What is "conscious living"?

I decided to write while I'm still feeling motivated. After all, I can't predict how long it'll last! There is no easy way to explain what I mean either by the word "conscious" or the phrase "conscious living". A definition is easy but unhelpful. The word "conscious" obviously means something like "aware" or "self-aware". It is clearly related to words like "know", so that, to do something "consciously" is to do it "knowingly". As I wrote above, I don't regard this way of proceeding as vey helpful. It is more useful to "point" to examples of, say, "conscious children", or "conscious relationships" or "conscious parenting" and I attempted to do something along these lines in our August 2003 Journal (http://consciouslivingseminars.com). But in order to make my meaning clear I should perhaps point out that I have noticed over the years that virtually noone uses the word "conscious" or the phrase "conscious living" in precisely the sense in which I do.

The problem is, as always, that the normal, everyday reality that we live in, is so ABnormal, so crazy, so out of touch with everything human, that simple words - including words like "conscious" "intimate" or ("intimacy") or even such common words like "love", "truth" or "justice" - are no longer simple, because, we no longer use words to communicate (that is, to connect, to share information, meanings and experiences), but to dominate, to controll and to exploit oneanother. It begins long before we have acquired language, within the family setting; it is continued by the unconscionable conduct of the multi-billion dollar advertising aimed at children watching TV and, indeed, continues throughout our lives (preschool, school, the mass media, our employers, government propaganda, "science", advertising, what passes for politics...pretty well everywhere really). The result of this deliberately (as well as the unintentionally) dishonest use of words is an inability to be precise or to think clearly. In the modern world muddled thinking is the norm.

My own use of the phrase "conscious living" (and the word "conscious") is based on my understanding of human nature and the way it has been corrupted (See, for example, the "Philosophy" page of http://www.consciouslivingseminars.com ). My understanding is essentially that outlined by Rousseau in his second discourse (1755), though I obviously don't mean to imply that I agree with it in detail ("Discourse on the origins of inequality"; Volume 3 of "The collected writings of Rousseau", edited by Roger D Masters and Christopher Kelly, 1992). I obviously can not do justice, in a short piece, either to Rousseau's theory (which has been misrepresented, because misunderstood, by most writers) or to my own. What I can say in a few sentences amounts to this; Human beings have been on the planet, as human beings, for at least two (and possibly as long as seven) million years. The process that began 10,000 years ago (the so-called "Neolithic revolution", the gradual transformation resulting in the phenomena of "civilization" and urbanisation and, finally the twin phenomena of capitalism and industrialisation), represents merely the last half a percent of human history (it is revealing that we do not call the first 99.5% "history" at all, choosing, instead, the nonsensical word "prehistory"). What we choose to call "normal", therefore, the so-called "real world" or "reality" of so many commentators, is actually (statistically) abnormal, representing a tiny percent of our sojourn on the planet. Even a little over 200 years ago, it wasn't even the norm for many indigenous peoples, such as Australian Aborigines. What is "normal" and, if you like, "natural", is life in small extended family groups, people living in harmony with each other and with nature, exploiting neither oneanother or their environment (note the inappropriate use of phrases like "exploiting resources" used by ignorant anthropologists, archaeologists and historians). In cultures like that there is no stratification, that is, no division into classes, no rich or poor, powerful or powerless and no war (I am of course aware of the appalling junk science that misuses the evidence to come to a different conclusion - more of that another time) . In such cultures there is no need for "repression", "denial", "splitting", "dissociation", or disconnection (either from oneself or from others) because these protective strategies ("defence mechanisms") are only needed when pain or discomfort are intolerable. In such cultures, birth is a natural process, without hospitals, doctors, drugs or surgery. There is therefore no need for the baby to disconnect from unbearable pain. When pain is unavoidable, healthy self expression (namely, crying) is allowed and encouraged while EVERYTHING is done to comfort the crying baby. There is no painful vaccination or circumcision, no medication, no separation between mother and baby (See Jean Liedloff's "The continuum concept"). Aboriginal mothers practise "attachment parenting" without ever having heard of such a thing simply because it is coded into our species (as is the case with other primates and, indeed other mammals). Extended breastfeeding (three to five years) is the norm. Babies sleep with their parents and are carried on the parents' (especially the mothers') bodies. The mother is not isolated but is supported by a network of relatives - husband, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces - as well as others to whom she is unrelated. The result of all this are conscious babies and infants, conscious children, conscious parenting, conscious adults and conscious families - "conscious" because each human being experiences a connection with both self and other, without "repression" or "dissociation". People are connected to their life force, their passion, as well as to their inner wisdom, inner knowing and intuition. I believe, strongly, that they are also connected to that aspect of themselves for which "divine" is the best term. Such people actually know what is good for them without the need for external authorities such as the expert pronouncements of academics and other professionals in fields such as "science" and modern medicine (which does not mean that they receive no guidance from their elders).

Living in such a state is what I call "conscious living". It is obviously impossible for anyone living in the modern world to attain such a state or, if attained, to maintain it. Rather it is an ideal state to which we can aspire, a state which can also be called "total health". While we cannot be totally "conscious" in this sense, we can certainly grow and develop, so that we become a little more conscious each day (In my next post I intend to expand on what I mean, when I call this state an "ideal" - obviously I do not mean this literally).