Problems in Studying Collective Consciousness Just how Collective is Collective Consciousness? I had read up on Cross Cultural Psychology and its conflict with Cultural Psychology (the war between those who recognize Collectivity versus the strict materialists who insist upon an entirely isolated individuality for every soul) and all the studies are almost entirely bound up in Behavior. Well, what does Behavior have to do with Spirituality these days? The problem with Behavior is that it may be opposed to the Inner Spiritual Impulses. Behavior may be dysfunctional or neurotic. But the trend in Psychology is to simply itemize behaviors and endorse those Behaviors that have large followings – if enough people participate in a certain Act, it becomes Normal only because it has become Popular. And remember how Society works – “To get along one has to go along”. Behaviors reinforced by the positive loop of Social Conformity. So it is that the exterior Culture can exert a very powerful influence against any inner collectivity in spirituality. Remember that the domain of Collective Spirituality only becomes apparent during dreaming, during deep meditation trances, and within psychotic delusions. Well, we know that most people are dismissive of their dreams, and that many people don’t remember their dreams at all. Most people never achieve any deep state of meditation. And the vast majority of people will never have a psychotic delusion. With these people Culture, Societal Influences, Peer Pressures and Family Dynamics will have more effect on Behavior than any Inner Spiritual Impulse. Yes, one might suppose that if ones Behavior is totally at variance with one’s Inner Spirituality, that there will be some conflict, some resistance. But in this Day and Age we could probably expect the person to simply pop an Anti-Depressant, have a strong cup of coffee and march on in the Paths of Materialistic Glory. Several decades ago it would have been a drink and cigarette… and a cup of coffee. What needs to be done is that Cross Cultural Psychotic Experiences should be studied. Dreams too, but my experience there is that Dreamers, because of some popular fads in Lucid Dreaming, and the wide availability of Dream Literature, well, these dreamers are suspect to be prone to a great deal of exaggeration, or even absolute lying, as there is simply too much awareness of a difference between ordinary dreams and really cool neat dreams. Psychotic Episodes may present more honestly than Dream Questionnaires. But of course Dreaming is more prevalent. Maybe Dreamers could be interviewed while some kind of Lie Detection can be applied to standardize the information received. Once we know what the Collective Spiritual Impulse is trying to tell us, then we will be able to recognize exactly to what extent that the various Cultures, particularly Globalized Western Culture, go toward suppressing this Spirituality. What makes me believe there has been some Suppression? Well, many Societies once had distinct Spiritual Components, where Spiritual Impulses arose and were not substantially modified because of social, economic or cultural demands and conflicts. Such Spirituality was allowed to focus itself and intensify. And we had documented Miracles and Saints from all that. Nurtured and gathered Spirituality had some actual Power. But the Forces of Western Materialism has all around the World largely suppressed these Zones of Spiritual freedoms and liberties. If we had a better picture of the Spirituality that was being suppressed, we would have a better idea of how much we have been victimized and damaged by what sees itself only as a kind of benevolent Skepticism (while it ridicules, reduces and even ruins every career which doesn’t pass its test of Skeptical Purity). The greatest obstacle might be from the Scientific Community and its reluctance to examine any hypothesis not based on the severest orthodox notions of materialism… that all human thought and behavior relates purely mechanically, and while almost every dream tells us that we each know more than we had ever officially learned, heard, or seen; still, proper Scientific Doctrine demands a material connection for everything. Even the suggestion of a Spiritual Undercurrent will have the whole business tossed out as Prema Facia False… False on its Very Face – “we don’t even have to look at it since our Pure Doctrines already tell us that it cannot be True” (a Study of a man in India who hasn’t eaten in years was tossed out, without even being read, only because its conclusions and not its process violated Acceptable Scientific Doctrine). Gone are the days of going where the Facts lead, if they lead away from Cherished Pet Materialistic Beliefs. Science has come full circle and now Francis Bacon and even perhaps Galileo would probably be surprised that the Science of simple observation and recording data, Empiricism, is being rejected for the sake of a New Orthodoxy in Belief Systems, this time Materialism. Putting on Blinders has not become a good thing simply because they look in the Other Direction now.
The first and foremost problem with studying collective consciousness is in defining what exactly it is and then showing it actually exists. Once that is done, studying it is no more difficult than studying anything else. The reason you are whining about the "scientific community" is because you haven't yet succeeded in this first task and they rightly dismiss anything without this basis as unsupportable speculation. When you have something actual, then you will have something that can be studied and verified.
