If you study the works of various authors from throughout human history, you will gradually notice something peculiar that they all have in common. No matter what time period a particular work comes from, they all reflect the same level of certainty and conviction in their message.

Our ancestors did not write "Well, gee, I dunno. Maybe the Earth is at the center of the universe, but we really aren't too sure." They were absolute in their belief that the Earth was at the center of the universe and if anyone said otherwise, that person was often punished; sometimes severely.

If you think about it, the fact that our ancestors showed so much confidence in their ideas is really quite amazing. After all, they used to believe in some ideas that look pretty foolish to us today. At one time or another many of them believed that the Earth is flat; that the universe is made of only four elements; that draining blood can help heal the sick; that powered flight is impossible; etc.

How is this possible?

How could people with such a limited concept of reality be so confident in their ideas? Even more importantly, what does this tell us about our ideas today?

Just a few hundred years ago, nearly everyone in the Western world was completely convinced that the Earth was at the center of the universe. Why?

1. That is what they were taught to believe
2. That is the way the world looks and feels

Our ancestors failed to recognize that just because the Earth looks and feels as though it is stationary, it does not necessarily mean that it is stationary.

Today, nearly everyone in the Western world believes that human beings are intelligent, individual entities that must find their own way through the world. Why?

1. That is what they were taught to believe
2. That is the way the world looks and feels

As we look out upon the world, we may feel that we have a pretty good understanding of the world that we live in and we certainly appear to be separate from one another, but the lesson to be learned from our ancestors is that what seems obvious is not always true. In order to develop a more effective understanding of ourselves and the world we live in, sometimes we need to look beyond the obvious...

Throughout the course of human history, assumptions have been made regarding the nature of existence. In a simplistic sort of way, these assumptions can be viewed as being similar to facing a fork in the road and having to decide which path to follow. One such fork in the road appeared when we discovered the peculiar nature of electrons, although I am not sure that people realized it was a fork in the road at the time. By choosing to view these particles as unthinking bits of matter/energy, mankind was essentially forced to follow a certain path. We have been forced to try and conceptualize thought, or consciousness, as being some sort of phenomenon that arises from the functioning within an entity. That there is a separate thought process in each entity and that there is a division between entities that think and those that do not. Obviously, we were also forced to try and hypothesize how this state of affairs developed. Needless to say, the resulting theories on the origin and nature of consciousness have created a considerable amount of disagreement. The key to unlocking the mystery of consciousness lies in recognizing that we took the wrong path...