A Quantum View of Shared and Collective Consciousness

Abstract

Here I develop a theoretical framework for understanding the notions of shared and collective consciousness. For this purpose, I focus on an interpretation of quantum mechanics that invokes an ontologically deeper ground and link this with reasoning from the philosophy of mind associated with Bertrand Russell, who provided reasons for holding that the intrinsic nature of matter is consciousness. The resulting framework supports the notion that our conscious experiences are rooted in an underlying substratum of nonlocal, yet aware potentiality and is consistent with a body of research on anomalous cognition and mind-matter interaction. Notions of shared and collective consciousness are then considered in the context of this framework. I characterize the nature of these with the terms coherence and self-organization. I then explore how these notions of shared and collective consciousness can be applied to facilitate greater connectedness, empathy, holism, within various types of groups and organizations.