Let’s further our exploration of consciousness, this time focusing in on how to better engage it. How do we begin to befriend the dynamic lens through which we see the world when we are looking through it all the time? How can we get any real perspective on consciousness when we are dependent upon it […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part VI: The Mysterious Origins of Conscious Self-Awareness
We began this series on consciousness and creativity by pondering their mysterious beginnings some several hundred thousand years ago. Take a moment to put yourself in that unknown creature’s shoes. Imagine what it would have been like to go to sleep one evening with only your senses and instincts to guide you and wake up […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part V: The Portals of Body, Senses, Emotions, and Thoughts
The balance between the active and passive aspects of our waking consciousness and its effects on our creativity brings up another important point: consciousness is linked to all aspects of our being—our physical bodies, our five senses, our emotions, and to our thoughts—but cannot be fully reduced to any one of these things. Still, we […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part IV: Tweaking Waking Consciousness to Suit Our Creative Needs
Taking a closer look at our waking consciousness, the type of consciousness we use to maneuver the manifest world around us, we notice that we are constantly tweaking it to meet our various needs. In the same way a photographer is continuously playing with light to capture the essence of her subject matter, we are […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part III: The Daily Cycle of Consciousness
The challenge of “seeing” consciousness Since consciousness is so all encompassing, it is challenging to see. Like the water surrounding a fish deep in the open ocean, it is hard to gain perspective on its vastness and all pervasive nature. But in order to foster our creative abilities, it is essential that we attempt to […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part II: The Most Defining Aspect of the Human Organism
Conscious self-awareness is the key to creativity Consciousness, specifically conscious self-awareness, is perhaps the single most exciting aspect of our capacities as human beings. More than any of our other qualities, our conscious self-awareness—our awareness of being aware—adds an entire universe to our experience, granting us a cognitive freedom that was unheard of anywhere in […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part I: The Dawn of Conscious Self-Awareness
The mysterious origins of conscious self-awareness It’s early morning in a wide, steeped river valley, some several hundred thousand years ago. Before nightfall, someone or something wedged its way into a crevice in a rock outcropping near the summit, instinctively settling there for a bit of warmth and protection, sleeping fitfully during the long, cold […]
Every Tree is a Doorway
The oak tree sits on the hillside, a robust Coast Live Oak thriving in its homeland, its gnarled trunk pushing up from the terraced slope, pushing first towards the west and the Golden Gate, then arching back to the east and the summit of the Berkeley Hills, its four main branches spiraling around themselves like […]