country, race, gender, religion, or status. This new ‘buck’ is the collective choice we face concerning the future evolution not only of our species, but also of the Earth and all living forms included.

Every epoch has fashioned a corresponding mind-set, and frames of consciousness that have provided a functional use. The earlier mythic conceptions of a sacred world dominated by unseen forces and humankind’s integral relationship with powerful nature developed into a theistic consciousness. Here, divine authority on earth was conscripted into hierarchical dynastic rule as a governing device. This theistic mind-set became assimilated into the Logos concept of a divinely ordered cosmos with an ultimate prime-mover. This belief of an ordered cosmos soon evolved into the Enlightenment’s mechanistic ‘clockwork’ view of the universe where science sought to prove that natural laws held the world under linear domination. This materialistic mind-set has brought us up to the present moment. Now it is no longer of functional use. Rather, if it carries us any further, we are liable to become its victims.

An evolution of consciousness is required. I don’t mean this in any mystico-esoteric sense. I mean it in a very real and practical way. For the past 300 years society has provided us with a worldview and belief-system that sees the ideas of ‘survival of the fittest’, the sense of competition, and of conquest, colonisation, and consumption, as the main ideals. This materialistic conception has seen a rapid contamination of the world we share and has placed us on an evolutionary path to extinction. The next shift must involve a conscious decision to evolve our understanding, worldview, and wisdom, through intensive evolution rather than an extensive one. Intensive evolution replaces such obsolete material beliefs with ones concentrating on connection, communication, and consciousness. The energy inherent in inter-connectedness works on an exponential scale: that is, it develops at ever increasing rates. This is why in history most of our profound innovations have been the work of single, or minority, action. A conscious action produces an exponentially increased effect. Ghandi was right when he said: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ When you change yourself, you change the immediate world around you; those close to you, and the events you participate in.

An increased degree of communication through connection fosters an increased involvement of consciousness – and consciousness evolves through use, and latent properties are more likely to emerge when stimulated, just like a car operates better when warmed up. Again, this lies more in the realm of common sense than ‘strange goings-on’. Our era has shifted where we need to unburden ourselves of these obsolete and superstitious beliefs. True knowledge is sense that is not yet common, rather than esoteric or otherworldly. Science today, with its quantum theories of the ‘zero-point’ and ‘quantum vacuum’ provides greater understanding of our place in the present universe than at any time in our recorded history. Should we not be making use of this information? It is time to educate ourselves and to do our duty by changing ourselves first.

Thus, human contact and communication --> co-operation. Co-operation gives us Synergy. And synergy is the effect of combined action which is greater than the sum of its parts. As a whole, with unity, we can achieve things beyond that available to us as individuals. The next shift on our evolutionary path requires an evolution in consciousness, and we can all play our part. It requires inner-reflection, mindfulness, co-operation, and living in a harmonious and respectful way with others and with our environment. It doesn’t require any great sacrifices or burning of books: simply, it is living in accordance with our developmental needs rather than our wants. As one thinker has put it: ‘Live simply so that others may simply live.’ And living simply is evolving ourselves – our conscious awareness and understanding - to be in a harmonious relationship within a grander cosmic harmony. The ‘buck’ stops with us. Let’s do a good job of it.


For a more detailed discussion of these ideas, see: Ervin Laszlo, ‘Macroshift’ (2001)

As has been stated before: The concept of conscious evolution to a stage where each part, or human, is an integral and interrelated part of the whole is an idea that is organically evolving within our mass mind. Now science is able to embrace this concept through delving into the psi-field of an integrated whole reality. As an evolving species, we are encouraged to work together as a synthesis, towards this synergy, or gestalt: where the whole is greater than its sum, and thus leads to emerging properties of the whole.

One area of research here is the 'global brain' phenomenon. Once the vanguard of peripheral thinkers (see Peter Russell's 'Earth Awakening: The Global Brain'), it is now fast becoming the ken of respected researchers: one recent example being Howard Bloom's 'The Global Brain', or Gregory Stock's 'Metaman'.

As parts of a larger system, humans can evolve into a conscious network and, using an apt analogy, may serve to become a planetary nervous system. Since univeral order is within a hierarchy, each stage evolving in complexity towards the next, we all exhibit characteristics of those systems above and below us, thus echoing the Hermetic adage As Above, So Below.

What concerns us now is functionality. And we can only function in accordance with our level of knowledge and capacity. We cannot be told what is, or what needs to be done: we can only be guided until that understanding becomes an inherant part of ourselves. Then we have an organic sense of how we should act to fit in with the dynamic whole.

Yet we can modify our base behaviours through observation and monitoring of oneself; to clear one's mind of trappings and junk in order to allow these new thoughts to penetrate. To contemplate and to kick-start the mind into thinking, delving, probing, questioning, and reaching out further beyond the confines of flesh and received-knowledge. We may think we learn, yet often we learn rote without the thinking. We should aim towards a conscious digestion of information. Like eating good food, be aware of it going in and its digestion. Use our capacities rather than leaving them to the junkyard of the sapians.

Open oneself up to synergy, empathy, and an awareness beyond the confines of the self. Think in terms of generations rather than immediate moments; into stages of species life rather than the slide into one's own old age. Think beyond oneself whilst including oneself.

Be conscious of ourselves as a part and simultaneously as a whole.

"We now enter a period wherein the goal of individual salvation is no longer appropriate. Our guidance calls for a collective transformation...The present recognition of our emergent collective consciousness represents a quantum transformation in human evolution."

"While much of human consciousness is still caught in a separative, alienated condition, significant numbers of individuals and groups are consciously working toward critical mass. When just the right quantity and quality of catalytic influence is reached, the entire process will be affected."

These are some quotes taken from Conscious Evolution by Barry McWaters (Evolutionary Press, 1982)

The movement has been growing for some time. As McWaters said - 'Applications accepted - inquire within!'

ITS OTHER NAME


Faith is an instrument,

Sharp as a warrior’s sword,
Shiny as a clean-cut diamond,
Reflective as a repolished mirror.

Above all, it is yours,
Yet you must learn
How to work it

For it can be as dangerous
As all the above.

Its other name is Love.

21.35
17.7.00

FAITH TAKES YOU TO MANY STRANGE PLACES



You asked me how I came to be here:
Well, my friend, Faith in something or one
Takes you to many strange places.


10.38pm
14.12.98




TRAVELLING



There are places to travel to
And other places to travel from;
Understand what must be left behind
Before you can find the One.


9.40pm
27.12.98

Part of the journey of inner development is about attaining the correct balance: in our mental, emotional, and physical worlds. Since consciousness is the core of all materiality, then our mental, emotional, and physical spheres are merely the different states of consciousness. In this respect there is the great possibility of being dominant in one area for the detriment of others. We see this in ourselves and others: we may be too intellectual and suppress our emotional nature, or let the emotional centre steer us and over-ride mental common-sense.

Evolution is not so much a linear progression towards some 'end-point' but rather an expansion that incorporates all that we already have known, and more. By moving forward, this gives us the false 'human' impression that we are leaving things behind - evolution is rather an expansion that incorporates and not an acquiring and discarding step. Think of our brains, how since our earliest reptilian brain, at the base, has been added to successively as our species developed - we still have that reptilian brain deep within is - we have incorporated it within our expansion. So too is our awareness of conscious evolution an integration of the constant evolutionary process that has brought us to this point from our earliest cosmic beginnings.

What is important about the next stage is that we can participate as conscious actors. Yet to do so requires that we expand our thought processes, our mental set, our spiritual being, and expand our understanding of universal processes. One path requires inward travel: the other requires that we balance our outer lives so that all our faculties are in a harmonious relationship. We are neither too intellectual, emotional, or physical; nor are we too introvert or extrovert.

Nothing is separate -this is another fallacy. All is joined together: everything that exists is in constant interaction with multiple forces. In this sense we all affect each other - yet if you're looking for the cables....you won't find them.

There is nothing to lose but your self - and this is the self of separateness. There is nothing to fear except fear itself. Our conscious environment is inherently connected in all and every sense - nothing is left out. What we require is an expansion of understanding to incorporate this new perceptual paradigm. Everything we do comes back to us for all living, experience, thoughts, and emotions are entwined.

So, with right thought and right action we can influence both near, far, connected, and seemingly unconnected events and further this connectedness. It is about contact with the greater whole - maintain, and continue to maintain that contact - it is truly an expansion of the self into the Self.

The present material paradigm, or mindset, is one that places matter as the primary source, with consciousness as a product of matter. Look at the universe – its atomic particles are the building blocks for all form. Consciousness then is a self-reflexive awareness that emerges from a specific level of intelligence – or is it? The popular explanation is that humans have such a complex degree of neuronal activity, such an intricate and complex brain activity, so that consciousness emerges from the firing of these billions of interconnecting neurons….

Well – lets look at a different hypothesis: matter is a product of consciousness. The universe is conscious because it is a manifestation of consciousness. All matter thus has the capacity to connect with this universal consciousness. How then are we conscious? The fact is, we don’t have consciousness – we only tune in to it. We don’t have consciousness any more than a radio has the music.

Our central nervous system is not the producer of consciousness, as some may think, but is the antenna for receiving the consciousness we are living within. It’s like the young fish who go to the old wise fish to ask where this thing called water is… we don’t perceive consciousness because, like the fish, we’re living in it – it is the medium of our existence, and our material form is the construction that our perceptions create for us. We breathe it, yet recognise it not.

Evolution may in fact not be concerned so much with material development but rather with a convergence towards consciousness. The growth of intelligence towards self-reflexivity and conscience can be seen, in an alternative way, as a precursor towards recognition and, finally, integration with the consciousness behind materiality; rather than as a tool for integrating with material structures. Seen in this light, our evolutionary trajectory is towards immateriality, rather than more evolved technological materiality.

Evolution of consciousness and conscious evolution are two distinct concepts: the former deals with the development of consciousness through species evolution. The latter refers to the conscious participation within evolutionary processes.

It is with the latter that this site is dedicated to. Humankind are energy receivers-transmitters, and as such we are capable of receiving chaotic energies and transmitting harmonious one. Evolution, after all, is concerned with harmony. Despite the disorderly manner of evolutionary jumps, there is an inherent harmony, or equilibrium, with such disorder (see complexity studies). Part of our service within conscious evolution is to maintain this harmonious balance - the opposite of entropy - by dealing in the transmittance of positive and balanced energies, to ourselves, those around us, and the environment we are in.

Unity is a fundamental concept to this evolutionary process. So is correspondence - the idea that all levels of existence adhere to the same laws and principles: the 'As Above, So Below' of the famous Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. Yet our first priority is to correspond within ourselves.

Do we function as a true human being with unity of harmony in all processes?

Social development is neither a result of technological determinism nor of random processes, or even as a capitalist drive, although all these factors do, in varying degrees play a part of the whole process. At a fundamental level the development of any system is based upon a drive towards increasing complexity, whether it be a living or social system. Such a complexity pushes towards increased connectivity within its component parts, and thus towards a greater wholeness of all the constituent parts of a system. The source behind this drive is the flow of energy.

The energy that flows through such systems is that of information. Whether it be DNA transfer, cellular transfer, or digital transfer – the bottom line is that information seeks its transference within a network in order to spread the relevant signals whereby a system is able to maintain its collective cooperation. When the level of information, or the degree of component parts of a system reach a threshold limit, then the system bifurcates into a higher system that incorporates its recently-left now sub-system. Information seeks to increase the intelligence of a system. Information increase leads to greater complexity, networking, and connectedness. This heightened connectedness in turn allows information a greater flow or access to all the component parts of the system, which in turn allows each part the chance to share in the information/intelligence of the whole. This then leads to the emergence of an intelligent system that is greater than the intelligence of its separate parts. No longer do we need to say that two heads are better than one: now we should be saying that millions (billions?) of heads are better than one.

This may correspond to the processes behind intelligence increase - as Leary himself stated:

“The biological “master plan” of organic evolution located in DNA directs the unfolding of the circuits of the nervous system. One major goal of life is for the individual to becomes Increasingly Intelligent in order to decode somatic signals within the body, within the nervous system itself, signals from the DNA code and metaphysiological neuro-atomic energy patterns. The history of life and of humanity is best defined in terms of the evolution of the nervous system and of knowledge technologies.” (Leary – ‘Info-Psychology’)

Yet it doesn't go any way to answering the question of consciousness. What is consciousness and how are we conscious?

If there are problems accessing the article for the transhumanist webpage, then go directly to the source at http://www.aleph.se/Trans/index-2.html

As always, the debates concerning whether the future evolution of humankind will lead to an evolved biological species, or a cyborg-synthesis, or even to complete AI, are ongoing. Recent research is now trying to synthetise DNA within nanotechnology - and one experiment was to place rat neurons into a robot. There is a large body of people who call themselves the 'Transhumanists', and they take this issue very seriously. The way forward, they say, is definately within a mixture of human and machine parts to produce an organic, human-engineered species with vastly increased intelligence.

To read up on this debate, check out this recent Transhumanist article.

Now that the excesses of the festive period are over, its time once again to put life into balance. Life itself requires harmony, otherwise small unbalances can tend to build up and accumulate. They're not 'visible' in the normal sense, yet they get stored within the body's energy centers. Over-consumption of foods and drink; over-stimulation of external inputs (sights + sounds) drain one's energy. It is then so much harder just to do what used to be considered as regular activities. Even thought becomes sluggish, and it's harder to concentrate and focus.

(Wo)Man is a finely tuned apparatus. Everything works together: the body, mind, and emotions. Any one aspect out of balance will affect the rest. Since we are a conscious self-evolving species it is within our own responsibility to sort this out - to monitor and regulate oneself. This is not about being a dictator to the self. On the contrary, it requires further tact and care towards oneself. It requires a knowing, a taste of one's own balance, of one's own needs. Listen to yourself: listen daily. Either in meditation or contemplation. Choose a quiet time: register your own thoughts, feelings, emotions, the body. Trace your body in your mind - find where the taste is a little off and make a mental note of it. The work towards correcting this.

We are our own repairers as well as our own consultants. We're quite miraculous really... if we listen.

Excerpts from the archives: selected poems from 1992-1995



OUT OF THE SMALL THINGS



I like you
But the world does continue

And we cannot remain
Upon temporary desires

Or dreams born from
The restless mind.

We cannot make
A world

Out of the small things
That absorb us

Only for the moment
And then are gone

Or we would never
See the world

Through the false thickness
Of the air.




THE BUTTERFLY'S TALE



And the butterfly
started to die ;

he didn't know that
what he wanted was
also killing him.

And the butterfly
started to die
as he burnt himself
against the light.



SHELL


Like little sea creatures
In a shell we lay

pressed against
the pressured air ;

too silent to be moved,
showing ourselves

as the layered rock
shows earth's growth
from youth.

Tiny thumb prints of some desire
we wish to encapture

and keep between the flesh,

to seep from our pores
on every embrace

to smell the skin
on every kiss

like honest things.





MY NAME ( UNDER FRAGILE HANDS )



My name

like scattered glass splinters
amidst the snow

waits to be found
and cupped together

under fragile hands.

My name

with each syllable
transparent
and cracked with
uneven edges

waits to be called

and held together
under
fragile hands.







A STRANGER WITHIN


A man who lives on the outside of his skin
forever
is he who dies being a stranger within.

LIKE A HIGHWAY




I bought myself a book,
but not the time to read it.
Love – I can’t buy time.

I spend my nights in knowledge,
immersed in the words of others.
Love – I can’t buy wisdom.

I walked the ways of others,
my foot following their prints.
Love – I can’t buy truth.

The world doesn’t give us the ways
to reach our ends; it only posts
signs like an open highway.



21.11.03

The harmony of any system requires a selfless cooperation. It requires a recognition that separation is a facet of our own imaginations. We are not any more separate than the sun is separate to life on this earth. We think in terms of geographical space: the moon turns our moods – yet dare we imagine that non-local events may influence our daily selves? This is comic. There is no fundamental separation.

Every thought/action/desire is as if written in the sky in red cloud: our growth is recorded as a part of our evolution. Everything that goes out from us also returns to us – we decide its fate. The world we live in is deeply rooted in how we choose to interpret that world. Trust our own hearts – our own intentions.