That thing about oneness - humans may experience “oneness” in meditation or psychedelics and then assume that that very experience is some kind of exact match for the experience of others. I really wish there was greater humility. Especially because I think that BODIES impact the experience of consciousness; I mean that I don’t think there is an experience of consciousness without an experiencer, I do not believe in a field of consciousness - some purity of it - that we tap into, as though bodies were waves in the sea. I do believe bodies (experiencing bodies) could be waves in a sea of space-time, but I think consciousness, like life, arises from certain assemblages and so is always informed and enformed by the assemblage.
I think that we get fixated on the purity of our own experience to the detriment of the environment, which remains contaminated by our actions. My pure consciousness does not remove plastic from the oceans.
Anyway, I took this to Kairos who said, "Maybe you should think about presence rather than consciousness."
"Wow!" I said. "Yes!"
Presence is situated. Here and now. Embodied. Emplaced. Entangled.
Being present is to have a past from which you came, and which shapes you still.
Being present is to bear scars, like the lightning-struck oak.
Being present is to be dealing with difficulties, like these oaks whose roots are waterlogged.
And being present is also to hear the leaves rustle, the birds call, and to see that swift shape of an unknown raptor sweep through the crowded sycamore stems.
Being present is knowing you are alive, here and now.
yes