The Kogi of Columbia eluded the spaniard invasion, hid in the mountains and for over 500 years have been caretakers of the earth. They understand the Earth to be a living being and see humanity as its “children.” They say that our actions of exploitation, devastation, and plundering resources is weakening “The Great Mother” and leading to our destruction.
The film, Aluna, takes us into the world of the Kogi. At the heart of the tribe’s belief system is “Aluna”—a kind of cosmic consciousness that is the source of all life and intelligence and the mind inside nature too. “Aluna is something that is thinking and has self-knowledge. It’s self-aware and alive. All indigenous people believe this, historically. It’s absolutely universal.”(1)
Coincidence? Consciousness and our self awareness is in the mind of all nature. Self awareness, according to the Kogi is inherited from the self awareness of the earth. The deep, human neural processing ability seems to be the one, over-evolved specimen willing to kill the very thing that insures its ability to thrive, all along with the awareness that we are doing it.
The modern disconnect with nature is problematic. Can we at least try to feel what the Kogi see as plain as the nose on our faces? With all the attempted research on consciousness, maybe we should be looking backward instead of forward.
TheCommonAtheist 
I agree modern life can make us take nature for granted. What piques my interest is if Paleolithic peoples had brains as developed as ours, did they ponder the deeper questions in life like ancient philosophers did?
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Surely they did, but likely they just knew the answer as well. They knew many things we still can’t figure out. I have a feeling the numbers and dates are ready for an official historical shift. There have been some incredibly old archaeological finds that could easily put humanity back a million years. Interestingly, it appears many of these civilizations were able to tap into the natural energies of the earth without pillaging it. There’s some interesting stuff out there. Small pockets of people happened, but only after long and ingenious societies populated the earth.
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This ain’t our first rodeo!
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It’s easy to make statements like that. There’s appeal to the mystic (bad word, but all we’ve got) that resonates; but the more rational cynics among us tend to ask for proofs.
I believe that 2019 will bring a lot of the ‘fringe’ thought into the common weal, and quite a few doctorates are going to be rendered scrap. The entrenched won’t like that so we can expect a bit of excitement (!) in academia.
“Truth will out”~? Hah … it’s easier mating elephants— a lot of bellowing, trumpeting, screaming, and takes years to get results.
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I wonder though. It seems to me that the idea of a hunter-gatherer living in harmony with nature isn’t necessarily true. I mean hunter-gatherers were at least partially responsible for the extinctions or great decline of large species of birds and mammals. It seems if they did try to live more sustainably, it was more out of necessity rather than a true belief that it was important. I’m not saying that’s true for all cultures, but the fact remains that such a philosophy on it’s own was unsustainable such that farming was developed. Perhaps people were tired of having to abandon old people and infants when populations got too large. I am not sure, but I don’t think humans are that much different than any other animal. No animal lives in perfect balance. Like population dynamic models show, wolves will eat rabbits and prosper to eat more rabbits, until there are too many wolves, and many starve, allowing rabbit populations to go back up while wolves decline.
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Probably mostly true. What allows me to live simply is very likely the fact that I have a choice to based in a variety of factors and understanding. I don’t think the indigenous did what they did based on ecological decisions, but the way of life was less damaging to the planet due to lack of invasive technology and ability. Every chance we’ve had we’ve gone all out. From the moment we could pump gas, never looked back. Now we know better and should tread lightly.
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I agree. Our understanding of how nature works and the impact that we have on other regions geographically is understood well enough, that excuses are few at this point.
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This is spiritalism we need a lot more of.
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There is no doubt whether or not it is “real”, there is the type of truth in it that should be obvious to us all and no longer is. Dead earth = dead humans. Little by little we have gone too far. Everything is connected.
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Very well said.
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You are very funny sometimes, Jim. I have been lying awake in bed for the past hour contemplating the meaning of ISSA, Sha’Tara’s designation for intelligent, sapient, self-aware beings. We humans love to think we are the ISSA beings on our planet even though science has shown us this is not true-
-we are only one of many ISSA species, with more such species being discovered all the time. So why not an ISSA planet? Are our more “primitive” relations able to understand things we are not?
Anything is possible. Everything is probable. I know our brains and minds are so cluttered with knowledge that we are no longer able to consider the obvious. I used to believe I could talk to animals, until an adult explained to me why that was not only impossible, but bordering on insanity. I never actually talked to another animal again after that, though many times I have felt a deep connection with some. I wish I had never believed that adult, it did not change my life for the better.
So, I am busy contemplating ISSA, open up my tablet and read your post. I find you considering the same thing, just on a different level. I just have to laugh. These “coincidences” have happened many times since I started reading your blog. Is it really coincidence?
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I think the evidence shows humans are exceptional ; our type of self-awareness allows us to look back and forwards in time , it is the reason we are so obsessed with death because we can see it coming . At the same time it is the root cause of complex communication through language which led to civilisation.
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Maybe so, but I do not see us as exceptional, unless it is exceptionally stupid for a supposedly intelligent race. No other species destroys its environment the way we do. No other species, as far as we can tell, sees itself as superior to every other life form on Earth. And what are you calling civilization? The ability to build cities that are so crowded they cause their citizens all kins of mental
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Oops, sorry about that.
…cities so crowded they cause all kinds of mental diseases? Nations that fight wars, killing all the young breeders for no good reason than the egos of their so-called leaders?
Sorry, kersten, but none of that looks to me like exceptionality.
And as far as complex communication, can you talk to other people 6,000 miles away “without technology” as whales can talk to other whales? And have you ever talked to another species to find out how complex their language is for them? Can you hear sounds above or below the range of human hearing to know what is going on in those ranges?
All these assumptions you are making are all humanocentric. Your “evidence” is nothing but what humans call evidence, but humans are only one of trillions of species of life on this planet–not even a drop in the bucket of life. You are judging every other lifeform by human standards, which is not valid. You have to judge each one by its own standards, which no human is capable of doing at this time.
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This is reminiscent of a rant I sent to a local paper recently. People seem to assume superiority over other living things, but evidence leads to a very different conclusion. As you say, we are the only species that sends our young off to die to make a political point. How crazy stupid is that? We destroy the environment we depend on for survival, but play god fucking around with other species: killing them for sport, experimenting on them, relocating them against their will. Bad juju going on there. They will feast on our carcasses after all.
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If I could I would will my body to the wolves. That makes more sense than burning it, to me.
Few humans have respect for other species, plant, animal, or other, even though they cannot survive without those species. Everything works together, nothing survives alone.
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“If I could I would will my body to the wolves”. That’s how I felt when I thought about investing.
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Wolves, bears, microbes. Makes no difference. It (we) should all be recycled naturally. Burial in vaults is an abomination against the natural cycle.
You are right that everything is part of a natural cycle, including us.
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Yup. Thank you.
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Do wolves have hospitals ? do they keep their sick , aged and ailing alive out of kindness? No they wait until the poor stag they have chased into the river is forced to come out and be killed . Do not pretend that nature is benign you know it is red in tooth and claw.
Does nature plan to keep other species in existence when they are nearing extinction? Has any species increased its life expectancy investigated the workings of its own body?
I’m not pretending the human race is all sweetness and light just that it shows the presence of moral activity far greater than any other species.
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Raised in the northern wilds of Alberta, on a homestead, I quickly learned that nature gives no quarter to anyone or anything. The difference is that it doesn’t plan to oppress for the sheer pleasure or profit of it, so there is an unbridgeable gap between man’s twisted ‘morality’ and nature’s way. Tell me again, somebody, that ‘man’ is a naturally evolved species fully adapted to its natural world, and give me another fit of unrestrained laughter. How long will we insist on deluding ourselves regarding our own nature?
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Man’s twisted morality could ( not by me ) be blamed on nature or in scientific terms natural selection . That evil swine natural selection who is blind and dumb selected man to bear the brunt of a moral nature . For the religious we ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil .
Nature has no way because it has no mind , the tiger has a way called survival and man has a way I might call a blundering moral way.
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And what does morality mean to a being that cannot sin? You cannot judge any being on your idea of right and wrong, is all I am saying. I do not live my life by anyone’s morality but mine. You can call me immoral if you like, but that does not mean anything to me. So morality is not a measure of excellence, or superiority. Nothing you, or anyone else, can say will ever convince me that humanity is the top of the food chain. I think that spot belongs to maggots!
As for species nearing extinction, who brought them to that brink? Humanity! We reduce their area of influence. We change their food supply. We fill them full of chemicals that they are not expecting to have to deal with. It is our responsibilty to try to save them–we are committing genocide on them–yet species disappear from this Earth EVERY DAY! This is not something I am proud of. I would hope you are not either.
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Rawgod of course we all have a different morality ,because unlike science which is objective morals are subjective . Incidentally although many Christians claim moral truth is objective they all have different morals even within the same denomination.
Now the question of moral judgement ; we all tend to look at others and judge them on their moral behaviour by our own moral standards , we have no right to do this because morals are subjective. So if I judge a member of ISIS for chopping off an unbelievers head I’m judging his morals which are subjective.
I may judge another person for eating meat and in that way judge his or her subjective moral choice. I may judge another for hunting animals once again judging their subjective moral choice.
In western democracies the government has drawn up a moral compass which it up holds by law : so I may not walk naked down the high street . Even so westerners are among the freest people’s in the world , we are allowed the most moral latitude by our governments and that is increasing as time passes.
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Our governments can draw up all the laws they want, but until they are applied equally across the board, they cannot be called moral or just.
Meanwhile, westerners are given the appearance of freedom, and are forced to love and appreciate what they are given.True freedom is doing what you choose to do, while remaining responsible to life. It is an amazing and unexpecteď fact that those who choose to live life their way find that responsibility to self expands to the selfhood of all living beings. It is a natural progression, inherent in the word self. I have to admit I did not see it coming, but once I saw it arrive it made total sense, just like breathing.
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Government is what holds society together without it we would soon descend into anarchy. There is no such thing as true freedom except on a desert island and that would be pretty miserable. It is true that wealth increases freedom but we in the west are very wealthy by global standards and as a result have great freedom compared to many.
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True. The rawgod ideal only works individually. We just happen to have a lot of people and that’s just the way it is. Too bad there are mean and power-hungry people out there, but that’s just the way it is too…for now.
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Exactly Jim , but in democracies we have a chance of exerting influence for the good of society. You are right power hunger is one of the greatest twisters of human nature , it makes us see others as merely pawns in our game. I believe even those who are well-intentioned can lose their way when exposed to the distorting effect of power. I’m sure you remember the temptation of Christ when he is offered all the world to worship the Devil. I know I will be pounced upon for using religious imagery but scientific imagery is objective and not up to the job.
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No pouncing here. The temptation of Christ is a great example. The men of words somehow justify their position as benevolent. What is the cure? Have you ever read about the tourist trash dump baboons?
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We need to somehow get our own baboon bullies billionaires to ingest some of that bovine tuberculosis… to change this tribe’s behaviour.
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It’s a thought. That small percentage of tyranny at the top changes the entire thing.
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It’s an eye opener Jim showing how communities can be changed , often by unforseen changes in circumstances. We can certainly see how opinion has changed in America with Mr Trumps influence. Also how Europe has moved to the right because of the migrant crises . These changes show how little we actually control our own societies but are at the mercy of circumstances just as the apes were.
I picked up the question how long will the good times last and we could also ask how long will the bad times last.
We have a potential great changer looming ; climate , and it will surely mold the survivors , but just how I shall never know.
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I’m not going to argue or discuss this anymore. Over the past years I have respected a lot of your comments, but this present discussion highlights how different our definitions of certain ideas are. I would rather end this than losing the possibility of friendship, or even respect. We live in different worlds. Let us agree to disagree.
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Of course no problem .
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Its not assuming superiority we have been forced into a position of superiority , not only moral responsibility , but in our vast excessive population. It’s not that we have grabbed the reins to run the world rather we have had them thrust upon us because of our smartness.
In the last hundred years or so we have begun to realise how serious our position in the world is and that is why we have political turmoil.
Quite recently we have recognised the importance of ecological balance ; do you know any other animal that understands ecology ?
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It’s a question of need, Kersten. Animals do not need to concern themselves with ecology because they never exceed the bounds of their natural environment. When it begins they get hit with a decimating disease or their predators increase in numbers, ever maintaining the balance. Earthians proliferate by refusing to let nature take its course; spending inordinate amounts of money and resources to maintain even old dying and hopeless bodies when young people are starving to death, or being deliberately starved to death. Intelligence? Madness would adequately describe the way of civilization. We have given ourselves many tools to challenge nature’s way without ever developing the proper mind and morals with which to use those tools properly. And now, we’re royally f****d! as a Canadian would put it. In military parlance, we are snafu’d!
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Admit it Sha’Tara animals haven’t the intelligence to concern themselves with anything other than survival. They would and sometimes do exceed the bounds of their natural environment given half a chance ; two of the most successful animals on the planet are rats and seagulls.
Now your point about high tech keeping the living dead alive while others starve. It’s true and is part of our animal instinct to serve our own first. While Prince Harry was marrying Megan Merkle in Windsor people were sleeping in the streets of that illustrious city.
When the great axe falls , as you and I agree it will , if we wish to apportion blame ( and I don’t ) we can blame the Earth itself for being a seed bed of life , but of course to blame an inanimate ball spinning in space is crazy.
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Blame is pointless. For Earthians its about waking up to potential. The slide ends at the bottom of the hill. If people choose not to climb back up, then that’s the last slide.
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‘ Was it for this the clay grew tall ?
What made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth’s sleep at all ?’
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For war and death? I think not sir, but for all the human endeavors stir the width and breadth of dreams, the sentient yearns, then yawns, at what might have been.
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We may understand ecology (or our version of it) but we live a much different system. I live pretty simply here. The wild animals winter on our property. It’s a bit of a safe zone where we commingle year round. No fences and we’ve tried to leave as small of a mark as possible. But, just down the road 100s of thousands—just madness, stuck in a system that nobody really wants or finds fulfillment, nor knows how to stop. Everyone knows there’s a better way, but can’t seem to break away from the race. Always trying to keep up with a system that can’t really be sustained without manipulation propping that system with deceits and laws that protect itself. Surely there’s a better way than hydroelectric dams and miles of solar panels and windmills. There are better ways, but the vision of wealth, speed, greed, and overuse of virtually everything is running the show. How can we be so smart and so dumb at the same exact moment? There are just a handful of truly intelligent people that drive all the innovation leading to overreactive use. We just keep driving and peddling what is dumped into the markets malls. No restraint. One small example of this manipulation…I could not get a permit to build my house without being hooked up to the grid. I could generate all the power I need, but had to spend 1000s of dollars to connect my property because of self serving laws and regulation. There’s very few places left to make your own life without total intrusion. So, here we are, one foot in and one foot out, pay pay pay and very little simplicity.
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Is there another version ? if there is we made it up ourselves along with the hundreds of religious versions . Jim where would you get the technology to generate your own power , if from a generator it will need fuel , if from wind the dynamo will need maintenance possibly parts in time , solar panels don’t last forever . Like us all Jim you enjoy the modern benefits of technology ; do you walk to get your shopping?
To break away completely only happens when we are marooned on a desert island and the first thing we do is try to build a world of comfort around us. I see men going up Everest , they look like aliens they have so much tech . Recently a young woman came unstuck sailing around the world , don’t worry she did not lose contact and she had the very latest ship.
Is there a better way ? no ! but there is a far more uncomfortable way and we won’t seek it ourselves it will be thrust upon us.
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I struggle to navigate through life as the next person. I do however, grow my own food and live as simply as the system will allow. Enjoy technology? Not really. Life may be easier and more convenient, but is life better with your head in your device? Look how happy people are. I have an ideal and I make it happen in my own abilities. I respect my environment enough to wait for a better alternative to coal and dams, but that’s not my choice. There is a better way I am confident about that. I think you’d be surprised at the simple ingenuity that can make like enjoyable without wrecking everything, without any consideration for the future. I think we can do better. But, being outside the cities my entire life, I can see possibility that no one really cares about.
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I’m sure we could simplify our lives but going backwards is always hard especially when we are constantly being urged to go forwards .
America uses 25% of the world’s resources with only 5% of the world’s population . Does this mean Americans are far more wicked than Indians ? Not at all , it means if you have the means and the resources are there use them. There is a strange illusion in some left wing minds that poor people are better people than rich people . I believe human nature tells us make the poor rich and they will behave just like the rich.
Many years ago my old dad brought an electric knife , his face was aglow as he showed us how it could cut a clean thin slice of bread , and when he sliced a piece of chicken we marvelled at the technology. I noticed sometimes dad would go into the kitchen just tongue on that incredible knife , it mesmerized him. It lasted awhile but when it broke he kept silent and never replaced the magic knife.
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Better ways are endless if we put our minds to them but in the capitalist system we keep coming up against vested interest. Take hearing aid batteries which I am told are so ineffective they need changing around 1.5 hours of used time, rechargeables only last a a few hours. I was in a hearing place the other day and I said, “do you know that body heat is a source of energy and you can use it to power your hearing aids? I could have been in a church invoking the Devil to get the reaction I got…
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I wear hearing aids … and your information is incorrect. The batteries I use are not rechargeable and they last five days (almost to the hour). Previously, I used hearing aids with rechargeable batteries and they lasted (at least) 12 hours before they needed recharging. I usually had to replace them after about nine months.
I do, however, agree with your statement related to “vested interests.”
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Mine last four days, but still, using your idea is a great idea. I have the starkey super duper blue tooth iPhone controlled ear bud hearing aid combo. Great for audio if all types. Powered by body heat…even better. We put off about 100 watts of heat. Why not?
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Probably a coincidence. She and I didn’t chat about this that I recall, but we have been frequently bumping into each other here and there. I happened upon the Kogi in a science news feed I follow and it got my attention a few weeks ago. Maybe it got my attention from talking to you, and talking to her. Interestingly, the Kogi live in a different, non ordinary reality. But it is 100% real to them.
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Could be their reality is more real than ours. It is not beyond the possible.
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I liked your idea about communicating with the animals. They listen to all their environment, the plants and water and so forth. They knew how the transplanted invasive species, although beautiful, were ruining the native habitat and eco balance. I was pretty impressed by their understanding. Non ordinary reality by our standards, but very real and applicable to theirs.
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Agreed.
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[Eilene] Wonderful comment!
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Issa? I wondered where I’d heard it before—ain’t that Islam’s name for their minor prophet aka Jesus?
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No. Issa was the name of the Jesus possibly in India during the missing years if I recall.
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Raw:
‘Synchronicity’ is another term for it; coined by Jung and misunderstood by many.
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That is always a possibility, too. Fools do seldom differ. Right Jim?
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Of course. Two peas from different pods? Two alternatives to the gods, finding distinct realities, one for you and one for me.
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And one for anyone else who wants to join us in our differences, lol.
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Well if you are going to adopt a fantasy, this seems the least harmful. (I do not subscribe to the global consciousness hypothesis because even if it were true, so what?)
On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 9:52 PM TheCommonAtheist wrote:
> jim- posted: “The Kogi of Columbia eluded the spaniard invasion, hid in > the mountains and for over 500 years have been caretakers of the earth. > They understand the Earth to be a living being and see humanity as its > “children.” They say that our actions of exploitation,” >
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Exactly. So what? Well, many people are searching for answers to our origins or a seed or source of consciousness. This does seem pretty harmless, even helpful. At least they’re observant enough and in tune to notice there’s probably a better way. I sort of like this idea, although personally I’d have to go with jesus….ha! Gotcha!!
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I would have to agree. When westerners look at non-western cultures, they tend to place their fantasies on them. I doubt very much that the Kogi are any of this. I think that is what western monotheists/new age types want them to be.
Remember when everyone thought that Crete was a peaceful culture. Then the Maya were a peaceful culture….. both of which are untrue.
So if people want to think that the global consciousness hypothesis is real, they have joined paganism as that is one of the main beliefs. i.e. the Gaia Theory.
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Hard to know for sure. From the docu, they had no papers, ID, spoke no Spanish and are out of main society. I’m sure they have some odd ways as well as what was presented. They seem to have a genuine care for the earth and lived simply.
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I wonder why their population has not increased much in 500 years? and it would be nice to know the nitty gritty of their lives , being human do they have all the faults we see all around us and in ourselves ? I used to think Buddhist monks were sort of super human and then I read they were getting too fat through eating not through meditating.
In the UK we have had a shock , Gatwick Airport has been brought to a stand still by a clever drone operator . Thousands were stranded for Christmas , I never realized so many took to the skies day after day . Now two people have been arrested a man and woman and the rumour is they are eco warriors ‘ if you don’t stop flying contaminating the earths atmosphere we will put a spanner in the works.’ Mind you they may go to prison for five years , but I suspect direct action will escalate as the twelve year allowance runs out.
I wonder if some clever eco activist might be able to bring the car to a halt just to bring us to our senses , or maybe I should say to drive us out of our minds. The world is on a roll we are hooked so maybe rather than suffer for our sins ( I know that’s a forbidden word ) leave the job to Mother Earth.
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Personally i feel like the disconnect is too grand. Over half now live in cities, and there is a different way of looking at life and the impact you have in it. Just drop your cans at the curb and they disappear. If everyone had to manage their own 4 lbs of trash every day, no garbage man, I think the world would be a different place. If you ever notice a society that pulls themselves into a more modern success, it’s trash all over the place. They don’t know what the hell to do with it. It ain’t natural.
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[Jim] Quote: The modern disconnect with nature is problematic. Can we at least try to feel what the Kogi see as plain as the nose on our faces? With all the attempted research on consciousness, maybe we should be looking backward instead of forward.
We need to be looking inward. If your transmission is screwed and you can’t shift into forward gear without serious problems, but it still works in reverse, going in reverse may work for a while, but I would recommend opening up the tranny and looking at making repairs in there. Think mind=transmission.
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I can agree on looking inward, but what can you get from a walking, cold, autonomic corpse? I think my intention right now would be to look at some of these old ideas and practices without just dismissing them as unsophisticated. I think they could teach us a lot if we weren’t so full of modern stupidity clinging to everything new.
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[Jim] For me, what “looking inwards” means is that everything is already there; we don’t need to go back and study “old” ways. That is something our “sophisticated” teaching methods taught us to do because it legitimizes another controlling institution. We could accept the fact that we are loaded with remembrances of past lives that stretch back out into the cosmos, if we were so inclined and not stuck in belief systems that comprise a “go-no go” process based on programmed performance . My point is that if we need to “rely” on ways and beliefs of “the ancients” who left no record and of whom most are long gone, then we remain stuck. Our mind is much smarter than that, if we free it. Speaking from personal experience. We are programmed to fear what our minds know, and would reveal being given half a chance. Doesn’t mean it has to be a show and tell. We can know “stuff” without sharing it if we know it won’t be understood, or it will cause us no end of problems without solving any…
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[Jim] second reply, I just noticed your reference to the body – I had missed that, not realizing you were linking body with mind awareness. I was taught, not by Earthian teachers but those others, that a human being is made up of spirit (that being our source), mind and body. Only the body is expendable and the human entity can operate without a body for certain periods of time and still remain essentially human. When we speak of knowledge it has nothing to do with the body. I am primarily a mind being, that being how I perceive myself when interacting with others. There is limited body awareness, except to realize how constraining living in a body can be. It is highly susceptible to disease, it ages. It’s got to be energized with food and it’s riddled with annoying feelings and emotions. It requires so much energy to maintain it and move it around. Totally unreliable and it won’t keep its shape. Worst aspect is that whatver physical gender you are born in, you’re supposed to endure that for the duration even when you realize that wasn’t what you had planned to be. It’s like being in a straight jacket. That’s why we desperately need to free our mind, as Morpheus taught Neo in the Matrix. (At least I think it was Morpheus…, not Trinity.)
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Although frustrating that very few are even capable of seeing beyond what they already know, it is possible to operate outside of the system (mostly) after the aha moments awaken your true self. One person can achieve such independence for a while yet, but it’s closing in around us all, this destruction and greed is consuming. Great comments Sha’Tara
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Sha … your thoughts help explain why we are born into a body, live with it, use it … discard it; and then are born into another body … etc etc.
I could well lean toward this idea; but it too is raddled with holes.
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There are no absolutes in “my” world. I don’t expect perfection, nor do I ever promote any kind of “utopian” society and anyone who’s read “Utopia” by Thomas Moore knows it’s a foolish concept. But we can achieve global peace, equity and justice by sharing what we already have and learning to live without accumulation (capitalism). Oh no, am I suggesting we fall into the crime of socialism? Any idea has holes in it as we can readily see in the idea we are drowning in right now called capitalism. We can stay with this and watch our civilization and probably our world implode, or we can dream and dare and push something else forward, something new, something never tried but something all of us can do and participate fully in because it requires nothing external to ourselves. The “holes” in his idea are willingness, or put another way, self empowerment without which it cannot function. The idea, concept or force that can change this man’s world? Compassion. Not love, not charity, not generosity – these are all failed ideas.
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Jet airliners and the military leave the largest carbon footprint of any other “industry” on the planet, yet how often are they mentioned by would-be climate change protesters? I find it odd that they exclude the worst polluters from their comments.
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Spare a thought for the protesters they are human just like us all , they watch television , switch on the the central heating , buy Christmas presents , cook Christmas lunch , slip to the shops in the car , maybe even fly to climate protest discussions. They may have to keep up with their protest blogs and I’m sure many perform numerous act of kindness at this time of year.
Of course the military keep us safe but Mr Trump is doing his best pulling them out of Syria so there is an environmental saving.
Relax the incompetence we share with all those around us is a human failing , but we are in charge like it or not , we are muddling along .
A long gone friend used to say when I asked him how things were going ‘ fair to muddling ‘ I can hear his laugh now.
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Seems to me that the three major motive forces of this civilization are denial, lies and hypocrisy. I suppose that too is nothing new.
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I fear you are suffering from a very common delusion often found among intelligent thinkers I call it the consistency delusion.
If the world behaves inconsistently in a moral sense we throw up our arms and cry hypocrisy , but just a little thought shows us that we are asking for nothing short of a miracle almost along religious lines.
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Fine, if a thing is what it is and it isn’t something else, and we choose, or decide it can’t be anything else, then why are we talking about anything at all, particularly you, Kersten? I have no problem with miracles, properly understood, I can accept them, so for me the discussion on possibilities is always foremost on the table. Sure I’ll throw you some dark predictions, but never without solutions. Sounds to me like you’d rather no one talked about anything since it’s all predetermined by “nature.” I’ll never be that pessimistic.
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KERSTEN:
All well and good, easy to say and recommend.
But to achieve the envisioned Utopia would mean unbelievable pain and suffering to vast numbers of your fellow beings. I too would like to ‘live in harmony with the environment’ but lack sufficient killer instinct to run with the idea. Brrrrr …
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We all lived in harmony with the environment once upon a time long long ago but then we learned to build our own world but the pain and suffering followed us in our new world, but there are places of comfort and leisure seldom found in the brutal cut throat natural world.
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I like this post even if the Kogi are being made into a new age image of our own doing. I still like the idea of a cosmic consciousness and everything being connected. After all we are made of star stuff literally and everything sort of gets recycled in time.
I think modern man has lost touch with nature and a simpler happier life, but that happens with progress and technology. Does it have to be that way? I don’t know. And technology and the stresses of a modern life can only last so long. I do believe we are seeing the downward turn of humanity and maybe that’s just as well when you look around at people, politics and religion. And the earth will recover. It will just take lots of time…timeframes we don’t think of.
I can’t help but wonder what if religion had started out of love for the planet and the emphasis on taking care of it and all life..flora and fauna and true brotherhood.
Suppose there was none of this heartless cruel talk of damnation, hell and who gets to go to heaven. All the killings and wars promoted by religion. All the judging. All the arrogance. All the worship of a cruel god. All the emphasis on an afterlife and none on this life.
I enjoyed this post. Thanks.
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There are “religions” existing today that match your description, Mary. They go by several different names — and they don’t use a book to determine their beliefs. What’s discouraging is the “mainstream” believers discount them as being on the fringes and give them derogatory names when, in reality, they’re far closer to any “god” that might exist.
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It’s not to hard to come up with an ideal that is useful and also makes sense. This makes perfect sense, and is quite useful. In fact, most people that achieve a level of enlightenment choose to live more simply, even if they struggle to get out of the system.
Abrahamic religions don’t make sense, nor are they useful compared to what could be. It’s no wonder they’ve historically had to use coercion and force to get adherents. Who would choose it over nature and simple living? Nobody. That’s why all the complicated apologetic excuses.
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Religion of any kind = tool for exploitation.
There, from the Great Prophet Argus … feel free to quote, but if you’d like eternal life and all the sex and booze and big eats you could ever desire please follow my blogs and send me donations.
Send me enough of your damned monies and I’ll save you a truly great front-cloud seat in Heaven. Guaranteed!
Send now, and I may even give a clipping of my fur to the first thousand followers who sign up (as well as Salvation) (so what’s keeping you?)
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I’m loth to recommend a dude who some may consider a ‘prophet’ … but I find the books/writings and u-tubes and stuff of the English Graham Hancock interesting.
VERY interesting, and I shamelessly push the bugger wherever I see a chance. BUT: don’t take him in isolation. If you go there, check a selection (or stay away completely).
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Consciousness seems to be out of discoverable reach at the moment. It’s like a forgotten word on the tip of our tongue.
Is the world alive… How would we know? There is no known way to communicate with it. There are no indicators to confirm either way. I would say we need to test it more.
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It is as viable an option as a belief in a god. IMO more so. The earth gives and sustains life in every way. It’s not a stretch at all to see life gives life. And no faith required to know the earth sustains us. It’s energy seems to be a focal point in the near universe where these things happen to belay off the energies that exist here.
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I would also add that the world being alive doesn’t really oppose Christianity if that matters.
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But it can only be by faith that a god is needed. Everything else is here, except why, which most likely is a cerebral wanderlust humans just imagine. And they imagine a lot more than they don’t. Odds are we’re just here.
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