Is there a Stream of Consciousness?

Consciousness is a big word. I frequently ask myself if my state of consciousness is where it should be. Is “feeling conscious” only applicable in its clinical sense, or is there such a thing as learning to be conscious?

For a few months, now, I have been observing an important change in the way my mind processes various inputs that are thrown at me at any given time. I like to think that, just like Apple’s M3 Max Chip - which is the best processing chip found in Mac products as of date - our minds are restricted by an array of preset factors. The permutations and arrangement of these factors can inherently boost or crash our processor (mind).

Recently, I have started following a young Mauritian - a character in its own regard, this lad. His name is Jah and he is the Father of Chanroism. He boasts a one-of-a-kind approach to trivial things on his social media accounts, portraying a jolly, yet very down to earth philosophy proper to his own mind, all while ironically being perched on top of his favourite Mountain: Pieter Both.

Following him, and many more people who seem to be outliers in their minds and the way they choose to process data around them makes me think:

To what extent are we really conscious about ourselves and our environment?

This question is partially answered by bestselling author Tim Ferris in his productivity books, as he addresses being aware of one’s own situation as being a constant work in progress for the one who beholds the bravest of minds. So I wonder, why is my version of utmost consciousness different from that of so many people I see and interact with around me?

Here, I find the header picture of this article very suiting. This picture was taken by yours truly in New York City on a fine Spring evening two years ago. I remember that as my finger pressed down on the shutter button, I fondly thought about how this picture encapsulated the pinnacle of human intelligence… and dumbness. Everyday, what is certainly thousands of people, of all ages and colour - even people who add cereals before the milk - behave in one of two ways to this light: they stop, or they go.

Is this being at the top of what is physically and mentally possible with regard to our consciousness level only summarised by reacting the exact same way to standardised data points in our environment?

Should this be the case, then I am happy to think that humanity slowly encapsulating itself in a glass box, in a similar fashion to a terrarium that is bound to evolve and to grown in an all but free manner.

I am certain that people can only think that far, when they are exposed to millennials of evolutionary thinking of the humankind. It’s quite tragic that we are restricted by the very extent and by the wilderness of our own mind’s creativity.

So, to the bravest of you, I say:

“Dare to think, dare to ask, dare to speak!”