Mob Consciousness or living from the lizard brain.
My first experience of mob consciousness was when I was in 8th grade. My mom, sister and I had been through four really rough years. We had been homeless, had lived with relatives that did not want us there, had been forced twice to move and in the moving we did not know where we were going. In essence, food, clothing and shelter were not a “given”.
We landed but not in a very good circumstance. My sister and I were helping my mom in a “governess” job and thus we started our work careers at the age of 10 and 11. At this time, I also had to begin Junior High and it was so horrible. We lived in a high end school district because that is where my mom’s “governess” job was. I was forced to go to school with really wealthy kids and I again, had no real clothes. I had some hand me downs that were disgusting. My shoes were too small and I had no socks and no lunch money. It is hard to believe that this was me.
But, something really good happened. I met three friends in the neighborhood who actually seemed to like me. My experience at school was so lonely and I had no friends whatsoever. So, these friends were a tiny light of love that helped me get through the days at school. They even bought me a new pair of lovely light blue jeans with flowers on them for my birthday. I will never forget how those jeans made me feel.
Then one day, my mom told my sister and me that we were moving to Indiana so she could continue her job. We did not have a choice, though we could have chosen, I suppose, to live with our dad, the truth is we had no choice.
I was so devastated that I would lose everything that I had which was really nothing but the prospect of moving away from my friends and my dad was devastating. However, I had learned that I was not allowed to have any sad or mad or fearful feelings. I was the family hero and all I could do was pretend that it was ok, although I knew my heart was breaking once again.
We moved and many circumstances made it a very difficult move. Because I was so connected to my three neighborhood friends, I made sure that I got their addresses and promised I would write and they said they would also. We moved at Christmas. My Dad had sent me some birthday money that I had saved from November. I spent all of my birthday money on presents for my three friends. I so badly needed to keep this connection going. My mom helped me wrap and box the presents. I sent them to them and I could hardly wait to hear back. I waited, one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks and I never heard from any of them until the Spring-time. One of the three wrote to me and said she was sorry that she had not corresponded but that the three of them had decided that it would be a funny joke to never respond to me again.
I never wrote back to her. I had been so devastated by their lack of response that I could not possibly answer her as I had no idea what to say.
As I said this was my first experience of “mob consciousness”. Actually my very first experience of “mob consciousness” was when I was being brutally teased and bullied when I went to Junior High. However at that time, I could make up in my young mind that they had a reason to tease me because of my disgusting clothes. My self esteem was so low at that time that the teasing and bullying seemed to resonate with how I felt about myself; so I just shut down and got by as best as I could. However, the experience of my friends not writing back was a different story. They had shown me that they had liked me. My experience of “friendship” with them was the first experience I had in more than four years. Four years is a long time when you are only 13. I am not sure I really dealt with that pain of the loss of that friendship until 25 years later.
My husband and I experienced “mob consciousness” when a board member at the 2nd Unity church we had served for 8 years decided that I should not be in private practice while also serving as a minister. So, she carefully and methodically set out to get us fired from that church. The details are not important for this article except this was my first conscious experience of “mob consciousness”.
And, now I would like to define what I believe “mob consciousness” is. The definition will be in very lay terms. We have three levels to our brain: lizard brain which is the survival brain, emotional brain, and wizard brain which is the neo-cortex. The Wizard brain is the part of the brain that takes the longest to develop and enables humans to move past a self-centered life to one in which we have the ability to do the “right thing”. The wizard brain enables us to feel compassion, empathy, love and caring for our fellow humans and also to feel caring and compassion for all creatures and for mother earth. The wizard brain enables us to connect with our own soul gifts and make a difference in our lives by fulfilling our soul purpose.
The lizard brain, which again is the survival brain, tells us that we must be concerned about our own survival and therefore we can only interact with people who are in “our tribe”. And when we are at odds with people in the “other tribe”, we must make sure they do not have access to the limited resources that are available.
The lizard brain is about itself. It seeks to do harm to others often for no apparent reason. It seeks to harm others so that they are not in a position to take them down. I think this is the level of consciousness that my friends acted from when they chose to not respond. This is the level of consciousness that the one person seeking to get me fired from that church was acting from when she decided that I should not be a therapist while being a minister. The thing that is important to know in this case is that my husband and I had shared one salaried position for 8 years even though we both worked full time. This was a fact. The lizard brain does not have the ability to discern facts. It only pays attention to what it perceives is important. Thus the prime characteristic of the lizard brain is that it is completely and utterly self centered. It really does not even understand or comprehend the pain that its actions have on those whom it harms.
I am happy to say that I have grown beyond these experiences. In reality, my life on this earth in this life time has been about growth and understanding. This has been a guiding principle my entire life and it is because of this guiding and innate principle that I have grown into who I am today.
Mark Nepo, internationally famous author, spiritual teacher, professor, poet and wondrous being tells us this from his Book of Awakening (pages 344 and 345):
“Every year around the scalp of the planet, the caribou run the same path of migration along the edge of the Arctic Circle. They are born with some innate sense that calls them to this path. And every year, along the way, packs of coyote wait to feed on the caribou. And every year, despite the danger, the caribou return and make their way.
They are evidence, even as we speak, of the fact that in every living thing there is an inner necessity that outweighs all consequence. For the caribou, it is clear what it is.
The caribou tell us that, though there are risks and dangers that wait in the world, we truly have no choice but to live out what we are born with, to find and work our path.
These elegant animals bespeak a force deeper than courage, and though some would call the caribou stupid, the mystery of their migration reveals to us the quite, irrepressible emergence of living over hiding, of being over thinking, of participating over observing, of thriving over surviving”.
My dear friends, for those of you who are resonating with this article, I ask you to join me, to join the caribou and allow our lives to out picture this “deeper force” that Mark speaks about. I invite you to join me and connect with that courage and allow our lives to manifest this irrepressible mysterious force that is calling us to move beyond surviving to know that we cannot thrive unless we all work together.
“Mob Consciousness”, results when one person acts from this lower level that is the lizard brain. Then someone near that person, instead of choosing to listen and act from the deeper force that is the wizard brain also chooses to act from the lizard brain. Then another chooses to do the same and soon we have a mob of lizards choosing destruction over creation. They are choosing self centeredness over oneness.
I believe that most of what comes out of the GOP candidate Donald Trump’s mouth is from the lizard brain. He knows that he can attract people at this level. The lizard is always waiting for a stronger lizard to lead. Lizards know that they are safer to follow another lizard that is willing to stand up. They know that they are safer hiding behind another lizard.
Jesus said a long time ago: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.
Friends, I think that people that are operating from the lizard brain do know what they do now. Maybe we humans had not evolved enough 2000 and some years ago to know but we do know now. We do know.
And, I am asking you again, if you are resonating with this article to join me in creating a gathering of people who are committed to operate from a higher level of thinking: to operate from our wizard brain.
When Jesus said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and all these things shall be added unto you”.
I think he was imploring us to act and live from this higher level of consciousness, from our Wizard brain.
As we gather together and act from the Wizard Brain, things won’t be easier but they will get better.
We must not be part of the “mob consciousness” any longer. The very survival of our planet and all of her creatures now depends on us moving beyond the need to survive to the absolute necessity to work together so that we can all thrive.
And, it is up to you, if you are resonating with this article, please call me. I am starting an advanced spiritual leadership group beginning in January of 2017 that will guide each participant to connect with their own innate and guiding principles so that they can make a difference in the world that is way beyond “mob consciousness” to an experience of global oneness. I am calling it GLOBAL HARMONY……………..