The noosphere

An essay by S D Anugyan

There is an old Ray Bradbury story about the first settlers on Mars. As the pioneers explore their new home, the only evidence they find of previous inhabitants is some artefacts and paintings showing the aliens to have been ‘dark and golden eyed’. The aliens, whoever they were, were long gone. Meanwhile, there is a nuclear war on Earth and communication with it no longer happens. The settlers get on with their lives, learning to love and be with the new land, and eventually they forget all about their home world. Centuries pass and finally a ship comes from a recuperating Earth to check how the settlers are doing. The astronauts report back to Earth, saying there is no trace of any humans, although there is a benign alien civilisation, quite human-like, ‘dark and with golden eyes’.

The aliens are, of course, the adapted humans. The story illustrates perfectly how I perceive the effects of the noosphere (pronounced ‘noahsphere’). The noosphere is perceived as being the psychic or mental collective atmosphere, distinguishable from the non-living world and the living world. I consider it connected to social conditioning, weather – the physical atmosphere – and environmental ambience, that mysterious je ne sais quoi in any given area. But ultimately it is separate from all these.

The common thinking in New Age circles is that the noosphere is a good thing. The mystic Teilhard de Chardin, one of its discoverers, certainly saw it positively, leading to a ‘unified consciousness’ of the human race.

It all sounds very cosy but experience tells us a different tale. The noosphere varies from place to place, as do the atmosphere and ambience, but with one common element: it dictates how you should be in it. I asked a German DJ once why such a small country as Britain should produce such a large output of good music. “Simple.” he said drily. “The weather and emotional repression.” This struck a chord with me, for I’d often thought about the Brontës and how Wuthering Heights etc. could only have been written on the Yorkshire moors. The British tend to pour their hearts out via their arts.

Yet the really great artists and writers always transcend their own culture. I don’t know if the Brontës are popular world-wide in non-English speaking countries but I know that Shakespeare is. The Italian director Franco Zeffirelli – who made a few films of Shakespeare’s plays – commented on this, talking about how he knew of Shakespeare performed even in China in Mandarin. Akira Kurosawa turned three Shakespeare plays into Japanese language films. Peter Brook did The Tempest in French, performing in Glasgow. The fauna and flora of the plays are often distinguishably English – many of the plants are in evidence around Stratford-on-Avon – but the plays seem to transcend location, culture and even their own language. Not to mention time.

You can utilise the noosphere by choosing what qualities you wish to invoke. But it comes at a price as all conditioning is double-sided. For example, you may value directness of approach and move to, say Germany, where you consider that quality predominant, but you may also get the flip side of insensitivity. Or do you like Italian spontaneity? Well then you will also have to put up with chaos and inconsistency. The list is world-wide, so I’ll leave it there (and we’ve already mentioned the Brits).

The noosphere can be isolated down to very small areas. Reflecting this, good linguists can not only tell what area of what town you are from but sometimes even the street. I attempt to do this by studying the geomancy, determining what the overall ambience and conditioning of a specific area is. I can sometimes tell if a child grew up in a house where there was water underneath, for instance.

Put bluntly: there appears to be no escape from the noosphere. It dictates to you how you should be, what you should think, how you should feel. You can move away from particular aspects of it, but you will merely be substituting them with other aspects.

Now you may well be comfortable with this, for particular areas do enhance certain qualities that we need at particular times in our lives. This is fine as long as it works.

I am reminded though of when I met a travelling shaman-master some years ago and he said, “Your friends are your enemies.” It took me a while to detach myself from this statement and understand what he meant, for my friends are very important to me. He was referring not to the deep bonds of friendship and the immense support and nourishment that can result, but to the unconscious assumptions that people tend to make, that they know someone.

There is another Bradbury story which illustrates this (he seems to have been a remarkable navigator of the noosphere!), where an alien becomes whatever projection an individual throws at him: a lost love, a missing child, a deceased parent, until he can’t stand it any longer and escapes, yelling, “I’m a referent! Not a label!” This is the danger, that we become our labels.

So what can we do? Well, I have known very few what I call ‘Noosphere Warriors’ who have defied their surroundings successfully, but they all had one thing in common: everyone around them thought they were a little crazy. This is because the necessarily peaceful rebellion against the noosphere is always individual, it’s never collective. A revolution will change the faces but keep the rules. ‘Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.’ Groups may provide relief from the local influence of the noosphere, such as McDonalds putting identical restaurants all over the globe, but this is just another area of the noosphere, not a release from it.

Group effort is still important, for it can improve the quality of life obviously, making physical existence that much more bearable. Environmental groups are a clear example of this, but a Noosphere Warrior has different concerns from a Rainbow Warrior. To be one requires remarkable courage, honesty, determination and individuality. The Noosphere Warrior may inspire others eventually but they will not be a leader.

Case in point is a lady called Helen Martins who lived in Nieu-Bethesda, South Africa 1898-1976. In her fifties, after the death of her parents, she started knocking holes in the walls of her house, replacing them with stained glass, building stone effigies of owls and camels, filling the house and courtyard with them; plus numerous other bizarre works of art. It took her 25 years of contending with meagre resources, failing eyesight and crippling arthritis.

Now her Owl House is a point of pilgrimage. People all over Africa and the rest of the world come to see it and the small town in the Karoo is blossoming with cafés, guest houses and art galleries.

I felt I could understand some of what she was doing. From the slothful, gluttonous male creatures in the Corner of Debauchery (by her father’s room), to the coloured light in the dark recesses of rooms, to the ubiquitous owls – it was as if she were working on herself, bringing light into the darkest corners of her own life. But she was accomplishing much more. In the courtyard she had a sculpture of Kompassberg, the local mountain and source of power for the entire area. (The Japanese do a similar thing in their gardens, honouring their source of earth ch’i via a small representation of it e.g. Mount Fuji.)

Helen Martins had been mostly working on herself, but the entire area benefitted.

As another example, I was once taken in India to the grave of a Sufi master not far from Pune. The grave was located on the crest of a small hill where a remarkable phenomenon could be observed, even participated in.

The master’s disciples invited us to try and lift a small boulder with them. About eight to ten of us tried with no success, it wouldn’t budge an inch. Then we placed our index fingers under the rock, chanted the name of the master three times – and tossed the rock high up into the air (quickly getting out the way!). I asked how far around this strange phenomenon occurred and they said anywhere on the hill but no further. It seemed that one man’s enlightenment even transcended the effects of gravity.

I’m aware that many readers of this article will have been deconditioned by Osho in countless ways, including his relentless jokes about our nationalities. Then, of course, the more authentic self starts to appear and meditation happens.

With readers having such a background advising deconditioning and meditation in order to become a Noosphere Warrior, is very much like teaching granny to suck eggs, as the English say. You all already know this.

The only thing I can add perhaps is a recommendation to befriend the Earth around you. Do it through environmental awareness, exploring the energy lines, gardening, whatever works for you. The paths are limitless. Even focusing on your own body is applicable, for it too is of the Earth. Get to know your area of the noosphere. Enjoy it by all means – the culture, the weather, everything – but don’t be limited by it. Then rebel peacefully and lovingly. Be yourself.

Now I really am teaching granny, but I hope you enjoy this meandering article anyhow – he says with English politeness, despite not actually being English.

Geosphere, biosphere, noosphere, christosphere – Osho speaks on Teilhard de Chardin’s four stages of human evolution
From star stuff to a conscious human being – “The ‘noosphere’ consists of human consciousness and mental activity,” writes Shanti
The atmosphere of the real India – Osho speaks on ‘India; “It is vibrating with certain energy fields which no other country can claim.”

Featured image by Getty Images via unsplash.com