In this time of ever ascendant materialism, greed, and pathological narcissism, when the delusion of the disconnected dominant individual grows stronger, the contrary life-affirming stream of connection and respect is gaining strength even as it is suppressed, vilified, and criminalized. This stream, which we can call ‘awakening consciousness,’ is the motor of civilization. It moves in the direction of the ultimate recognition of interdependency and the need for cooperation. Some think of this stream as the altruism of the individual and recognize it as a successful evolutionary survival strategy—the group versus the individual. The truth is more complex: the stream is the necessity of balance, cooperation and sharing as inherent principles, behind which are the complex deep pleasures of love, validation, respect, and nurture. The stream of awakening consciousness is the essential mammalian evolutionary lineage, moving historically into ever larger, more interrelated, and integrated social formations. All basically sane humans (those not bludgeoned into revenge seeking, suffering from complex PTSD, aggressive reactions, or seeking dominance because of their individualistic delusion) all wish for a healthy and equitable distribution of civilization’s prospects for good lives. The cultural transcends biological evolution and morphs it in its own selections of who survives. Ever burrowing—enlarging and faltering—threatened with obliteration by bomb and ecocide, this stream amplifies as the tools for liberating consciousness spread, as freedom of mind and association erupts.
Psychedelics, the spiritual and consciousness: An evolving confluence in the cultural stream
