The Psychic Environment

We inhabit an environment of thoughts, feelings, beliefs and awareness, yet an environment of which we are largely unaware. And because we are unaware of it, we take every thought, feeling, belief and impression as our own.

The first environment that we are born into is that of our immediate family, our parents and siblings. Much of what we believe about reality and much of what and how we think comes from our family. This is the framework we chose for whatever purpose.

Our psychic environment quickly expands to our extended family and our community. And beyond our community, to the culture in which we live. By the time we are two years old, our psychic environment is being shaped by television and the media. And by the time we are five, our reality is formally integrated by schools.

All of this we take largely as our own thoughts, our own beliefs, our own feelings. Particularly in the western materialistic paradigm that we inhabit, the psychic environment is not considered to be valid. And so as our infant consciousness focuses on this life, we accept all thoughts, feelings and impressions as our own.

Up to 90% of what we think and feel comes from outside of us. Until we can distinguish this outside chatter from our own thoughts, we are adrift. And until we become aware of how much of our thoughts, feelings and impressions are based on accepted beliefs about reality — beliefs that are not reality — we are simply living in reaction to this psychic environment.

So our first task is to become aware of our thoughts and feelings, and to ask ourselves honestly, "Where did this come from?" Used regularly throughout the day, this question will lift a great weight from us, and open for us a life of infinite possibilities.

Once we have learned to distinguish our own consciousness from the psychic environment, then we can truly begin to explore this environment in which we live. And as we explore, we will uncover the root of our consciousness, which is the collective unconscious. The awareness of all that exists is in constant communication with us, and when we understand the nature of this communication, a new world will open up for us.

Everything is connected.