At the level of reflection, you have a being who can evolve beyond their physical circumstances, who can understand the world and other species in it well enough that they can more or less shape how natural reality works for them.

Can we choose not to evolve? We can choose not to evolve, or evolve in ways that are not strictly “necessary.” They say necessity is the mother of invention, but honestly, simple whim can lead to change as well, fads, things like that.

Now this human level would seem to be the end of the line enlightenment wise, yes? Where can we go from there?

Is this level an integration of them all as well, or might that be another level? Each stage integrates all stages that came before it, and I offer that part of the reason we seem to be languishing at this stage is we don’t fully realize what that integral structure means.

At the stage of reflective consciousness, the previous stages have not stopped their working. So though we entertain the notion that the contemplative or reflective stage of consciousness is beyond the influence of the “lower” stages, it is not. Our abstract thoughts are only really adaptions of so called lower emotions and instincts, given a new conceptual paint job and filed and organized in any of a variety of complex ways, but there is little real ownership of the contents of that reflective mind.

I see that, yes, and in science, they’re discovering that more with studies on what really motivates human behaviour. Yes, behavioural neuroscience and its related disciplines, to the point that since there is little personal ownership, there are those who are seeking to “manage” it for you. Sort of like people complaining that foreign powers control all the business in their country. No hostility or evil plot is necessary for that to happen. The locals are more than willing to sell.

So sometimes our actions and behaviour are managed by our lower emotions? Or managed by what’s called “social engineering.” This is why they have phrases like “sex sells.”

A step beyond the reflective self would be the realization of emergent order in “intelligence.” The flows of information do not behave strictly according to their single case basis. Sex isn’t just about sex. Money isn’t just about money. There are patterns that emerge in the greater context of all these cultural concerns, a sort of cultural “gene pool” if that makes sense. They have even established this in neuroscience research. Without any conscious effort on your part to put specific concepts together, the brain links them anyway, and these artefacts of the brains higher functions go on to motivate even more complex human behaviour.

It’s sort of like the evolutionary process coming full circle. We are in a cultural primordial ooze, and so far there are very few motile life forms in this muck, those who are consciously aware of the artefacts and see the world from that frame of reference, but we can benefit from our most primal instincts in navigating all this.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~