Monday, January 08, 2007

In praise of remaining Conscious

I don't know if you have noticed but there is a tremendous peer pressure to become unconscious.

As soon as people stop working at their paid employment, they tend to indulge in activities designed to lower the threshold of conscious thought. This can involve indulgence in alcohol, drugs or mindless activity of various sorts.

I have a theory concerning this. Most people are forced to concentrate and 'focus' at work these days. Very often the object of this 'focus' is not intrinsically interesting. It is just a matter of concentrating attention on matters which are vital to the business.

This produces a build up of mental pressure. There is a need to release this pressure and so people make for the bar or stare at the TV, anything to stop concentrating and feel human again.

I know that it is tempting to fall into this cycle but I would urge people not to do so. By using your free time to 'switch off'' in preparation for 'switching on' again, you are sacrificing your personal autonomy. You are effectively using your own free time to prepare for the time when you are not free.

The trick is to use your precious free time to become even more focused and conscious than you are when you are at work. This need not be stressful. Choosing to focus on something interesting or pleasurable is different than being compelled to focus on things which are necessary but intrinsically boring.

It is a shame that collective activity tends to result in a descent into the unconscious. This need not be so. It is possible to enjoy the company of other human beings without moving down several rungs of the evolutionary ladder. It is a case of choosing your friends carefully.

Do the people you associate with, in your own time, enliven your mind or dumb it down?
If they dumb it down, then my advice is to avoid such company. We only get the opportunity to develop a conscious mind once. The choice is yours, although you need to have a measure of consciousness to even make a choice in the first place!