An Ontological Shift in Human Identity Through Collective Transcendent Emergence: the Need and Potential

Ours are turbulent and uncertain times that are characterized by many names: The Anthropocene, The Great Disruption, The Great Acceleration, The Polycrisis, and The Metacrisis, to name a few. How we navigate these disruptive waters as a species will define not only humanity’s trajectory, but the trajectory of all life on Earth for millennia. Along with the forces of survival, selfish instincts, competition for resources, tendency toward othering, fear, aggression, overwhelm, dissonance, and the potentially unchecked ramifications of AI, there are also alternative ways of being and relating that are emerging and pointing to a more positive future. We see glimmers of the Symbiocene, an emerging Ecological Civilization and The Great Turning that signal an evolutionary moment for humanity to consciously chart a future more in balance with nature and in community with each other and our more-than-human relatives.

Fundamentally, these potential futures depend on our human identity evolving from separate individuals to a shared sense of self that is not separate from the planet, the cosmos, and even more essentially, the Divine, or Consciousness, as the ground of our existence. Without a shift in human identity at the level of consciousness, we will likely continue along our current destructive path defined by fragmented and separate constructs of self. Additionally, with the race to generate artificial consciousness, cultivating our own consciousness becomes even more imperative.

Some developmental frameworks suggest the evolution of human consciousness oscillates between integration and differentiation, with each new turn embracing earlier stages of development and giving rise to new complex expressions. Modernity and postmodernity represent the cultural leading edges of the most developed countries in the world. However, the materialism and scientific reductionism of modernity, and the relative truths and hyper individuation of postmodernity are insufficient to chart a wholesome future. In response, some thought leaders are heralding a new cultural stage known as metamodernism as a way forward where Spirit is re-embraced within a context of higher reintegration.

The Zen Buddhist concept of Interbeing, popularized by Thich Nhat Hanh, emphasizes the interconnectedness and interdependence of all elements of existence. Jesus Christ’s quote “When two or more come together in my name, I shall be among you” points to a shared experience of a higher spiritual presence, and Quaker silent worship invites Living Spirit to emerge spontaneously from a circle of collective silence.

More recent “experiments” in collective spiritual practice over the past few decades, in which I have participated, present windows into an emergent human potential: individuals come together willingly, sincerely, and vulnerably, curious and intent to meet beyond their (egoic) identities to access emergent collective consciousness through cultivated dialogue practices.

Through honed participation skills, including attuning to emergent possibility, deep listening, maintaining presence, and going beyond preconceived ideas, a shared intelligence greater than the sum of the parts can emerge through and between the individuals. This phenomenon is not simply a coming together of each person, but a flip from the locus of separate identity to a shared consciousness which informs and is informed by the group members. This does not eliminate or diminish individuality. Indeed, it relies upon authentic self-expression as a vital “cell” of the emerging “organ” of shared consciousness. In this self-regulating and reinforcing context, the lived and evolving experiences of unity, trust, transparency, diversity, freedom of intellectual curiosity, and joy of depth of being are released in and between everyone and strengthened over time. New, higher-order perspectives become available to inform decision making.

Theologians and spiritual activists have spoken to this emergent human potential. Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin envisioned our evolution through the convergence of the material universe with consciousness, giving rise to a higher state of being. Indian spiritual revolutionary Sri Aurobindo spoke of the “Supermind” which “functions as the ‘intermediate link’ between the indivisible unity of Spirit and the divided consciousness of Mind and the manifest world.”

Such an ontological shift in human identity and subsequent expansion of our human capacity to experience, facilitate, and share in this consciousness offers a deep lever for change in worldviews, values, priorities, and action. Indeed, accessing and cultivating emergent collective consciousness as a felt self-sense and source of intelligence could be a game changer for our disruptive times. And if we are able to make this evolutionary leap as a race, the significance of this moment extends far beyond mere survival. It becomes a paradigm shifting reflection point that could bring humanity into interbeing with an evolving cosmos as it awakens to itself.