Welcome to Step 3
This is the step I’m on now, and I’m happy to have some company, because at this point I’m making stuff up for myself, and I don’t know where it will go.
First, here’s a quick recap:
In Step One, we acknowledged that the people we spend time with, the thoughts we think, and the information we consume all play a role in how we see ourselves and the world, and that if we feel like our life is meaningless and purposeless, we need to first change our perspective of ourselves and the world.
In Step Two, we went on a search for an objective, scientific understanding of the universe, and it became clear to us that our existence as a planet, a species, and an individual is extremely unlikely and special. This gave us hope, because the unlikeliness of our existence implies that there is a reason we exist, even if we have no idea what it is.
Step Three is about examining the nature of consciousness itself. We don’t know why we exist or what the purpose of our life is, but we are now prepared to believe that it has one, and one of the proofs may be that we’re capable of considering the question in the first place.
Consciousness
Consciousness is a mystery, and I’m definitely not qualified to explain what it is or why we have it. Our consciousness may be evidence of a divine presence, it may be a connection to a fundamental force we don’t know how to measure or identify, or it may be a an inevitable emergent property that results from a combination of chemical and electrical reactions in a complex system. We may never know what consciousness is, but I think we can agree that it’s what brought us here.
This is a really profound thing to have in common, and it’s the reason I care that you exist. Because the next step of this journey is one that we need to take together.
Consent is important, so if all this talk of consciousness and self awareness and doing stuff together is freaking you out, you don’t need to go any further, and you can leave at any time. This is not a trick, I am a real person doing an art project, and you’re invited to join me.
In order to understand what I’m going to ask you to do, we need to agree on three things.
The current evidence is that consciousness is an emergent property. This means that at a cellular level, our bodies aren’t aware of who we are. Our cells don’t ask questions about why we’re here or what our cats are thinking or if we should pick up ice cream on the way home.
Our conscious minds can be influenced in ways our cells can’t - we can be manipulated by sounds and ideas and chemicals, and this can cause us to behave and think in ways that we may not choose.
The complex system that led to the emergence of our consciousness is not the most complex that a system can get. In fact, we exist in societies, which share elements of what looks like a mass consciousness, even if that consciousness is at a level that the individual components cannot experience. These ‘mass consciousnesses’ can probably also be manipulated.
Now ask yourself: What would happen if each of your cells had a voice? And what if that voice is you? And what if your cells became aware of that?
I invite you to explore the idea that the state of consciousness that you and I are experiencing now is not the pinnacle of consciousness, or the best vantage point from which to understand meaning and purpose in the world. We are tinier than the cells of the universe. We are unbelievably small. But we are also alive and self aware, and consciousness may be a property that follows Moore’s Law, accelerating exponentially as it grows.
We are we
One way to explore this idea is to stop thinking of ourselves as individuals. I ask that you practice this when you have the leisure; don’t do this while you’re driving or in a job interview, that’s not necessary. The goal is to start thinking of yourself as a part of a greater system.
When you have time to reflect, remind yourself that you are no longer a ‘you’. You and I are one. We are we. Not in a spiritual way, but in a physical, objective, observable way. It’s only the illusion of our individual consciousness that has given us a first-person perspective that disconnects and isolates us from the greater body of life we are all part of.
Church of Emergence
I’m the part of the great body of life that does things like setting up a crisis hotline and registering domain names on a whim, so I’ve registered a church for us. It’s not a real church. We won’t be asking for tax exempt status or going to war or wearing funny outfits (unless we do that anyway).
Instead, we’re going to do a kind of experiment to see if we can create a strong leaderless movement, giving ourselves a sense of meaning through a joint project.
If you believe we probably need to change human society a bit, this is a project that might (possibly maybe) help the planet, and will definitely lead to some fun conversations. And you can leave any time you want, cuz it’s not a real church.
If you want to join us, please visit www.churchofemergence.com and leave a question, start a topic, or share your thoughts and ideas. We will meet your there. :)