What We Believe Changes Everything

"It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist." Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre De Chardin Teilhard, a Jesuit paleontologist and writer, wrote that humans are not just another species, but another form of life that reflects upon itself.  He wrote about the noosphere, a shared consciousness that evolves towards “greater personalization, individuation and unification of its elements culminating in the Omega Point an apex of consciousness” (Wikipedia) which is based on love. He also wrote of the Divine Milleau an energy envelops us and that all of creation is immersed in.  Teilhard wrote that is affected by everything we think, say, and do.

Carl Jung, the twentieth century psychologist wrote of the human collective unconscious that is inherited and wired in our brain, populated by “instincts and by archetypes: universal symbols such as The Great Mother, the Wise Old Man, the Shadow, the Tower, Water, the Tree of Life, and many more.”  Wikipedia

I have been attempting to reconcile these two perspectives with my personal experiences of thought.  Am I a separate human being prewired through DNA with a symbolic structure from my ancestors?   Or is my consciousness really a part of an infinite consciousness (God) that contains all there is to know?  Can both perspectives be true?  Are scientific advances individual breakthroughs based on genetic brain abilities (Einstein postulating relativity) and the collective accumulation of scientific information contained in shared databases and analyzed by artificial intelligence?  Are we part of a larger energy field or are we an animal species walking through a mortal existence?  Are we all of these?

Are my creative thoughts and deep insights a product of a mental illness or am I somehow connected to an infinite consciousness that has revealed them to me?  Am I a psychic vessel that is sometimes wide open and cannot block or filter thoughts or energy from others in the greater consciousness?  Or is this merely my brain synapses misfiring or delusions created in my brain? Is my mind open to alternative realities including an eternal reality?   Am I a visionary of things yet to come or are they already here only to be revealed?

Ellen Langer, a psychologist, in her book Counterclockwise writes of the effect of our environment, especially those created by the medical profession as we age, on our mind and subsequent behaviors.  Many times, in our lives our thoughts and behaviors are dictated by attitudes and expectations of others that keep us from breaking outside our mental boxes.  What I do know, is that our ability to create our own positive narrative is critical to our mental health especially after undergoing trauma.  What we choose to believe changes everything.