Raise your Consciousness

We see new things in terms of things we already understand. - Jon Haidt

Changing your mind about whether you should watch Black Swan or True Grit tonight is easy. Changing your mind about complex established beliefs is extremely difficult (imagine a devout Evangelical creationist trying to accept evolution). And typically, the longer the prior belief is held and accepted to be true, the more difficult changing your mind becomes. These tremendous changes in psychological perception by exploring the nature of our beliefs are sometimes referred to as "consciousness raisers," and tend to require extraordinary effort.

Flatland

You are a two-dimensional square that lives in Flatland. Your family members, friends, neighbors, are and have always been 2D geometric shapes. Your home, the bank, the post office, the cars, and everything else in Flatland is also 2D, measurable only by length and width. There is left, right, front, and back, but there is no up or down. A spaceship from another planet enters Flatland's atmosphere. One of the ship's passengers, a three-dimensional sphere, descends to Flatland. The 2D inhabitants see the Sphere only when he (or she) touches the ground, but even then he's seen only as a 2D circle. The Sphere approaches you:

"Hello" he says. 

     "Hi Circle" you respond. 

"Circle? But I'm a Sphere, I have three-dimensions, can't you see?" 

     "A Sphere? 3D? Are you mad? There is nothing other than two dimensions, everyone knows that!"

"So you really can't see? Here, allow me to show you." 

The Sphere grabs you by the hand and flies you up to the skies above. You look down for the first time in your life, stupefied and in utter shock, as you witness Flatland from the third dimension. You know that your consciousness has been raised and that nothing will ever be the same. The Sphere brings you back down and you attempt to convince your loved ones of the third dimension only to be met with confusion and pity. To your great dismay, you realize that words are meaningless to describe your experience.

This story is adapted from the book "Flatland," written in 1884 by Edwin Abbott.

The Truman Show

"We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented," is perhaps the most psychologically profound line from The Truman Show. Jim Carrey's character, Truman Burbank, begins to question his longest held beliefs about life and his place in the world. This requires a raise in consciousness. Towards the end of the film, Truman feels the need to physically depart from his reality by sailing away on a boat to the end of the ocean in order to understand it. Check out the following 2 minute clip of Truman's initial attempt at raising his own consciousness:

The Matrix
This film also highlights the importance of questioning the nature of your reality. In the clip below, the line to look out for is stated by Morpheus, "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." This is important. We cannot convince our brains with words and explanations of what's true and false. The brain must experience it, there is no other way. Even if you do get intuitive "nudges" to question the the nature of numerous beliefs you have been told about (such as the nature of happiness), you will not be able to truly understand, feel, and live that belief or other beliefs unless you experience them personally first. You have to pay to play. Or in the words of Morpheus, "I can only show you the door. You are the one that has to walk through it."

Departure

The previous 3 examples do not presume to deal with reality. It may be a mistake to assume that they do. They are simply metaphors for consciousness-raising. And what better way to convey the invisible workings of the mind than through metaphors we can tangibly relate to? One common theme in these metaphors is that the main character had to depart his current reality in order to raise his consciousness.

This provides us with insight into our own lives. If we find the need to question a long-held belief, we must depart from it and observe it objectively. The result will either be to embrace the belief more fully because you find it to be true, or to abandon it because you find it to be false. Though books, friends, movies, my posts, and even your own thoughts may help you grasp certain beliefs conceptually, they will not allow you to raise your consciousness - or, put even more intuitively, to "feel" those beliefs.

To raise your consciousness about (Western) society, pack your bag and travel to Asia, Africa, or South America. To raise your consciousness about human thought and emotion, start meditating. To raise your consciousness about what truly matters in life, let everything go. You can't just read about it. To truly understand it, you have to do it. Keep in mind however, that being conditioned to expect fast and tangible results does not facilitate these undertakings.

It's difficult, no doubt about it. But as the saying goes, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.