The Decline of America Part II: The Crisis in Consciousness

"It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a sick society." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

The world is more connected today than ever but it is also more fragmented. People around the planet have an incredible capacity for connectivity. However we form figurative islands that separate and categorize, sharpen ideology and dichotomy; and thus we create more stark divisions of financial, social, political and religious groups, which often evolve into interpersonal and international conflicts.

As I touched upon in The Decline of America Part I: What Consumes the Consumers?, humans have a natural desire to be in progression, to do more with less.

But once the progression reaches and passes the level of "enough," the utility of these physical items begins to diminish. In different words, needs shift to wants; more is not needed to fulfill basic needs although more is still desired; the progression continues but silently evolves into regression; it is the diminishing marginal utility of wealth. 

Rather than say we consume ourselves, it may be a more accurate statement to say that the outer world that mankind has created tends to regress rather than progress at some point. To be prudent, we may assume this point of regression has ocurred or is ocurring now. A prime example is at the center of the time in which we now live, The Information Age. Consider this quote, which I have referenced several times here on TFP:

  "... in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes.  What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.  Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." ~ Herbert Simon

Our outer-world progression is evolving into an inner-world regression; civilization is at the point where more begins to turn into less. As Jiddu Krishnamurti described in the 1970's, at the same time Herbert Simon was making his points about information consumption and bounded rationality, we have entered a crisis in consciousness.

As the outer world is mastered the inner world fails. When it is no longer necessary to search for, find and consume one's own information, it is the information (and the technology that produces it) that consumes the attention of the individual; and because one's attention is the essence of one's mind and the mind is the gateway to spirit and authenticity, the individual'ls mind is thus consumed and spirit fades. 

Individuals are what make up the social organism, the civilization. In metaphorical terms, the light, the essence, the authenticity of the individual fades without attention, without awareness; and thus the light of the world fades.

"What you are aware of you are in control of; what you are not aware of is in control of you. You are always a slave to what you are not aware of. When you’re aware of it, you’re free from it. It’s there, but you’re not affected by it. You’re not controlled by it; you’re not enslaved by it." ~ Anthony De Mello, Awareness

But these are not deterministic, pessimistic observations. And they are certainly not unique to America. It is simply the job of the philosopher to provoke critical thinking, to wake people up. Stay tuned...

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Related: The Decline of America Part I: What Consumes the Consumers?

Comments

[Andrew]

A lot to consider there Kent.
We need to deepen our perception of both the universe and our fellow members of society, instead of persisting to manipulate each other and our ecosystem with materialism and exploitation. In this information rich world reality is perceived in a limited, material way by individuals imagining themselves to be merely separate, independent beings, and we see only what they expect to see. This constant bombardment of information causes this awareness to be lost.
Looking forward to the book.

[Charles Faulkner]

I have before me a book of postcards of "People and Possessions." The wealthier the people pictured, the more things they have. I recall Ivan Illich talking about the pervasive human perception of scarcity in the 1970s as did Bucky Fuller for that matter. Both thought, and wrote, that this needed to be addressed first.

Next, may I suggest that there is a current confusion between information and difference. This is understandable given the fundamental episodic way we take in experience. Each episode gets sorted as new. However, lots of social media episodes, to take but one example, do not necessarily add up to more information. At Piaget's developmental Concrete Operations these are taken to be different information units. Most people cannot see the difference between a definition (in this case, of information) and observation ("there is nothing new here") – though Krishnamurti and Simon were certainly among them.

[Kent Thune]

Interesting, Charles. It sounds like second point may align with aspects of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development, which is adapted from Piaget's teachings.

According to Kohlberg, most people do not reach the higher stages of development, which he calls "Post-conventional," where they have a broad worldview.

Most people do not move beyond the Conventional stage, which is marked by blind herd behavior and lack of authenticity. This would also include the inability to understand that there really is no "new" behavior, just the same conventional, sheepish behavior that prevents people from having a clear, healthy perception of reality.

Thanks for adding to the conversation...

Kent

[Charles Faulkner]

Following up -
Just found out this is coming out soon: "Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much" by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir.

Two points on developmental theories of moral development.

First, moral development can be operationalized in terms of available POVs and content/context awareness and flexibility with them. We all start out with a situated personal point of view on what is right in front of us, and expand on these dimensions to some degree though not reliably.

Second, it is now known that the advanced mental and emotional developmental levels are only achieved in areas of expertise with formal educational assistance, and even then regresses to lower levels under strong emotions – positive and negative. This means so-called moral development is only achieved in limited areas of life and even then is easily overwhelmed – which I think is what we pretty much see around us.

This is not to sound defeatist. This is the way of the world, and each individual must find his/her way. Nassim Taleb addresses this same topic from another perspective in his book Antifragile and offers a stoic prescription.

[Kent Thune]

Thanks again, Charles. To follow your comment, I do see that each individual must "find his/her way" because theories and systems are too abstract for application at the individual level.

Yet theories, systems, concepts and language are necessary to deliver some kind of framework for that "educational assistance" you mention.

This is why I believe the abstract is important; however it is also important to stress that each individual make the abstract into concrete. In different words, it is necessary for mastery of life to enter the conventional stage, to learn how the world works, and then pass into post-conventional, to "unlearn," if you will.

In my forthcoming book I simplify this by demonstrating how people become "covered" by outside influences. At some point in life, one must "uncover" these influences to find themselves and live an authentic existence.

Again, the ideas are abstract but I remind readers to transform the abstract into concrete.

I have not read any Taleb but I am familiar with his ideas through a few of my philosophical friends.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought." ~ Basho

[Charles Faulkner]

All ideas are abstract in that they are generalizations of specific instantiations. And there are degrees of abstraction. As researchers into expertise have noted, expertise is the accumulation of (50K+) distinctions within an overarching conceptual framework – that changes from one that is received (conventional) to one discerned by expert. Simultaneously, more and more sensory and categorical distinctions are added while encompassed by increasingly abstract conceptual frameworks.

So, there is the unlearning of the conventional. As well as learning how to de-categorize, observe, and re-categorize. And these are level 5 skills – post Formal Operations – that come after years of study and guidance as well as individual effort and hands on experience.