GROUP CONSCIOUSNESS

It is an illusion for humans to think of themselves as individuals. A human is actually made up of many layers of consciousness, the most basic being the cell. The consciousness of each cell is a lot like that of any one celled organism. They all think individually and are the only true individuals.

The lowest of the group consciousness’ starts with the groups of cells which make up the tissues and the organs. These groups have a consciousness of their own, made up of the units involved. The heart and the stomach actually have different types of awareness. The brain system gets most of the attention, concerning consciousness, because it communicates with all the other groups within the body by way of the nervous system. It also communicates with other life forms through the languages it has developed. The language of visual movements of the face and body, the language of smell and of hearing, are all much more ancient and important than word symbols. To make things more complex, the brain is divided into left and right hemispheres, as well as different areas on the cortex. These areas all have their own consciousness. Have you ever had a debate in your head whether to do something or not? This is one of the manifestations of the different conscious brain parts. Some, like the brain stem, are primitive and deal with bodily functions and perceptions. While other more recently evolved areas such as the frontal lobe, engage in areas such as reason, creativity, and philosophy.

Starting with the human consciousness and moving outwards, the first social group consciousness of which we are a member is the family; followed by the tribe, city, state, nation, and world. We are a part of groups even larger than our world but they do not have much meaning for us at this time. The solar. Galactic, and universal systems are far in our future. But even so, we must try to remember that we are all a part of the great Whole, which is God.

Every religion creates a group consciousness of its own. In fact, it is this very consciousness which is the God of most religions. However, very few religions recognize the group consciousness for even the whole earth, much less that of the one true God of the Whole. Any religion which exempts evil from its God cannot possibly be a religion of the whole. All the major religions mistakenly teach that the negative forces are not a part of God, nor a part of themselves. They look down on those who do not agree with the dogma of their church founders. In self righteousness they teach their followers that the rest of mankind are heathens and cannot be saved. They are to be considered devils or less than human. Think of the conflict and bad feelings this attitude creates in the world. A religion of truth must embrace all of mankind and reality. Animals, plants and different states of consciousness, although different, must be considered equal in the eyes of God.

We all have our Gods or group consciousness’ even if we think we do not. The Russians worship mother Russia and Marxism, while an American worships freedom. A good test to see what group consciousness’ we belong to, is to see where we use the words I am. I am a Dodgers’s fan, I am white, I am an American, I am a Catholic, I am a Republican. Although it is not bad to belong to these group consciousness’, we must be aware of what groups we belong to in order to develop in truth and wisdom and become spiritually free.

It is easy to see why a patriot views his country as a God. This group consciousness has power, wisdom, love, and control over its subjects. Even a small group consciousness, such as a high school, has a spiritual entity or consciousness surrounding it. Sports teams often get that extra power and go on to victory, as a result of the schools spirit. We humans continually build and tear down our Gods as the need arises. We form alliances with the ones we desire and with whom we identify.

Money, for example, is a product of a certain type of consciousness, which when joined, showers its subjects with wealth and power. However, it is often accompanied by corruption and unhappiness. Rare is the man that can walk the balance between excessive money and high character.

To become one with any of God’s qualities, one must identify one’s self with that quality, group or substance. This is done by continually holding it in one’s mind and acting as if it is already one with you. However, I advise the true seeker of God and the truth, to keep his attention on the whole and all its qualities in a balanced manner. As has been said so many times before, we can only serve one master. When the attention is focused too much on one thing, we become blind to the rest. It is through understanding the relationship between yourself, your group consciousness’ and the whole, that spiritual freedom will be found.