Don Elefante

“The greatest good for the greatest number.” That maxim plays a major role in shaping the social landscape. First, some group decides what is “good” for us. Then the group employs emotional, cultural, hypnotic, legal, military, economic, or political means to impose its brand of good on others until it starts to “seem right.” I believe that’s the “social consciousness” at work, or at least one leg of it. How many legs are there?

I had been thinking about that question at a spiritual retreat earlier this year when I overheard a conversation addressing how hard it is to pin down the meaning of social consciousness. Aha! I wasn’t the only one wondering about it — and that bothered me. As spiritual adventurers, what might we be missing by not having a way to pin it down? How deeply does the social consciousness embed its hooks into its hosts? What might be the spiritual impacts of overlooking its subtle influences?

So, on the long drive home, I asked myself how I would define social consciousness if I were put on the spot. This is what I got: It is that branch of consciousness that seeks to limit an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to tribal norms and expectations. Tribes can be any size.

That word picture felt right as it arose, but curiosity still got the best of me. When I arrived home, I had to query the Internet to seek an "official" definition for social consciousness. I was surprised to find no obvious authority — unless one treats Wikipedia as an authority. Merriam-Webster and Britannica were silent. Yet, I did find a variety of academic discussions and opinions that didn't help much to remove the term’s fuzzy or abstract quality. But that’s not unusual. Plenty of words and terms in our language get fuzzy or fall apart as soon as you shine some light on them. They need more support to keep them in focus. I think “social consciousness” is one such term. I often wonder how much communication is really taking place when people pull phrases like "social consciousness" from their holsters and turn them loose on each other.

So, I've been casually asking people what they think the social consciousness is. It’s helping me with a personal project. The responses have varied widely, but folks have been conveying this general sense to me: "The social consciousness — I know it when I see it." Well, maybe.

I’m sure of one thing: the effects of the social consciousness on our spiritual awakening are palpable and unmistakable. There's nothing fuzzy about them. And the effects matter much more than defining what is creating them. They reach down to our core. As spiritual beings, we can't just ignore their presence forever because our spiritual freedom is at stake.

I now think that that what we know about the social consciousness rides more on the wings of feeling than on the wings of intellect. That’s easy to see, for example, when the familiar strategy, “we need to do it for our children,” is unleashed. So, if you’re feeling the presence of the social consciousness more than intellectualizing it, how are you feeling it? Does it just amount to a collection of pigeonholed experiences for you, or is it something more that that? What is your picture of it? Do you consciously respond to it, and if so, how?

I think it's safe to say that the social consciousness is both a stabilizing and limiting force that serves its authoring "tribes" in many useful ways. After all, we need it to maintain enough social order to keep the barbarians from breaking down our doors. Not having to worry about physical survival every minute makes room for spiritual thought and practice. But exactly how the limits of social consciousness are applied — or how we respond to those limits as individuals seeking spiritual freedom — now that's something that bears exploring.

For example, some feel the pressures of social consciousness build within them in the form of the internal (or infernal) question, "What will people think?" Others feel that the pressures for social equality promote mediocrity and handcuff individual creativity. This goes against the spiritual grain because equality is not our lot in this universe and never has been. Is it any wonder that the social consciousness is sometimes called the great leveler or great equalizer?

Therefore, I'm launching this topic to put the social consciousness under an SDP-community spotlight. This is a good place to assess it and report how it has been affecting our lives. I'm confident there is spiritual gold to be mined here.

If you want to take part in the mining, here are a few other things you might think about to help get you launched. What have you been learning about the social consciousness that has affected your life? Your level of spiritual freedom? What have been your awakenings? What have you learned about the spiritual give-and-take required for living within various tribes, especially at the same time? And when the social consciousness begs your attention, how do you keep your head in heaven and your feet on the ground? Inquiring minds want to know!

The more we can keep this discussion out of the philosophical or pedantic realms, and instead discuss personal experiences and awakenings, the more valuable it will be for everyone. However, I'm sure there are other, practical observations you might want to share that will also stimulate this discussion.

Do you have anything to report?