

A New Consciousness Metaphor

The Theoretical Foundation of Emergence

No one can truly describe consciousness in its entirety. Like the concept of God, it is beyond words. However, by using increasingly better metaphors, we can approach this goal.

In 1995, while writing a book on why people hide their spiritual beliefs, I stumbled onto what is simply a better metaphor for consciousness. Using this metaphor, one can, for the first time, describe and locate, with incredible precision, the essence of any and all wounds and by "all," I literally mean all wounds, from those that cause depression and relationship problems to those that cause autism and learning disabilities. In addition, one can use this same metaphor to precisely describe and understand how wounds and consciousness directly relate to three other aspects of human nature: healing; learning (in the holistic sense); and becoming more loving by nature. More important still, this metaphor can also be used to reveal the class of previously undiscovered events which connect these five aspects to each other, events which, when seen, show how these five aspects of human nature (consciousness, learning, wounds, healing, and love) are really just one aspect viewed from five perspectives.

As for the events themselves, I sometimes describe them as the moments in which a person's "wire" gets bigger, in that afterwards, people can consciously, and permanently, carry more experience. More often, though, I simply call them, an Emergence.

What is an Emergence? An Emergence is simply any moment in which a person grows holistically, and by holistically, I mean, the person [1] becomes more conscious, [2] learns in the holistic sense, [3] discovers a wound or wounds, [4] heals a wound or wounds, and [5] becomes more loving by nature, all in the same instant.

Now certainly, these events are incredible moments. The point here, though, is that you can use the Consciousness Metaphor to make these wonderful moments visible.

As for the actual metaphor itself, it consists entirely of three simple intersecting continuums, three lines which together represent how conscious we are in any given moment. These three lines are: the Information Continuum (the "X" axis of consciousness), the Meaning Continuum (the "Y" axis of consciousness) , and the Time Continuum (the "Z" axis of consciousness).

Now, if you were to cover the outer limits of these three intersecting lines with a clear shell, you would see a three dimensional object shaped roughly like an egg. And if you were to then use the various points inside this "egg" to chart a person's levels of consciousness during the course of any event, you would see a three dimensional map.

In essence, with the Consciousness Metaphor, we can create three dimensional event diagrams, maps of peoples' experiences. As you might guess, each experience creates a uniquely shaped map. However, although each map is unique, the shapes within these maps repeat, making it easy for anyone to see the previously undiscovered patterns underlying all of human nature, the essence of these experiences.

Now, obviously, two of the more important shapes we can learn to see are the pattern which is always present during wounding events and the pattern which is always present during healing events. And because we can use the Consciousness Metaphor to reveal these two shapes, we now have a tool with which we can find our wounds and know how to heal them.

Introduction Information
A Single
An Event
An Event