Week of October 25 2009: Are We Free or Imprisoned?

Albert Einstein said,

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

The conflict of humanity, I think, is in meeting our individual needs while maintaining a compassionate posture for the world around us.  If Albert Einstein was right, and I agree with him, then meeting our needs as an individual is a prison we live in unless we realize that our individual needs include the needs of all sentient beings. 

There is a social consciousness, a social responsibility, to reach out to those in parts of the world so remote, we know nothing of their culture.  But we rob their land of trees, fill their air with pollutants, infect the collective consciousness with negativity.  We do reach out with each thought that fills our mind, not only to those directly affected by our emanation, but out into the vast expanse of the universe. 

Einstein calls our understanding of separateness an optical delusion.  Einstein was far more intelligent than I so I take his words seriously.   But as with all things, I feel compelled to test out theories to determine for myself
whether or not they hold true for me. 

I first learned about the concept of collective consciousness when I was in my early twenties many moons ago.  While I hold spiritual convictions of divine wisdom and beliefs about what happens after death, it seems to me this notion of collective consciousness is religious neutral.  Scientists have sought to experiment with the power of the mind and have discovered, as Gregg Braden eloquently discusses in "The Spontaneous Healing of Belief" that human consciousness influences quantum energy and that "[t]he results of our beliefs surround us as our everyday experience." 

We have the power to influence the world we live in by freeing ourselves from the prison that our optical delusion has created by widening our circle of compassion.  In this way, as more and more of us accept that basic understanding, we impact the collective consciousness in a positive way and change the tides so to speak. 

I think this is what Nostradamus was referring to in his predictions for 2012.  He lets us know we have the power to change our destiny by changing our attitudes, our beliefs, our understandings of the universe and how we fit.  Our power is the power to gather our compassion and send it forth in great quantities so that it can reach those in need.  And in so doing, our individual needs are met.