Collective Consciousness

As you read this post, my words are your words. My thoughts are your thoughts.  If a congregation is reciting a prayer at the same time, that is a collective consciousness. When listening, you are temporarily giving up your ability to think your own thoughts so you can think mine.  With the use of language, on a temporary basis, the "and" gains hegemony.   Of course, the "or" is always pulling.   The "or" is saying, "I don't want to read this," "I don't want to hear this".   And eventually the "or" becomes dominant when you stop listening.  Thus, in communication there is a constant shifting of dominance from and dominance of the "and", to the dominance of the "or", for from "Andian mode" to "Orian" mode, a drifting into and out of the collective. Constant tension, constant streams into and out of these modes.  And a person who is never in Andian mode is isolated.  On the other hand, a creature of the mob, one who lacks the courage to think for oneself, is a coward, pathetic, and eventually becomes spent, needing a moment for himself.  Somehow obtaining a balance is what we should strive for, as I've said before.



Thus, there is no single overriding collective consciousness.  There may be several collective consciousnesses.     If everyone thought things lock',step and key, would there be one collective consciousness.  To an extent, reading a newspaper or published book is an act of participating in a collective consciousness, or sharing the thoughts or words others had at one time...

Diversity

When the "and" and "or" thrive, there are many "the"s and many "other"s.

The Parentheses

Parentheses are the ultimate embodiment of the and/or.  They group together those that are inside them, and simultaneously separate them from those on the outside. And they do this in the world of numbers and words.  Our bodies, our skins, are parentheses, separating our organs and ourselves from others, separating each living thing from every other living thing. And maybe cell membranes serve this function as well, separating that on the inside from that which is outside it.   But it seems like parentheses, like the "and" and the "or", underlie everything.  Like the "and" and the "or", they underlie all reality.  And as the perfect fusion of the "and" and the "or", parentheses are God.

Borders are holy.