Humanity Is Sloppily, Awkwardly Lumbering Towards Consciousness

By Caitlin JOHNSTONE

Humanity is ending up being more mindful.

It is. This is not a popular thing to state in the more cynical and downhearted corners of the web, however it holds true.

I’m not describing anything “out there” or “spiritual” when I make this assertion. I’m talking about a mundane truth that is quickly proven by casual observation, if you just look past all the headlines and narrative chatter to see the big picture as a whole.

Human beings are becoming a growing number of familiar with what’s going on, both in our world and in ourselves, as our capability to network and share details with each other ends up being higher and greater. Since of the ubiquitousness of mobile phones and social networks, things like cops crueltyand the abuse of Palestiniansare no longer considered as mere verbal assertions made by their victims however as concrete realities which should be resolved. The most viral posts of the day on apps like Twitter, Reddit and TikTok are routinely simply individuals making relatable observations about their feelings and psychological tendencies and what it resembles to be human.

These things matter. Seeing into each other and around our world all the time like this, in such a way we never could before the internet, can’t help however change things. It’s a constant rule throughout history that every positive change in human behavior has been preceded by a growth of awareness, whether it’s ending up being jointly mindful of the injustices of racial discrimination or individually conscious of the motives and consequences of our self-destructive habits. Increasing awareness is constantly a motion towards health.

And a movement toward health definitely is what’s been happening. The young today are the kindest, most sensitive and most awake generation that has ever lived, no matter what the bitter old farts say about them. My kids are having discussions with their buddies that are greatly deeper and more tuned-in than I was having with my own good friends at their age. The independent material that people are creating without the permission of the cultural filters in New York and Hollywood can take your breath away every day if you know where to look, while the films from the eighties which when enthralled us are today essentially unwatchable due to the fact that of how shallow and artless they are compared to what we’re now used to seeing.

It’s taking place in a strange, sloppy, uncomfortable way, like a baby discovering to stroll, but it is clearly occurring. It’s occurring through an internet whose origins are rooted firmly in the US war device, it’s happening through billionaire-owned social media platforms with substantial ties to powerful federal governments, it’s occurring through technologies that are the fruits of all the most exploitative tendencies of global capitalism, however it’s happening.

It’s taking place in spite of all the very best efforts of the corporate powers who control the mass mediaand the federal government companies which work together with them in doing so. It’s happening in spite of all the mountains of federal government secrecywhich the powerful use to keep the public from becoming conscious of what they depend on. It’s happening in spite of a whole globe-spanning empire having a beneficial interest in the general public notending up being conscious of the realities of their world and doing everything they can to keep things distorted and hidden. It’s taking place against all odds, however it’s occurring anyway.

This is very odd, and this is where it doesstart to look a little “out there”. We understand that there are forces in our world which have a vested interest in keeping things hidden and unconscious, yet the light of consciousness keeps expanding. These powerful forces need to be able to prevent this, but they aren’t. Even their own infrastructure is utilized to broaden public awareness of their awful habits. The light of awareness is creeping quicker and much faster toward them, along wires they themselves set out. This indicates this motion is occurring in a way they do not comprehend, which it is much, much larger than they are.

Due to the fact that of the web, humankind has actually most likely altered more in the last 25 years than it carried out in the previous 2500. Practically overnight, we transformed into a totally brand-new types. A types whose brains are networked in genuine time around the world to a progressively increasing variety of other brains in a gradually increasing variety of methods with a steadily increasing amount of intimacy. Outwardly a private human appearances quite like an individual human looked prior to the internet, however as a cumulative we’re mentally a totally different kind of animal than we used to be.

The effective individuals who’ve been poisoning our world with ecocide, injustice, exploitation and war plainly think they’ll be able to ride this extreme change and stay in power with the status quo completely undamaged; if they didn’t think this the web would’ve been shut down prior to it even got off the ground. But I don’t see how they can remain in control of this headlong plunge into quickly expanding consciousness we’re experiencing; harnessing the forces that are at play here would be like trying to surf on a tsunami, like attempting to hang move through a twister.

There are elements of humankind which the CIA does not understand, which the plutocrats can’t control, which the manipulators can’t anticipate. Something is brewing here, and we’re nearly at the boiling point. I do not understand if it will be enough to save us from all the existential obstacles our species deals with in the near future; I feel in one’s bones that we are quickly ending up being a mindful species, and consciousness and dysfunction can not exist together. We will not require to wait long to discover which one triumphes.

caityjohnstone.medium.com

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