In 1981, Rupert Sheldrake, a biologist and biochemist from Cambridge University and Harvard introduced his concept of Morphic resonance to the world; an idea which states that different species inherently possess what he calls morphic fields, those which allow different organisms to stay in touch with one another through a distance. For example, there is good evidence that many species of animals may be telepathic, and that if certain members of a species learn a new skill in one part of the world, other members of that same species in other parts of the world will soon show that same proclivity.

This of course might lead one to beg the question that if this dynamic is true of members of the animal kingdom, might it be possible for human beings to have a similar unitary consciousness in which we all may be similarly mentally united with one other, even from a distance. This of course suggests that if there is in fact some type of unitary consciousness of which we are all a part, that if even one person is able to fundamentally and radically change his or her consciousness, then this will somehow have an effect on all of us, even as we might not realize that this particular dynamic is in fact occurring.

Taking this particular argument further, as strange as it may seem to some, this is not so much some sort of mental telepathy as it is an acknowledgement that we all may be part of the same conscious field in which we are endlessly interconnected, without even realizing that such a reality exists. This then would seem to suggest that if one is desirous of change for the better in the world, then the best way to accomplish this may not be through political or social action, but rather through a fundamental change in one’s own consciousness in which others may be affected at a distance by this sort of change even as they’re not able to recognize it occurring in themselves.

Unfortunately, often when people draw up sides, so to speak, to affect some type of change, there may well be an inevitable fracturing of that common consciousness that we all share with one another. Even in those cases where people are fighting against the evil of others in attempting to make the world a better place, just the fact that there is an inevitable fracturing of human consciousness in the process is something which, as much as anything, may tend to produce the sort of internal violence in people which leads toward violent conflicts on a larger scale. Thus, many of the armed conflicts and terrorist activities which we see in the world today.

Speaking at an anti-war rally at Berkeley during the period of the 1960s, the writer Ken Kesey told the crowd that had gathered, all amped up before their march on an army induction center during the time of the Vietnam War, that often the best thing one can do when they see something that is fundamentally wrong is to simply turn their back on it and just say “fuck it.” Otherwise, according to him, you’re essentially playing the same game as the evildoers. Although he may have been right from the standpoint of what tactics are most effective against those same evildoers, he may also have been right as far as not engendering the sort of fractured consciousness which eventually leads to so much violence in the world.