Consciousness: our greatest untapped resource (paraphrasing Peter Russell)

As promised in a recent post summarizing key takeaways from Lohas 11, I’m going to try to paraphrase a talk by author, philosopher and futurist Peter Russell called “Consciousness: The Next Frontier”. The talk was a good primer for consciousness Neanderthals like me.

Mr. Russell defines consciousness as “the essence of the mind” and calls it “our greatest untapped resource”, as important as “space, robotics, nano and biotech” for “everything we do springs from the mind.”

His central point is that humans ultimately care most about how we actually feel, and he uses a quote from the Dalai Lama to illustrate: “In the final analysis, the hope of every person is peace of mind”.

To achieve peace of mind it is necessary to raise our level of consciousness to “escape from the hum-drum of daily experience” into an easier, more fluid state, one with a “clearer, more relaxed mind”. (Health and fitness, culture and food are all what he calls “doors to consciousness”.)

Elevating one’s consciousness requires letting go of a short-sighted belief system that perpetuates a rampant and ultimately unsatisfying consumption culture. Mr. Russell rightly asserts that “the quality of consumption does not lead to improved quality of life”.

More and more Westerners, growing weary of a turbo-charged consumer culture and faced with a looming, self-inflicted global warming crisis, are starting to look inward for answers, leading to an “acceleration of a movement towards self-awakening” in which “we work with our minds to free ourselves from belief systems that keep us trapped.”

Mr. Russell refers to this acceleration towards self-actualization as a “global spiritual renaissance”, one fuelled by millions of empowered people participating in a “collective learning system” via billions of self-reinforcing daily iterations.

And none of this comes too soon. “It’s essential that this change happen” he says, to counter our “very limited, self-centered perspective”, one which inevitably trades our long-term social/planetary interest for short-term, selfish gain.

Status quo through Mr. Russell’s eyes quite plausibly entails imminent human failure.

In closing, Mr. Russell highlights the important role of “wisdom of the spirit” in helping millions of humans make the transition towards a healthier, liberating, elevated consciousness.

Only then, he suggests, will we have the “discernment” required to recognize that going green is just one part of a larger challenge that we as humans must overcome.

I think he’s on to something.