> Is it so hard to conceive of something similar called "environmental
> consciousness?" Could you accept that this might possibly change
individual
> behavior ... as an individual reacts to the capitalism within which s/he
is
> immersed?
>
It's possible to conceive of something simply called consciousness that
encompasses all this. I think many of us are now aspiring to that. But it
is a cumulative process that is, to say the least, unevenly developed from
person to person, society to soicety.
Class consciosusness and any other level of consciousness that transcends
one's immediate circumstances is facilitated through the acquisition of
efficacious interpretive tools. These "tools" require study and discipline
and practice, and so individuals must me motivated in one way or
another--usually by the experiences of their own lives--to seek and master
these means of interpretation that elevate consciousness. That motivation,
at some level, is always related to some kind of self-interest, which in
turn depends on how and with whom an individual identifies. Class
consciousness is but a step toward socialist consciousness, in my
experience. I now find myself identifying at some level with life itself,
based on some of what I've learned right here. But that hasn't displaced my
interpretation of class dynamics, even though it has led me to believe that
the socialist project--to which I remain committed--has made mistakes, must
accommodate and integrate material reality in a much broader way, and at the
same time has become much more urgent.
You can change my mind, as I might yours, if we are prepared to accommodate
new information. The vast majority--firghtened and confused quite often, as
well as stupid and avaricious quite often--cling to whatever form of denial
most comforts them, and let go of it only in the face of trauma. It is this
vast majority upon whom our fates rest, and those who would act as guides
for the development of that conscousness can not relinquish their connection
with those masses, or they will simply be lonely voices wailing at the
breeze.
Cheers.
Stan
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