By Les Mottosky
The conundrum of consciousness begins with its meaning. We kinda' know what it means, but not exactly.
Words matter. They really matter. And the specific meaning behind the words matter even more. Few have successfully defined consciousness in clear language that a 10 year old can understand and apply. And this is where Thomas Campbell's genius comes in.
He interprets it as 'Awareness with a choice.'
Clean. Concise. Lucid.
But who is Thomas Campbell?
He's a nuclear physicist who worked in NASA systems risk analysis for many years. He's become better known as an author and lecturer. For more than 50 years he's advocated for drug-free research into altered states of consciousness. His experience has lead him to create a scientifically developed model of reality that expresses how and why the physical world only exists in our minds.
Campbell's theory asserts that consciousness is fundamental and reality is a virtual construct. This concept has gained some momentum in the past few years. Maybe – in part – because the world feels so weird?
Those simple four words of his definition allow us to apply consciousness to our own life. Like right now. Campbell's definition makes consciousness actionable in such a way that we can't ignore it. Or even forget it.
So how do we take this concept and improve our lives?
Let's expand on Campbell's explanation:
Awareness becomes consciousness when you have the ability to choose how you respond to what you’re aware of.
For Campbell, awareness by itself is relatively passive; you can notice a sound, sensation, thought or emotion. Choice introduces agency. So awareness in our head sounds like: “I notice I'm angry.” Consciousness takes that a step further: “I notice I'm angry, and I can choose what to do with that anger.”
His larger point, is that consciousness isn't simply the brain having experiences. It's more similar to an information-processing system that's capable of making choices.
Those choices, repeated over time, shape the quality and development of the consciousness.
This connects to one of Campbell's central themes in his thinking: evolution of consciousness is essentially the evolution of the quality of our choices. Particularly choices that move towards love, cooperation and reducing fear. (As opposed to being guided by ego, fear and separation).
Think of it like this:
Awareness = “I notice.”
Choice = “I can respond.”
Consciousness = “I notice, and I can choose.”
That stack of simple concepts provides us a meaningful path to freedom from the dictatorial orders of our busy minds.
Our ability to adapt only begins once we acknowledge awareness as a choice.
Merely seeing reality differently doesn't create change. What really moves the needle is the capacity to choose a different response.
Until we understand this, we might as well be asleep.
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Les Mottosky
Writes to expand the capacity of the human behind the career.
Adaptation Strategist // I help organizations turn creativity into their competitive advantage by aligning leadership, culture and strategy to unlock adaptive innovations.
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