The other side of human consciousness

We start strong, with human consciousness. In the series True Detective, Rustin "Rust" Cohle plays a deeply profound role. There's one scene that is key for me, in which he questions human consciousness and associates it with something tragic in evolution.

This left me thinking for some time, and every time I return to that thought I reaffirm it more. When we become too conscious, we stop seeing the innocent side of the things around us. We start associating negative events with everything we observe; our reality becomes dark, and those threats seem to grow larger and larger.

The worst part of consciousness is that you can't go back to ignorance. Once your brain has started to see things beyond the surface, seeking philosophical explanations for everyday events, or observing the political trends that lead to conflicts, you can't go back. It's impossible. Sometimes we arrive here somewhat by accident, or perhaps through excess curiosity, though I'm sure more than one person would have wished not to arrive if they had known what awaited them. That's not my case. The reality you see on the other side isn't necessarily beautiful, nor something to take lightly.

Despite showing you the most cruel and inhuman side of society, living consciously is something positive for me, though not for many others. There's no good side or bad side, they're simply two groups that ask themselves different questions. The happiness of each is far from being defined by their degree of consciousness.

Many people who are conscious of what surrounds them let those things torment them, thinking it affects them directly. As a brief example: once you read George Orwell's 1984, you can't stop seeing it, if you've read it, you'll know what I mean. There's nothing wrong with that, but you can't let it influence your energy. You simply have more ideas that shape you as an individual. The very act of writing this makes me conscious, and reflecting on the bad that it brings makes me wonder: if I weren't conscious, would I be happier? But there's no point posing that question.

My philosophy on knowledge is this: learn everything you can, but only allow what you can currently change to influence you. Otherwise, consciousness will be a curse for you.