The Spirituality of Everyday Life: Modernist Consciousness

This is the first of three articles dealing with the spirituality of everyday life.

My name is on data base list of a telemarketer and I regularly receive emails inviting me to buy this, that and the other program that will solve my problems. The latest email informs me that it’s no secret that we are in the midst of what some people are calling one of the greatest financial downturns in history. This is true, I’d go further and say that it’s much more than a downturn, it’s a wholesale collapse of the economic model that emerged after the second world war and has lasted for about fifty years.

The email goes on to say that people are scared to death. They are confused. They are uncertain. They have lost their confidence and with it many of their dreams. Most people the email claims have taken on a victim mentality and become weak. These people are the worriers and the watchers. This is claimed in a most disparaging way even in spite of the life conditions that have given rise to the fear and other feelings.

People are invited to a program that teaches them to become wealthy warriors by amassing a fortune. Amassing a fortune, it is assumed, is the way to resolve all of life’s dilemmas. Many people will be lured into wanting to be a wealthy warrior.

I am not going to talk about the wealthy warrior program, it might be all that is claimed for it. I want to examine some of the deeper reasons as to why people feel frightened, confused and uncertain, and why their dreams have been dashed. I want to probe further, than the obvious reasons such as losing one’s job or having lost one’s savings, as serious and important as these events are, I don’t trivialize these things.

I want to suggest that feelings of fear, confusion and uncertainty and the basis upon which dreams have been built arise out of what I call a modernist consciousness. Consciousness relates to the set of ideas and values we have, to the way we understand the nature of our self, the way we define our needs and satisfy those needs. It also covers things like how we define what it means to be successful and what motivates us to do things in life. Consciousness also defines how we understand our relationships to other people and our relationship to the Earth and other living forms. Finally consciousness is also about how we believe that we should discharge our civic and social obligations.

I want to suggest that the economy that will unfold out of the current financial meltdown will be very different from what we have had. It will not be business as usual. I believe that a new and more expansive consciousness than modernism will be required. The new economic realities and the consciousness that will accompany it will make the whole notion of the wealthy warrior questionable.

In this article I will limit the discussion to modernist consciousness and in a subsequent article I’ll talk about what I call ecological consciousness. This in turn will lead to another article dealing with what I am calling a spirituality of everyday life that will provide a whole new basis for making sense of the new ecological and economic realities that needs to unfold if our civilization is to endure.

I have said needs to unfold, there is no certainty that will happen and the wealthy warriors might win the day.

I know that those who will respond the allure of becoming a wealthy warrior will regard my argument as heresy, however I respectfully ask that you read this article and the ones that will follow, and then make up your mind.

I want to make one further point before discussing modernist consciousness. Not only are we in the midst of an economic meltdown, we are in the midst of an ecological meltdown far more serious than the economic woes we face. The ecological meltdown owes its origins to the excesses inherent in the past economic model and any new economy that emerges will have to obey the laws of nature. If it doesn’t our civilization as we know it may not survive the end of this century.

The dominant consciousness currently is what is often called modernism. Modernism is a term used by many to describe a whole range of cultural values, norms and practices. People whose consciousness is at this stage experience the self as a separate isolated individual. Modernism values wealth, status and the good life through material wealth and consumption. People are valued in terms of what they own and their income. Progress is achieved through science and technology and seeking the best solution is equated with what advances wealth and status. It values winning and striving for excellence and appreciates individual autonomy and independence, all organized within a meritocracy.

These are the things that people with this level of consciousness identify with. In the current financial meltdown all of these ideas and values are under threat and stands at the heart of the fears and anxieties that I drew attention to at the outset of this article.

This mindset believes that its values of wealth, status and the good life based around conspicuous consumption are the core of human nature. Those with this consciousness fashion their lives around these values. Developmental psychology has taught us, however, that there is no such thing as a universal human nature. Our nature as a human being evolves through different stages and there is no such thing as a permanent human nature common to all people.

This modernist consciousness is the world view of corporate culture, modern science, mainstream media and professional sports. What is true is "objective truth", reason and that which can be materially proved. The aesthetic domain is dominated by fashionable symbols of power, prestige and glamour.

Material progress and the exploitation of resources are seen as good as they increase wealth and they are an outlet for the ambitious and entrepreneurial. Material wealth, status, plenty and expansive consumption define the good life. Needs are defined as those things that make for this definition of the "good life". Identity for modernists is formed around what they consume, what they own and they are strongly attached to this identity. They will fight tooth and nail to preserve this identity. These are the very issues that have become problematic for so many people in the current situation

It must be conceded that the positive form of modernist consciousness has been responsible for many good things, but the emphasis on material success and the acquisition of wealth has meant that everything is sacrificed to these ends. This consciousness created the modern world, but it cannot take us to a world that will work in harmony with and value the Earth and allow the Earth to heal, as well as valuing all living forms. It will not be possible to retain this form of consciousness and create a post financial crash economy and a mode of consumption aimed at reversing global warming and repairing ecosystem services.

Einstein said that you cannot solve the problems created by one type of consciousness with the level of consciousness that created the problem in the first place.

The now collapsed economy depended for its emergence upon the steady growth of modernist consciousness, and this same economy cemented modernist consciousness in place among the majority of the population. This economy and modernist consciousness has been the basis of peoples’ dreams and aspirations. With the collapse of the economy it’s not hard to see the relationship between the economy and the consciousness that brought it into existence and that each sustained the other. Once the material basis of consciousness is withdrawn a crisis of meaning erupts and this is a very painful time.

Given the ecological constraints to the potential shape of a new economy it’s plain that we will need to develop a new consciousness and I’ll talk about this consciousness in my next article. I’ll follow that article with a discussion of the spirituality of everyday life. This is a spirituality which I believe we will need to transform our lives needed to support the emergence of an economy that will deliver the material needs of our modern civilization in a way that honors the Earth and its ecosystems.

The spirituality of everyday life: modernist consciousness
Developing a spiritual practice through the spirituality of everyday life