Breakthroughs in human consciousness possible

By Steve Hammons

Right now, all of us are experiencing human consciousness. It is our thinking, feeling and perceptions. It involves us as individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities and nations.

Some people seem to feel that we may be on the verge of breakthroughs of some kind when it comes to human consciousness – a paradigm shift or an emerging new insight.

As we take a look at the world around us, one view about human consciousness is that American society and human culture worldwide seem to be developing in ways that are promising, despite serious problems of various kinds.

At the heart of the situation are human behavior and consciousness, which involve the many aspects of human nature and human societies.

BLENDING AND MERGING

How might a breakthrough or interesting new aspects of human consciousness emerge? What can we do to help the process along?

Research and speculation about consciousness and awareness include many concepts and approaches involving diverse fields. Blending and merging the many factors of our current understanding about consciousness might create a synergy that could be helpful.

Consciousness plays a key part in areas from education to psychology, from scientific research to communication media, from public safety to health care, from economic development to international relations and just about everything in between.

When we take a look at consciousness, it seems that some views and approaches are on the more conventional side and other perspectives may be innovative and outside the box.

We can look at the brain and body to see how they function. Exploring social interactions is another way to look at human psychology and behavior. Our relationship with our physical environment is also a factor to consider.

Some people take a spiritual or metaphysical angle when examining human awareness. Unusual and mysterious phenomena are also areas of interest. Concepts about other dimensions and a "multiverse," near-death experiences (NDEs), extrasensory perception (ESP) and unidentified flying objects (UFOs) spark curiosity.

From many conventional and unconventional viewpoints, a good amount of knowledge has been acquired. Still, there is much that most of us do not fully understand.

MANY PATHS

We can also ask useful questions: What factors affect consciousness? Is there more to it than we generally believe? Does it operate in ways that we fully understand? Can we all learn more about it and help it work for us as individuals and groups?

Using the more conventional as well as leading-edge paths to explore these questions might both yield helpful results.

The biology of the brain, body and neurological system is certainly an important part of human consciousness. Medical researchers are also looking at the influences of our genetics and DNA which seem to promise interesting findings. Mainstream theories in education, psychology, sociology, anthropology and other social sciences also have much to offer.

Pioneering research into unusual and unexplained phenomena, anomalous cognition, enhanced human perception and other unconventional areas of study probably can shed light on the situation as well.

Can the human race make the most of our current understanding and take this knowledge to the next level, whatever that might look like? It might be that this is inevitable and is part of the natural development of humanity.

We might be flowing toward this outcome as if on a river or stream where the waters may be calm or turbulent, but do eventually reach their destination.