According to Wikipedia, a collective consciousness is the set of shared beliefs, ideas and moral attitudes, which operate as a unifying force within society. We live within this shared belief, a bubble from the day we are born. 

Picture this: The vast ocean, you are a fish swimming serenely in warm or cool waters. Thriving near coastlines or in the deep. The ocean is part of the shared beliefs of your species. A collective consciousness or knowing that your species only survives and knows of “water”. Anything beyond this concept is ungraspable. 

Then one day it occurs to one fish to explore beyond the vastness of the sea. Survival was at stake. Imagine the fear this fish felt. Soon after the first tetrapod was born out of necessity, evolution and survival.

Humans behave in a similar fashion. We are birthed into a collective consciousness compromising of a set of guidelines established by generations before us. This bubble contains the blueprint of how we are expected to behave and follow a particular structure regarding race, religion, social status and so many other moral attitudes. 

These kind of constrains are at the heart of so many worldly clashes, dating from the birth of humanity to the rise of society as we know it. 

The question is why and yet the answer is simple: Let’s relate back to the fish. If the collective consciousness had remained the same there would have been no evolution, progress and possibly survival. Their shared belief stated that “only” water was the valid and correct belief. 
But what of the land animals? The fish would have purposely or inadvertently shut them out, accusing them of being incorrect and crazy on all levels. Poor land animals wouldn’t have had a chance to show the fish how beautiful and plentiful land is.

Ask yourself this: When someone whose beliefs do not align with yours, yet they continuously do well for his or her family, community and society as a whole, does the quality of that human being change by their shared belief in faith or political view? Does it make them lesser of a human being? These are some of the hard questions we should be asking ourselves before we become that reluctant fish. Unwilling to educate oneself on existing social consciousness’s that are very much a part of the world and us.  

Like the fish, venturing out of the water and onto land was fearful. It probably took many tries until it realized the process was never difficult. When society as a whole begins to transform their collective views of others transformation on a wordily level commences. Tolerance and empathy for those who are different from us is embraced rather than frowned upon. 

I leave you with one simple request/exercise: set out to empower yourself with knowledge of a different culture, religion or political view. Empty your knowledge cup of any preconceived ideas your collective consciousness has filled it with. You will be surprised to find many things and one of those is the true knowing that underneath all the forms of a collective consciousness we are simply a human being. 

Have a question regarding this article or maybe you’d like to suggest a topic? Write to me at: m_arrieta@yahoo.com. Next article we will talk about Why the Secret is in the Heart. 

Marcela Arrieta is an alternative modality practitioner with over five years of experience in this field. She is also an entrepreneur who resides in Downey.