Emerging Consciousness and Its Significance

article migration image expanding2 jpg

Shakespeare once wrote, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Working to expand your consciousness gives you the ability to dream beyond your philosophy, and increase your experiences beyond your imagination. Emerging consciousness is a philosophy that explores increasing one’s awareness to be able to perceive more than just the common world we experience every day. But what is consciousness?

The brain is limited to what it can perceive. It can only process the information it receives from the five senses in the physical world. It then interprets that information based on past experiences in order to build perception. The mind, as a function separate from the brain, has no limitations of perception. In fact, the mind treats everything that it experiences as real, whether they are imagined or not. If this is consciousness, how do we go about expanding it? This has been a concern of metaphysicians for millennia.

The first forays into the expansion of consciousness began with tribal shamans. Through ritual and special plants these shamans sought to alter their consciousness enough to enter the world of spirits. Their mind expanding techniques allowed them to communicate with beings beyond the physical and bring healing to their people.

The Eastern traditions offer many consciousness expanding techniques. With various meditation and focus techniques, the practitioners are able to achieve various states of consciousness and hold them for long periods of time. Perhaps one of the most profound states of consciousness is the empty mind meditation found within Buddhism. This state allows one to connect to the oneness of all things.

Another form of emerging consciousness may come as a collective shift in consciousness for all of mankind. This may have begun to occur when we crossed the galactic equator in December of 2012. This shift may even be the result of reaching a critical mass as more and more minds come into agreement within the collective unconscious.

In the modern era, the pursuit of expanded consciousness takes on a whole new twist. Science and technology are constantly pushing the boundaries of what we know of the brain and the mind. Many of the ancient techniques of altering consciousness have been validated through nero-research. As scientists are exploring ways to connect the brain to computers we will truly experience an era of trans-humanism.

Improving intuition and the development of psychic abilities is a rather esoteric application of emerging consciousness. Yet, as the mind has the ability to perceive all things as real, the realm of the psychic is not to be discounted. There is much to learn about the nature of consciousness from the teachings of those gifted in extra sensory perception and communicating with spirits.

We can learn from the experts and gain insight from intrepid explorers who have ventured far beyond the confines of common conscious reality. From the dawn of time and into the unfathomable reaches of the future, there seems to be no limit to what the mind can do or perceive.



Times of Social Unrest Appear to Boost Our Brain's Neuroplasticity

Social Unrest Boosts Neuroplasticity

New research suggests that times of global unrest present a unique opportunity for neurological growth and profound behavior change, but only when leveraged correctly.

Kayla Osterhoff is a neuropsychophysiologist who studies the interaction of the mind and brain, which she calls the ‘human operating system.’

“One of the greatest mysteries in modern neuroscience is actually how the brain produces the mind. The reason why we have not been able to come up with the answer for this is because that’s not how it works. These two are actually separate systems that interact together to produce what I call the ‘human operating system,’ which is responsible for our version of reality as humans,” Osterhoff said.

Osterhoff has recently been researching the hypothesis that times of social unrest provide a valuable opportunity to neurologically upgrade this human operating system.

“Right now, we have this very unique opportunity to upgrade our ‘human operating system’ globally,” Osterhoff said. “And that is because as a society around the entire world we are experiencing this social unrest and this has caused a couple of significant cognitive and neurological shifts that have provided an opportunity for us to grow and evolve as a society.”

Osterhoff points to several fascinating factors that contribute to this phenomenon.

“So, studies are showing that acute states of stress, like shock, trauma, or something surprising like what we’re currently experiencing in our world, caused this cognitive psychological shift that actually makes our subconscious mind more suggestible, meaning that our subconscious mind is brought forward so to speak, and it’s more malleable, it’s more programmable,” Osterhoff said. 

Read Article

More In Expanded Consciousness

Our unique blend of yoga, meditation, personal transformation, and alternative healing content is designed for those seeking to not just enhance their physical, spiritual, and intellectual capabilities, but to fuse them in the knowledge that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.


Use the same account and membership for TV, desktop, and all mobile devices. Plus you can download videos to your device to watch offline later.

Desktop, laptop, tablet, phone devices with Gaia content on screens

Discover what Gaia has to offer.

Testing message will be here