Collective Consciousness - And Why it Matters to your Business (Part 1)

4 MINUTE READ

I want to start talking about Collective Consciousness - what it means, how it is defined, how it relates to business and why it is important for people to be exposed to it as a concept to consider for the part each of us play in the state of the globe. I am going to write about this in a two part series. 

Part 1:

Collective Consciousness is defined as: "the set of shared beliefs, ideas and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society" (ie: culture)
Ok great but what does that mean? "In Washington DC, a scientific demonstration took place in which a group of four thousand transcendental meditators attempted to lower the city’s crime rate by 20 per cent simply by using the collective power of their thoughts. The DC police chief at the time ridiculed the proposition, asserting that the only thing that would generate such a dramatic drop in city crime would be twenty inches of snow.
The experiment ran over a period of seven weeks — and after just one week, incidences of homicides, rapes and aggravated assaults across the city began to decrease. By the end of the experiment the crime rate had dropped by a staggering 23.3 per cent. Furthermore, after the experiment disbanded, the city’s crime rate then went back up again.
So, could it true that the way we think can alter and determine events in the world? It seems crazy, but there are thousands of successful mind experiments like the Washington example that have been conducted all over the world, that suggest that human consciousness, in fact, human intention, has the power to project outside of our bodies and to effect events". (Reported by Ben Arogundade, Contributor for the Huffington Post).

If you are able to accept the concept of Collective Consciousness or if you are brave and opened minded enough to consider that this is not only possible but fact - what does this mean for your business? I immediately think of brands like lululemon athletica who have successfully been able to penetrate market after market around the globe. Is it solely due to stretchy pants that make everyone's ass look good? Or is there more at play here? Could the widely spread manifesto that employees around the world deeply hold close and believe in impact sales, profits and adaptability? The brand over recent years intentionally shifted to include mediation & mindfulness in their mission statement. Could having 20,000 employees across the globe mindfully + intentionally operating day to day on the brands core beliefs be supporting it's domination across their sector? I don't know, I'm just throwing it out there as something to consider.

Now more than ever, we have a profound responsibility as global citizens to understand how powerful we are and use our businesses as a means to heal the world, end suffering and opression .... along with making money. 

How could thinking about Collective Consciousness in this way move your business to new unprecedented heights? How could it be leveraged to positively impact the world and our brothers and sisters around the globe (yes, I am a super hippy in office clothes) . I'll be exploring more in depth about Business & Collective Consciousness in part 2 of this series. Stay tuned & please share with me your feedback and opinion on this topic. 

Musings by: Tess Sloane, Talent Lab