The Crisis of Consciousness

[jajdude]

This is an expression I stole from one of my favorite thinkers, Mr. J. Krishnamurti. It sounds like philosophy, or abstract, but having gone into it a little, I'm not so sure. Is it real?

The usual approach from people wherever they may be, is to react against things they dislike in the society. At the same time there is a separation nearly everyone makes, the society as somehow different from himself. Thinking on this, it seems wrong somehow. How can you be different if you inherited all the things in that society? Then why are you battling with others in the society? Was your thought not given to you, as well as theirs?

Then there's something beyond all that foolishness. Where the real trouble is. Inside your own thinking. I know, this sounds like nonsense at first. But all the urges and desires, the ambitions, and the fears, all are inside you and in everybody else.

That's where the expression "the crisis of consciousness" comes from. It's pretty remarkable if you go into a little beyond the surface.

[MANICHAEAN]

The awareness behind consciousness is always interesting, and if you write, is an essential part of your armoury. But I find the realm of the subconscious even more fascinating, as you have to deal with such aspects as; dreams ( 50/50 consciousness?), spiritual feelings and intangibles such as instinct, trust and reasoning.

[AuntShecky]

If you were an empirical scientist, you would define consciousness as merely a connection between nerve endings and certain chemical interactions within the brain. Empiricism further postulates that once the individual's body dies, his consciousness dies with it.

Realists and/or naturalists would probably define consciousness as self-awareness, or the ability to think and respond appropriately to the immediate environment. If you are of a certain philosophical bent and thus assume a more holistic perspective on what it means to be human, consciousness defines the individual --the "self," "the psyche," "the soul." In that case, when the body dies, the spiritual aspect of the human being may not necessarily die along with it, continuing to exist, as it were, as some kind of spiritual entity.

Further refinements can be patched onto the concept of "consciousness," in the sense that it not only encompasses the interior life of the individual but also the prevailing society of which the individual is a member --the "collective consciousness." Some schools of psychology accept this phenomenon as part of the development of civilization. The notion that values, thoughts, and beliefs in the form of myth are imbedded in countless generations of sentient individuals was studied by Jung under the term he coined, the "collective unconsciousness."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_consciousness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

In order to answer the question, we'd need to look at more of the original quotation about the "crisis of consciousness" in order to know what kind of consciousness your author was talking about.


PS-- I've heard of a "crisis of conscience," which I realize is a whole different thing.

[jajdude]

I don't know where he used it in text, Aunt Shecky. It was a title for one of his videos on the youtube, I think. Then on another he speaks of there not really being such a thing as society. Deep thinker, for sure. Confusing too.

Ah found the youtube vid: "A crisis in our consciousness" -- an hour and 15 mins long.