Pierre Teilhard de Chardin gives one of the better descriptions of systems biology I have encountered. His background in geology and paleontology ground his work and his Catholic perspective becomes something like a philosophical style. His Omega Point concept is a fundamental part of how I define the levels of structural scale that describe the (multi-) universe. Ever the devout priest, Teilhard equates the Omega Point with the Godhead, positions it Above, and feels pulled Heavenward. As an anatomically complex biological creature that was grown from the chemical cycles of minerals and gas, through single cell colonies and biofilms, and into a socially complex individual existing in a distinct set of cultures, I see it as unfolding outward. Like trees from seeds and us from zygotes. When we look beneath these different perspectives, we find Vladimir Vernadsky and his theory of planetary development. Perhaps because Vernadsky was an atheist, his 3 phase theory is derives from the ground up. Despite this fundamental difference, the priest and the atheist see the same natural world tending toward a more and more complex set of enfolded and interwoven connections between the physical stuff of the universe. Teilhard understood that the world of rocks and water was worked like clay into the biological world in which he lived and worshipped. He believed that the living world of leaves and flesh would ultimately produce a unity of collective knowledge and then we would truly connect with his god.
Teilhard accepted evolution as a mechanism. It was simply a pathway to the heavens and his god. Besides, there was some pretty solid evidence for it, so instead of cursing it, he took it as a gift. It would a great advance for humanity if more believers picked up on this way of thinking about evolution and the natural history of our home planet. Think about it. Teilhard believed in a god that had fashioned the process of evolution as a spiritual tool. That’s one powerful deity. Hard to imagine that guy getting testy about people greeting their friends and family by saying “Happy Holidays”, but I could be wrong. It’s not my place to preach to believers about the relative power of their gods. I appreciate Teilhard because he reassures me that logic is not mutually exclusive with belief in gods.
More than a few thinkers have equated the noosphere with the nervous system of the planet. CG Jung, took the concept a step or two further. Suggesting that awakening the planet, or god, to its own consciousness is, perhaps, the ultimate purpose of human consciousness. At least that’s what I get from his work and writing. I think it is clear that the “world wide web” and WiFi satellite cloud computers are the noosphere manifest as the de facto planetary mind. Such as it is. It is certainly not conscious. Recall Tay, the autonomous artificially intelligent bot that was converted to a Trumpkin within days of exposure to the collective knowledge of humanity? Our collective shadow is deep and unexamined. I humbly suggest we start to consider how to transform this situation into something more humane.
That sounds good, but how? Faced with big, seemingly intractable questions I recall the advice of a Chemical Engineering Professor who’s name I have long forgotten: “Start from first principles”. From my perspective, the first principles of consciousness are found in Tribal philosophies, Buddhism, and Carl Jung. To me, basically the same story told in different languages. If I may be so bold as to express the wealth of knowledge comprised by those pathways in minimalist terms, everything is both “good” and “evil”; light and dark; enlighted and shadow; conscious and unconscious. The work of self awareness is not to eliminate our shadow, but to transform its energy into the light of conscious thought and action. Such an endeavor is easy to write down, but not so easy to accomplish – even at the personal level, let alone for a global collective mind such as the electronic cloud that I equate with the noosphere. But, take heart. The Skeleton of Everything includes elements that amplify actions and intent across the organizational scales of the (multi) universe. Bioswitches, for lack of a better term. I assure you that we’ll be diving into those mechanisms in much greater detail as this thread unfolds. For the moment, let’s follow my forgotten Professor’s advice and recognize that the first principle of bioswitching is synergistic interaction between the parts of the switch. One person on their own cannot awaken the noosphere, but that does not mean that our individual conscienceness is impotent. It means that we need to interact with other conscience beings in positive ways that will provide the basis for amplifying our collective awareness to the planetary scale.
This little blog is my effort to do so, and I am not alone in this endeavor. Every one of us contributes to the collective conscious of our planet whether you are aware of it or not. It is not a choice to participate. If you exist within the biosphere of the Earth, you are part of it. The question is not whether you have a part in waking up the world, the question is how you participate. In the simplest terms, if you wish to amplify conscious, peaceful aspects to a global level, I suggest that you work to develop conscious, peaceful aspects in your individual selves. In fact, I do not think there is any other way to do it. No government, no court of law, no military, no scientific institution can impose a just, peaceful society on unconscious people. If you want to change the world, change yourself and interact with others that are moving in the same direction. A conscious planet, like revolution, begins at home.