michel on human consciousness

michel bauwens on human consciousness

via tweet [https://x.com/mbauwens/status/2104942130787414470?s=20]:

Thanks for not just liking, but reposting!!

Here is my very latest substack article, part of a whole series of ‘Curated Articles’, which are bibliographic guides to a topic:

This one is on:

* How do we change human consciousness ?

none of us are free.. ness.. so need a global detox leap.. for legit change

https://4thgenerationcivilization.substack.com/p/curated-article-how-do-we-change

notes/quotes from substack:

Curated Article: How do we change human consciousness ?

On the four root-metaphors of human thinking, and the religious and cultural ground motives that influence our ‘Thought-Shapers’ and ‘Action-Shapers’.

The following article is a preparation for a more flowing and personal article I will write on this topic. The material you will find here is mostly from people who have studied human consciousness ‘phenomenologically’, as it appears to alert observers, using social or human sciences, not necessarily the more current neurology or neurosciences. However, some of the conclusions at the end of this article are certainly ‘neurologically’ founded as well.

The article does not look at change as ‘manipulation’ of drives for immediate commercial or political benefit, but at how societies have changed more fundamentally. It doesn’t aim to be complete, but nevertheless, if you take the material seriously, it could set you on a long-term journey to understand the dynamics of change better.

to me.. no legit change ever since that day

I suggest a very broad methodology to put this material in context.

  • Your first ledger is the objective ledger of material conditions, what is the material basis of society, its technology, its geological and climate conditions.
  • Your second ledger is how societies and civilizations collectively respond to these challenges, i.e. modes of hierarchy, production, management, class and ownership.
  • This brings you to our specific topic today, a third ledger, which focuses on collective culture, forms of consciousness, both collectively and individually.

I want to start with the realization that contrary to expectations that ‘human nature doesn’t change’, human cultures have undergone dramatic transitions in the reigning mentality. Of course, there are also human invariants, but societal forms have a dramatic influence, in terms of incentives, rewards and punishments, of which parts of the complex human family of traits, it wants to promote or discourage.

if incents, rewards, punishments.. no change.. same song

what we need are (in regard to the 3 ledgers above)

1st ledger: conditions for all to be free aka: sans any form of m\a\p

2nd ledger: irrelevants if 1st ledger legit

3rd ledger: the dance

1. The insights from Pitirim Sorokin

To acknowledge that change, it is perhaps best to start with the Russian ‘civilizational analyst’, Pitirim Sorokin. His 4-volume ‘Social and Cultural Dynamics’, is luckily available in a one volume abridged version. It is not very easy reading as it is most of all a ‘catalog of change’, showing how human societies undergo periodic polarity changes, from Sensate type civilizations, which are geared towards materialism, i.e. what can be seen and touched by human senses, towards Ideate societies, which reject the outward orientation towards material accumulation, and turn towards the ‘immaterial’ spirit. Think especially on how Buddhist and Christian societies emerged as reactions to failing materialistic-hedonistically oriented civilizational forms. He also mentions a more rare third form, called ‘Idealistic’, in which a balance between materialism and idealism is achieved, pointing towards 5th BC Greece and 13th Cy. medieval Christian Europe, respectively the centuries of Plato and Aristotle, and that of Thomas Aquinas. It occurs in periods where the Ideate impulse is on the way down, and the Sensate impulse is on the way up, creating a temporary equilibrium. Don’t mistake this for a Euro-centric bias, other civilizations have gone through similar periods, as an AI search may confirm.

again.. to me.. nothing legit diff ever since that day.. all to date has just been iterations of the same song.. the whac-a-mole-ing ness of sea world.. of not-us ness.. of part\ial ness..  perpetuating survival triage.. for (blank)’s sake..

This topic is covered in a very important book:

  • Sorokin, Pitirim A. The Ways and Power of Love: Types, Factors, and Techniques of Moral Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press, 1954.

sorokin love law et al

2. The insights of Rene Girard on Mimetic Desire and the Scapegoat mechanism

For this, I think we best switch to the work of Rene Girard, on the topic of mimetic desire.

During the last Valley of the Commons pop-up village for commoners, I had the opportunity to discuss this topic with Carlos Perona of the Europos channel, one of the very few conservative cultural commentators, with a keen interest for the commons as a necessary institution.

valley of the commons..

This is from a personal communication between Carlos and myself:

michel on desire ness et al

3. Introduction to the Integral Tradition

This is where I would have to introduce the importance of the integral and integrative tradition of human understanding! These are the philosophical schools which permanently attempt to hold ‘historical idealism’ (explaining the evolution of humanity through beliefs, ideas, willful actions, agency), in balance with ‘historical materialism’ (explaining the evolution of humanity through its material evolutions, modes of production, media, organizational forms).

to me.. all the explaining ness of history ness is whalespeak.. so cancerous distraction to the dance

In the P2P Foundation wiki, this is covered by two major sections:

The first category is the broadest, and derives from my early interest in the works of Ken Wilber, but there are many more integrative traditions that came before, during and after Wilber’s work. The ‘Integral’ category of my wiki mostly covers ‘meta-theories’:

“Critical realism, integral theory, and complex thought are arguably among the most sophisticated contemporary integrative metatheories. We feel that all three can learn from each other in profound ways and so become more robust and powerful for addressing the global moment.”

critical realism ness et al..

I have used my own adaptations of these methodologies, and I introduced my own methods of inquiry here:

I explain what lies behind our heuristic approach here:

And also how we relate broadly to other subcurrents within the broad contemporary integral approaches, see:

These articles are not recent, and really need updating, but will give you an idea of the original context of the P2P Foundation initiative.

It is indeed important to understand that the P2P Theory approach was initially conceived as a further specialized development within the tradition of integral theory. Most recently, I have been in dialogue with the particular development of Integral Theory called ‘Integral Humanism‘ as developed by Erik Haines.

4. The Cosmo-Biology of Root Methaphors

OK, after the intermezzo of explaining the literature on Integralism, we are back to our broad argument. So, enough about the Integral and Integrative approaches.

What then, about the importance of the ‘Cosmobiological’ approach, which is a more restricted, but still very important thread. It represents the ‘Organicist’ tradition of understanding life and society, which is one of four basic ‘root metaphors’ to understand our world.

So one of these four ways in which we, mostly ‘unconsciously’ see and interpret the world is ‘organicism’, explained here:

“We are immersed in a biological world of living organisms, both plants and animals, including ourselves. Living organisms are organized, self-regulating, and actively functioning systems. A seed planted in favorable conditions, unfolding and maturing into a tree, is an example of an organismic system. The root metaphor for organicism is inquiring how living systems maintain adaptive balances between acting on the environment and being acted on and supported by the environment.”

this is something we keep missing.. if we want legit change need organism as fractal.. aka: only alive ness.. which any form of m\a\p kills..

5. From Thought-Shapers to Action-Shapers

The same issue of civilizational change through attending the forms of awareness is therefore explicitly but also pragmatically addressed by the works of Robert Hanna and Otto Paans, who introduce the very important concepts of Thought-Shapers and Action-Shaper

In conclusion, after we have reviewed civilizational change from the point of view of changing the forms of human consciousness and awareness, I want to briefly mention the political-strategic vision that we defend:

If any of these insights and proposals appeal to you, check out our Cosmo-Local Initiative, which is our own view of how technological change fits in the process of consciousness change

michel on cosmo localism.. voc – michel bauwens – cosmo localism.. et al

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michel bauwens ons

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