In New Age circles, there is a belief that we are all connected, and if we just recognize this the world would be a better place. This topic recently came up in a Messenger room this weekend, but we really didn’t give it a whole lot of time to develop before the conversation went into the problems of Joseph Campbell’s theory that every religion is effectively the retelling of another. So today, I want to give this topic a bit of time to develop.
On the surface, one might say that there is no way we could be connected, because we are too different. We certainly do not reflect the concept of the Hive Mind like one might see in Ants, bees or if you’re into sci-fi: The Borg. The thing is, our lives do not necessarily fit the model of a pack either. Though, in America, we have seen ourselves identifying with the Wolf.
As we grow in our understanding, the analogy that we are like wolves begins to fall apart. If you look at them, wolves can strike off on their own (lone wolf), they can become contributing members of the pack, and they keep the balance of an ecosystem in order by being a local predator. But by all scientific understanding, the wolf does not impact the world as a whole the way that current day man does. This is true of every other animal we see in the world. Man may not be the most important species, but we are unique in our own rights.
So how does “connectiveness” fit into this model? We might find a better answer by comparing ourselves to the expanse of the ocean or wind. In one part of the the ocean, an earth quake can have far reaching effects on the water, but it will not reach from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The impact is there none-the-less and it has the potential to inflict enormous damages to land. But even at that, there can be smaller things that occur and only impact a couple of feet beyond the impact point- such as a fish jumping out of the water- the ripples go only so far before they loose their momentum and rejoin the natural flow of the water. In the same measure, we can look at how a Hurricane in the Caribbean can affect large sums of land, but not reach the exact opposite part of the earth. Wind also has the ability to only impact a small area- though it does tend to have a larger impact zone than the water. In this analogy, we can substitute how man works- our decisions can have large reaching effects, or they can have small ones. Human beings are in a unique position to create problems for the environment that are difficult (not impossible) to repair. We also have the unique ability to create problems or solutions for people in places we have never visited and may never visit in our lives.
In the sense of the what the previous paragraph revealed, then the answer is “yes, we are all connected”. But in the idea of a collective consciousness, I think that this idea should be challenged. We are not an ocean or wind. These are simply analogies that give us things to consider about our own unique place in the world. They fail to account for the the individual. At least with Wolves, the individual can be accounted for- but not that the individual can be a part of multiple packs at a time. I think this is also one of the reasons that the modern "collective consciousness" model fails. It assumes that we are all connected spiritually and that somehow this makes all the difference. When in fact, historically religion has been used in the sense of a higher being guiding us to a moral high ground- and not man. Giving us the sense that even spiritually awakened man was incapable of leading their societies to a better life without the authority of something higher. Whereas, the animal kingdom relies solely upon genetics or the ability to best everyone in the small community it controls.
I believe that if we look at the timeline of man, we begin to see that our connection is not actually linked by a collective consciousness. But rather the verbal and written communications between cultures which has established our commonalities. We are connected because we share ideas and the more we share them, the more we live out those ideas, the more they are adopted or rejected by societies the world over. Man tests the integrity of an ideology before it is completely rejected or accepted. For some individuals and cultures, this takes longer than others to adopt into their world view. Some may never realize the truth of those things which we hold as being righteous and valuable to maintaining a healthy society.
And what about in terms of the Star Wars Model? Does the fictional philosophy support a collective consciousness? I don’t think that is the case- and by proxy I think it tells us more about the condition of man than we might want to admit. The beginning being that the films were based on an idea that Joseph Campbell had- which is that we as a species are telling the same basic stories over and over again, but interpreting them in different ways. We see that good and evil exist within these various stories, and is certainly reflected in the films. The Force has two sides battling within it- Light and Dark (Real Life Jedi tend to reject the dichotomy of the singular force- so we’re speaking strictly to the model portrayed in the films). If this is true in the films, then we know that it does not have the right answers itself. It’s struggling to define itself and find the truth which will lead to it’s own balance. Within it, it could be said that by pitting the free will of intelligent species across the galaxy against one another, the truth of what Balance is will finally be found.
The roles taken by the Sith and the Jedi are at the extremes. They lead people in their ideology and work to build up their own “teams” so-to-speak. What is truly disheartening by the whole thing, is that the films demonstrate a constant repeat of the cycle. As though it’s a scientific test to see if it always turns out one way or another. Attempting to find the truth. Which give us the final piece of evidence about humans:
As a species, the most important thing we can do to cultivate what can truly be considered a collective consciousness, is to have patience with one another as we work through the tests. To respect that, right now, we don’t have all the answers, but in time hopefully we will- and hopefully it will become a universal truth that is unbroken.