What sets apart those on a journey of conscious evolution from other folk?

One aspect is how we respond to the unexpected. And, indeed whether we even notice the unexpected.

Take this:

When did you last see an Aga cooker in a pub?

How many people would even notice it?

Conscious evolution is about being aware and open. Aware of anything and everything. Open to the different, the unusual, the unexpected and willing to engage with it, fully.

. . . .

After a couple of very intense weeks full of uncertainty and (possible) change (think job interviews and possibly moves) the other morning I meandered around Clifton. Just going where I felt drawn, responding to life: like sharing a sense of wonder at the Clifton Suspension Bridge, with a complete stranger.

Little things like that can make such a difference.

. . .

This has been a weekend for quiet reflection, with all sorts of ideas popping into my mind.

For example, in taking some Philosophy books back to the university library. All these publications, all that knowledge: and look where it’s got humanity? On the brink of extinction, that’s where! I’d love to help others appreciate that knowledge is not the same as knowing, nor wisdom: but the wise already know that and the rest believe. Believe what? It doesn’t matter what! Any belief can get in the way of a knowing of the moment.

. . . .

I know all the words of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Princess Ida. I realised this as I watched an excellent local production (Bristol G&S Society) the other night. I suppose this is because I learned them to take part in the show, in 1978 I think it was. And then listened to a recording of that show for many years afterwards. But word for word? After 40 years?

I guess this is what most people think of as ‘knowing’: facts, theories, sets of words that have lodged in our memories.

Coincidentally, lodging (as in short-term accommodation) is a significant issue for me at the moment. And lodging implies not permanent. But some ideas seem to take up permanent residence in the modern mind. And, I’ve found that, all too often, such hard-wired thoughts prevent us from engaging with the unexpected.

Take global warming, for example. Lodged in our mind is the idea that mankind, with the aid of technology, explained by science, can grow and prosper into eternity; that there is no end to our material progression. Err, sorry to be a killjoy, but that idea could be ripe for eviction.